Tea, Tales, and Tomes

Climbing Mountains, Literal and Literary: Shareez Bagaria Conquers All

• Natasha • Season 2 • Episode 1

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What if we could teach our children to face life's challenges with resilience, courage, and self-belief? That's exactly what Durban author Shareez Bagaria is doing through her captivating children's book "Luna's Journey" - and she's living these principles herself in the most extraordinary way.

Nestled in her warm, inviting home on Women's Day in South Africa, Shareez shares the fascinating journey that led her from being a mother with a background in industrial psychology to becoming both a children's author and a mountain climber with her sights set on conquering the Seven Summits - the highest mountains on each continent.

Throughout our conversation, Shareez shares practical wisdom for parents about helping children develop emotional intelligence, handle bullying, and build internal strength through affirmations. She emphasizes the importance of modeling the behaviors we hope to see in our children: "We have to demonstrate that to them."

Join us for this inspiring discussion about motherhood, creativity, representation in children's literature, and the extraordinary heights we can reach when we believe in ourselves and take that next step forward – whether on a mountain or in everyday life.

Get in touch with Shareez by: 

Following her on Instagram (@metamorphosis_life_coaching; @lunalearns_2309; and @shareezb). Luna Learns is available wherever good books are sold. 

Find us on Instagram @teatalesandtomes and don't forget to join us next time for more bookish wonder.

Podcast music by Lundstroem (Episode 1 onwards) and Audionautix (TTAT Trailer). Podcast edited by Timothy Wiggill.

Natasha:

Hello bookish friends, a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Durban author Shareez Begaria. Now I call her a Durban author, but Shareez is so much more than that, and you'll soon hear why. She welcomed me into her beautiful, cozy home, the kind of space that feels instantly warm and inviting, like a cup of tea on a rainy afternoon. We curled up for a long chat about motherhood, bookish things, of course, and her awe-inspiring dream of trekking some of the toughest mountain ranges on earth dream of trekking some of the toughest mountain ranges on earth. This was such a heartfelt and inspiring conversation and I can't wait for you to listen in. Let's go.

Natasha:

Hello bookish friends, it's Tea Tales and Tomes again, and it's Natasha, and things are a little bit different today. I've got a camera in front of my face, which is not something that I'm used to, but I'm always willing to try new things. It's a very important day today in South Africa it's Women's Day, it's the 9th of August, and what better way to celebrate than to chat to inspirational women? So today I have Sharice Bagaria with me, and Shareez's story, both on the page as well as in real life, is anything but ordinary. Shareez, welcome to the show. Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.

Natasha:

So before we delve into the pages of your book, as well as all the magic that you're putting out there into the world, I think let's give the listeners a little bit of an idea of who Shareez Bagaria is. And with that, if you don't mind, let's play a little imagination game. So let's imagine for a second that we are in a little bookshop cafe. You've got your hot drink in hand and, as I want to do, I'm going to come up to you and say so what's your story? What would you tell me in that moment to give me a glimpse about who Shareez Bagaria is?

Shareez:

I would say, first and foremost, I'm a mother. I always say that my most important role in my life is definitely a mom. I'm a mom, I love being a mom. Everything that I do and my why behind everything is because of my children.

Shareez:

And later on we'll see the why in the different aspects of my life was to demonstrate to my kids, you know, certain things, certain values, certain ways of living, certain perspectives of life. So I'm a mom and I love being a mom. I'm also an author and a life coach. I do have a background in human resources. I studied industrial psychology. I've always been interested in the human mind. I love engaging people, which is why I branched up into the field of coaching. But I think coaching for me more is impactful because I love to pour into people, I love to inspire people, I love to tell them how great they are, how much better they could do, and I love to tell them that they've got gifts that they can give to the world. And so that is me in a nutshell. I love to be a positive impact in the world and hopefully the legacy that I leave would be one of hope and inspiration and the way people should live their lives.

Natasha:

That's amazing, and you know it being Women's Day. The more I speak to women like yourselves, the more I realize how many hats women wear, and so effortlessly. You know you say you're a life coach, you have a background in industrial psychology, you are writing books and you didn't mention. One of the most amazing things about Shareez is your goal to do the seven summits.

Shareez:

But we're going to come to that.

Natasha:

This is a bookish podcast, so let's start with the reason why I'm here today and at the moment you're currently blowing up in Durban because of your new book, luna's Journey, and I'm so interested to know more about your journey as a writer because Luna, as a character, is not your average protagonist in any way. She is magical, like all kids, like we just spoke before I started recording, but she's also so deeply human. Can you take us back to that moment, that spark? Was it an incident? Was it something specific that got you putting pen to paper?

Shareez:

So, just like you, I grew up being surrounded by books and libraries. My dad was a principal and he was a voracious reader. He would sit um and just read and and introverted and just read like three to four thick books every, and his idea of spoiling us or taking us out was a trip to the library. That sounds very relatable. So we just loved books growing up, but I never thought I had a creative side. I love to read, I really love to read.

Shareez:

I even still enjoy reading, but I, you know, when I reached potty, I just thought that there's got to be more to life. I can't just be. I tick the box of being a great mom and wife and working and whatever. There's got to be a little bit more to who Shareez is. And I never thought I was a creative person and that's the beauty of it is that we often put ourselves in boxes and we think I'm not that type of person, so hence I shouldn't try. And when COVID came, my daughter was four or five and we had a lot of time okay, a lot of time shut down, time to bake, time to clean your house and so she had so many questions about the virus and there was no literature, there was nothing that we could say, okay, let's get this book and we'll learn.

