As the crisp Christmas air filled our lungs, my son Aspen and I embarked on a climb that would test our limits and bond us in ways we never imagined. The Manitou Incline, with its staggering 2,768 steps, was our Everest, a challenge we accepted with equal parts excitement and trepidation. Join us as we share the formidable journey up this Colorado monolith, where each step upwards was a lesson in preparation, pacemaking, and the unyielding spirit of perseverance. This isn't just a story of a hike; it's a testament to the emotional complexities that holidays and family can stir within us, and the pride that comes from conquering more than just mountain peaks.
Picture the incline as life's metaphorical climb and every step a chance to lay down our judgments, to move forward with trust and a clear focus on the goals that guide us. Through the ascent, we realized that the summit is more than just an endpoint—it's a breathtaking perspective to admire the path traveled and to set sights on new horizons. This episode isn't merely about reaching the top; it's about savoring the moments in between, understanding the emotional ties to our aspirations, and finding fulfillment from the journey itself. Ascend with us, and you might just see your own inclines in a transformative new light.
As the crisp Christmas air filled our lungs, my son Aspen and I embarked on a climb that would test our limits and bond us in ways we never imagined. The Manitou Incline, with its staggering 2,768 steps, was our Everest, a challenge we accepted with equal parts excitement and trepidation. Join us as we share the formidable journey up this Colorado monolith, where each step upwards was a lesson in preparation, pacemaking, and the unyielding spirit of perseverance. This isn't just a story of a hike; it's a testament to the emotional complexities that holidays and family can stir within us, and the pride that comes from conquering more than just mountain peaks.
Picture the incline as life's metaphorical climb and every step a chance to lay down our judgments, to move forward with trust and a clear focus on the goals that guide us. Through the ascent, we realized that the summit is more than just an endpoint—it's a breathtaking perspective to admire the path traveled and to set sights on new horizons. This episode isn't merely about reaching the top; it's about savoring the moments in between, understanding the emotional ties to our aspirations, and finding fulfillment from the journey itself. Ascend with us, and you might just see your own inclines in a transformative new light.
Speaker 1:
Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to Go. Ask Sawyer, a special episode coming to you from Colorado Springs, colorado. I am here visiting my oldest son and I'm here with my youngest son just doing some fun things, and my son, aspen, and I, on Christmas because Tristan had to work we decided to do the Manitow incline and I don't know if anyone has ever done it. This is my second time doing it and both times were really really hard. I did it last year Thanksgiving, I did it last year Thanksgiving and it was just lovely. It was just wonderful. It was really really hard, but I was so proud of myself for doing it and I purposely did it at sunrise. And then this year I got to do it with Aspen and it was just such a different experience for so many reasons. So I kind of wanted to make my episode today about the lessons I took away from this incline, because, because I overthink and because I'm always in my head and, yes, everything I do and say is that deep I thought it was really cool to reflect on the different things that I went through while I was getting up there, while I was going through it all. So that's what our episode today is going to be about and happy holidays to everyone getting through it.
Speaker 1:
I don't know about you, but I'm kind of a scrooge when it comes to the holidays, like I love it and I hate it. I think there's different reasons around that. A lot of it has to do with being with someone or not with someone, family, divorced, having to be here and there and up and down and left and right and I don't know it. Just I don't always have the same cheer and shine as I do every year, so I really struggle with it. But I really enjoyed that this year I was able to be in a place that made me happy with my boys and just relaxed.
Speaker 1:
So the Manitow Incline, for those of you who don't know, is in Manitow Springs, colorado. It is a total of 2,768 steps straight up the elevation. You start at 6,600 feet and you end at 8,550 feet, so you are definitely going up really fast, even if you're moving slow and it's really hard to breathe. The steps are short and tall. They're all kind of wood plank based and it is gorgeous, like. The view which I'm going to talk about from the top is absolutely spectacular and I would highly recommend anyone that came out here this should be on your bucket list. I would just recommend to know what the weather is going to look like. Bring layers, so that you can take layers off. Bring water maybe a light backpack that you can keep water in. But you want your hands free and you want to be comfortable, so let's get down to it. Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:
Number one prepare but be ready to not be ready. Sorry about my gunner in the back. I took him with me to Colorado and there's someone outside no one I know, but someone. Anyways, lesson number one prepare but be ready, not to be ready.
Speaker 1:
So often in life we want to be 100% prepared for whatever it is. This podcast is a great example of I wanted to be prepared, but then I realized I would never be fully prepared, so I just needed to start. And I think anything scary whether it's a new project, a new venture, a new job, a new relationship you have to be ready to understand you're never going to be ready. You're never going to be 100% ready for that job. You're going to fall, you're going to make mistakes, you're going to need to learn, even in relationships and in new adventures, and that's what makes you stronger. So often, I think our world tells us that our mistakes and our failures and our hiccups like the first time it's like oh, you made a mistake, well, I must be the worst, but really no one is ever ready for any of it. So prepare but be ready to not be ready. Go at your own pace.
Speaker 1:
So there were so many different people on the incline Ages, accents, athletic abilities, clothing people that there was a guy in his underwear that apparently runs up and down this three times. I don't know if he does it a day or on the weekends, but he's just in his underwear, just chilling, singing Merry Christmas. He was singing songs, he was saying hello to everybody. And then there were the people that came that maybe had not looked this up at all, so they came in there big for coats, or they came with a face full of makeup and their hair was done and they didn't have the correct boots on. Everyone is gonna show up as their own person and if we're really on this journey, if we're really going to the top, we just need to let people be. Just let them be themselves. Let them show up as themselves. We don't need to criticize, we don't need to point out, we don't need to judge. Just let them be, because the journey is gonna be hard enough for ourselves. People are gonna be faster and slower.
Speaker 1:
There were plenty of people that were just trudging all the way up, moving past me, pushing past me my son Aspen. He was so kind he would go up a few steps and he would stop and wait for me, cause you also have to understand the altitude. I could not breathe, like I was breathing so hard. He's like mom, are you gonna be okay? I'm like, yeah, I'll be fine. And I felt so silly and so stupid. I was so out of breath A year before I had done this and I was still out of breath, but I was in so much better shape so I know a lot of that was in my head Like you used to be so much better than this. And I kept telling him like, just go at your own pace. And he's like mom, I'm gonna wait for you. But eventually he just basically ran all the way up the incline. Again, he's 17 and I am not 17. People are gonna be quitting all over.
Speaker 1:
There were a lot of people that I saw, couples arguing, friends talking I don't wanna do this anymore. I can't do this. I'm not right, I'm not ready. And again, you just have to let them be. You just have to let them understand that not everyone is going to be on the same journey. There were times I wanna be like you got this, and sometimes I did. I walked by and I was like you got this. But there's gonna be a lot of people that are gonna attempt and they're gonna turn around right away because maybe they weren't prepared at all or maybe they just doubted themselves so much that they didn't even give themselves a shot. And again, even the people that are faster than you.
Speaker 1:
There were so many times people passed me and I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm going so slow, they must hate me. You know, when you're walking and you can hear someone breathing behind you, well, everyone is breathing heavy on this incline and all I could hear was like behind me. And so I would stop and go off to the left and I was so irritated like, just go around me, oh my gosh. But again, they weren't minding me. They were just moving along at their own pace, doing what they had to do. So go at your own pace. Slow gets you to the top.
Speaker 1:
I was doing steps of 10. So I would do 10 steps and then I would stop and I would catch my breath. And then 10 steps and I would stop, and sometimes I would do more and sometimes I would do less. But I had to keep telling myself I'm gonna get there. No matter how slow I go, I'm gonna get there. If I want to get there, I will get there. So I think sometimes it's also a matter of just telling yourself like we might need to go slower than we want to, but in the end it's gonna be worth it. Which brings me to my next point of like stop and reflect.
Speaker 1:
There were so many times that I would stop and sit on the step and turn around. I'd have to catch my balance because you're really high in the air. But you turn around and you just saw the vast beauty of God's country and you could see from miles and miles and the sun was just hitting everything. And you look down like, okay, I came this far. Yes, I have so far to go, but I came this far and it's okay. I think so often.
Speaker 1:
I know I don't allow myself to stop sometimes and look back to see how far I have come, even if it hasn't been perfect, even if it hasn't always been linear. Right, growth is never linear, even if I've tripped and stumbled along the way. Where I am now is such a beautiful place and it's so much further than where I was, and so often I don't think we really give ourselves time to think about and then, at the same time, stopping to reset. Sometimes you need to reset right now, that Christmas to New Year's Eve, like don't do anything, I get so caught up in making my lists and making sure I'm busy and making sure I'm checking everything off that I forget to just reset. I need a day of nothing. I need a week, sometimes, of nothing, and sometimes that helps to like launch you into the whole next chapter or next level. But we don't even give ourselves a second to stop and just reflect. Holy cow, I'm here. This is where I prayed I would be years ago, or I never even thought I would be here, and then just allow yourself to reset.
Speaker 1:
Water is everything. Water is everything. First of all, the altitude will just knock you down and the only thing to really help you is water. Every single time I wanted to quit, I slipped on water and I'm telling you in life, if you're crabby, drink water. If you're angry, drink water. If you're sleepy, drink water. If you think you're depressed, go stand in water. We look past how much water can really help in so many aspects of our life. So water is everything. I'm just gonna say that. Take it for what you will. Your mind will give up long before your body. So my next two points are really all about your mind. My inner thoughts can be so great and positive and then so negative.
Speaker 1:
I really struggled in the middle of the incline with myself. I struggled to think about where my fitness level is now. Jamie used to be so much further along. You're close, but differently, you were able to go faster. You didn't run out of breath as much. You were stronger than this. And then, at the same time, I failed to realize I was still doing it. Even if it was hard, even if I was breathing heavier than I used to, I was still doing it. I haven't worked out in the same way that I have in a year and I still showed up to the incline and I still did it.
Speaker 1:
And again, that's where we don't give ourself enough credit. Now I could probably give my friends all the accolades and all the credit in the whole world, but I have a hard time giving myself the credit and accolades, like you're still showing up. There are people that cannot even get up halfway, there are people that won't even attempt to try. And here I am taking the breaks, drinking the water, taking it step by step, and my thoughts too. Like forgot my AirPods. So of course I'm just alone with my thoughts and they just ran rampant. But it also really gave me a time to sit and think about all the things I have been pushing down, all the questions, all the worries I have really been in it with. I don't even know I got into it with my family right before I left and there are some things I know I'm hanging onto and I'm trying to figure out how to release them, and on that incline they really popped up a lot.
Speaker 1:
So sometimes, sitting with that quiet in a really, really hard moment, some really difficult understandings and reflections of yourself can come up. But the question is gonna be are you gonna sit with it and not judge yourself for it, but just sit with it, allow it to happen and then allow it to leave? I really have a hard time not judging myself reflections, and I wish I would get over that because the more I realize I don't need to judge myself, I can just move on. Like once you kind of accept a situation and reflect on it and move around it. You can just move on. You have every ability to just put it down and move on. I was practicing that on the incline, when I would have a thought and kind of move through it. I put my hand to my head and placed it down on that step, like okay, I'm done with what I just loved. So in life, when you think you're done, just physically put your hand to your brain and put it down.
Speaker 1:
Lesson number nine we all reach the top at our own pace. So I kept looking up and I could see the top and I kept trying to count the steps, 천" trying to see the people and estimating them ahead. Okay, so I think I have 10 more minutes and I've been doing this for an hour and it should be 15 more minutes and how many more steps? And at the end of the day, if I want to get to the top, I am going to get to the top. We all are going to get to our own top in our own way.
Speaker 1:
Stop rushing the process. I kept telling myself, jamie, stop rushing. And I would force myself to turn around and reflect on where I came without falling down the stairs. Stop rushing the process, Be in it, because at the end of the day, the goal isn't. We might think the goal is to get the job or to get the relationship, or to get the promotion or to get the raise or whatever it might be. But once we get that, there's always a now one.
Speaker 1:
So I really had to tell myself, like, once I get to the top, I hit my goal, but then what? I have to come back down or I have to set a new goal. So stop trying to rush the process to the end, because once you get there, there's so much more. And I really had to sit with that because I wanted to be a teacher like my whole life. I went back into teaching or to school when I was in my 30s to get my teaching certification.
Speaker 1:
I finally got into teaching and then I wanted to get my masters. And then it was like, well, now what? And then I want, I'm starting to get my doctorate in January and I know I'm going to hit a now what? Like when am I going to? Just, I don't want to say just be happy with where I am, because I know I am a person that loves to grow and evolve. So it's not about that. But it's almost like I need to switch my mindset into how much emotional weight I hang on the goal, how much emotional weight the end I'm putting the end in quotation marks because the end is never the end. It's like once you get to the next level, okay, now what can I do with this? I really had to sit with that. So just understand, we all reach the top. You're all going to hit your goal. You're all going to reach the top. It's just going to take some of us a different time faster, slower. We don't know what baggage we're carrying along. And that goes back to my point number two go at your own pace.
Speaker 1:
If I wanted to make my whole life around podcasting and make millions of doing this, and I just keep seeing all these other people flying past me and I start to judge myself and then I'm like, oh, whatever, I'm just going to give up. Well, how much time are they putting in? Have they put in money? Have they hired a coach? Are they doing this every single day? Am I like? You see we, social media has caused us to look at other people and their lives and how far they have gotten, but we don't see all the other things they've been through and even all the happy, smiling faces. I think we all know a handful of people that you're like that's not real. I know we want it to be real, but how many people actually get to that goal and they're still unhappy? That was something to think about. How many people hit their goal and they are still unhappy? So it's really not even about the goal, it's about something inside them.
Speaker 1:
Which brings me to number 10 was my favorite the view from the top. So I looked up and I finally saw Aspen and he was like come on, mom. And there were like 20 more stairs but my legs were jello, like jello. He's like mom, like you're right here, just come on, I'm climbing. And I'm climbing and I get up there and he quick helps me up and we're walking around and trying to catch my breath. Aspen, take a picture in this and that and I was just kind of like wobbling all over and he grabbed my arm and he said mom, slow down, catch your breath, we're not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. He said look like, just look around, like, take your time. I've had a few people recently tell me just take your time. I don't know what I feel like, I have to hurry up and rush forward.
Speaker 1:
But that view from the top, I'm telling you, was everything. It made every step, every doubt, every time I wanted to cry, every sip of water, every time I doubted myself, it made everything a thousand percent worth it. A thousand percent, I would tell anyone if they were doing that incline crawl up it if you have to, because that view from the top is so, so worth it. And as I was just kind of reflecting on how that was all just, I mean, all of it is just so connected to everything we go through in life and every decision that we make and every turn we take. We're going to try to prepare, but we have to understand we're never going to be ready. We cannot compare We've heard that a million times. We cannot compare ourself to anyone around us, because no one is us. No one has been through what we have been through.
Speaker 1:
You will get to the top, no matter how fast or how slow you go. You have to stop and reflect. You have to stop and rest. Otherwise it's not even worth it. Then why are you doing? Then? It feels like you're just doing it to check off boxes. We have to remember that water is everything, literally everything. Your mind will give up long before your body does. It's going to tell you can't do it. It's going to tell you're not worth it. It's going to give you that imposter syndrome. It is going to tell you who do you think you are doing this? But at the end of the day, you're you, and if it makes you happy and you feel fulfilled, just do it. We all are going to reach the top our own top in our own time, and the view is going to be so worth it and I can guarantee you you are going to give yourself the biggest hug and be so thankful that you didn't give up on you.
Speaker 1:
I had a really great conversation with a friend the other day and we were talking about trusting people and we had discussed how you're never going to be able to fully trust anyone until you can trust yourself. And I know that, but as I repeated this in conversation, it hit me so hard you will never fully trust anyone until you can trust yourself. And then today I saw a post on Facebook by a teacher friend who talked about how she is so comfortable standing in her power on her own. On her words, she will never. People, please, if you're going to be in her life, be in her life. If you're going to leave, she will never be afraid of losing people, and that is my new strive.
Speaker 1:
I never want to be afraid to lose someone. If I am showing up as authentically me and if I am standing in my word, I never want to be afraid to lose people and if I have to, they don't need to be and anyone that makes you feel low, anyone that makes you feel like you are not worth it or not worthy, or that you need to beg and grovel or I don't even know. People have all sorts of ways of manipulating to make you feel bad, have something going on inside them, they are looking for some sort of validation, they are struggling with something in themselves. Their journey on that incline. They are looking around, they are judging other people, they are stopping. They weren't even kind of prepared.
Speaker 1:
You have to remember in order to really show up in your life and be fully you and please understand I have lots of flaws around this the more you trust yourself, the more you will trust others. The more you trust yourself, the easier it will be to get to the top. The more you trust yourself, the more you will know when to drink water. The more you trust yourself, the more you'll understand when it's time to sit and reflect and be quiet. The more you trust yourself, the more you will cheer yourself on when you're feeling you just can't do it. So Manitow Incline and Manitow Springs I highly recommend. It's so amazing. The view from the top is always worth it. Let's move into 2024 in a different mindset. Learn how to trust yourself. Learn how to stand on your word and reflect on your actions and learn from them. There are way too many good people and way too many good things in this world to get hung up on hate. Have a beautiful day, go outside, drink some water and sit in the sunshine Till next time.