Shareez:

And so that whole experience of her being this curious child wanting to know why where does this come from? Is a virus, why do we have to wash our hands? And so it sparked something there to say you know what? Here's the opportunity people would want to read it. It's interesting, it's content that is current, and I was so fearful because I never thought of myself as a creative person. I thought, oh, people will just think it's absolute crap. It's our inner voice. Just think it's absolute crap, just like.

Natasha:

It's how it's our inner voice, right, it's how we sometimes talk about ourselves.

Shareez:

Yes, and the beauty about when I read about creativity. The beauty about it is that you can learn to be creative. You're not born with it. Some people are not born, but you can cultivate that skill. So the more you practice drawing, art, learning, look at different angles, 3d, 2d, going for lessons the better you become at art or drawing. And I mean I think it's the same for writing the more you do it, the more you go into the characters, the deeper into the setting, the deeper into the intention of the book, the audience, the impact you want, the message you want to send out you come out with this robust product, and that's how I think it's developed over time.

Shareez:

So that was the first book. Luna Learns About Viruses, and that's where it started, and so, like I said earlier, I believe with anything, the more you feed it, the more it grows. And this has grown into now, luna's journey.

Natasha:

it the more it grows, and this has grown into now Luna's Journey. Wow so tell us about the book.

Shareez:

I read it but just without giving too much away. Yes, just a little bit about Luna's Journey, okay. So in my own personal walk, I found that you know, as life becomes more stressful for parents and for children, that we need to teach them and even with my experience with studying to be a life coach, being certified, I'm also an EQ coach, understanding emotional intelligence and why it's so important to actually send that message out to kids that elements like grit, courage, resilience we're not necessarily born with it, we're not great at it.

Shareez:

But, like I said, it's something that we need to cultivate and develop and get better at, because we are living in an insanely stressful world and the mindset that we adopt, or the mindset that we equip our kids with, will determine how they will embrace struggles, failures, setbacks, challenges. And so the intention of the book was to teach kids how to be resilient despite coming last in a race and everyone laughing at you in front of the school, or despite being nervous before you start to play piano on the stage. You know having anxiety or a worried tummy, dealing with those emotional, emotional elements of being a little child and going through that.

Natasha:

So, through the eyes of luna, little kids and parents and educators can learn how to manage emotions absolutely, and so I bought the book a couple of weeks ago, not only for research, because obviously I knew we were going to have this chat, but because I, like I said to you just now that I feel it's really important for us to support our local talent, local authors, local artists etc. And I read it and I loved it, and I read it again and then I left it on the dining room table. Now I've got two boys eight and six and I didn't really think that it would be something that they would be fully immersed in, because you know they're at the season in their life right now. They're reading life where it's all swashbuckling adventure. Give me that book about dinosaurs and predators. I want to see things eat each other. But I kid you not and I'm not just saying this because you're sitting here in front of me it was on the dining room table. We do a lot of our reading over supper and my oldest was like Mom, I see you've got a new book, can you read it to us? And I read it and I wish I could have taken a photo of them. They were completely enraptured and I know exactly what it is. Completely enraptured and I know exactly what it is and I'm going to touch on it now. Yeah, but it was so surprising to me, but it's on reread at the moment. Mom, can we read that book, the one with the affirmation? So they also learned the word affirmation, you know, and I think a lot of it is because Luna is centering a brown character. So there's a character that looks like them.

Natasha:

Yes, and it's so important for children to see in the stories that they read, yes, people that look like them, absolutely. There's also the fact that it's set in durban, and you mentioned durban and it was so fascinating for them and it made me realize wait a second, it's not often that you get that. You might get cape town or you might get some, you know, you may get the kruger national park, but there's dub in there, and then they're relating even more and, most importantly, it's speaking to things that they are going through on the daily. Yes, you know, like you just mentioned, the nervousness, the worry, tummy, sometimes, that little mean kid, matilda, that's saying something in jest, but it's actually meanness, yes, so they want to read it again and again because it feels as if we are actually healing those wounds as we're reading. And that was quite fascinating.

Shareez:

Did you, when you were writing this book, know that you were going to connect with children in this way, definitely because the experiences of luna in this book uh, a few of them are actual incidents that happened and through her journey, starting off in big school, you know what it's like going from little school to big school. Big school is intimidating. New school, new friends, uniforms new teachers.

Shareez:

I don't know if people would like me. It's things that kids would normally feel at that age. So it's very much centered around experiences. She has had emotions, she has felt and expressed yes. And how do we, as parents, help them navigate through that? Do we say, um, okay, let's try another school. Uh, okay, let's go back to small school? They have to push ahead. They have to dig deep. They have to push ahead, absolutely. They have to dig deep. They have to have courage and determination and wake up the next day and say I'm going to do this, I'm going to get over this.

Shareez:

And in response to your comment about the color of Luna, which, from the first book, I was adamant, it's something that was very important because I wanted to portray her as her. I didn't want her to look lighter.

Shareez:

I wanted her to look like the way she looks so that the children who look like her can relate to her. And it's working. Yes, and in both the books the previous books the illustrations have remained the same, which I think is very, very important. We need that diversity in books and everyone, even adults, want to say how do I relate to this story, how do I relate to this person? Where is the connection? That's how we impact through the literature.

Natasha:

The connection, absolutely, absolutely. It brings me to the fact that stories are not just on those pages, it's life. Like you just mentioned, these are real things that are happening and it's very difficult sometimes to have those talks with our kids because we always want to believe that they're happy, they're content, that they're not going through that, even though we kind of know they are. And you know a very polarizing thing, know a very polarizing thing, a very polarizing discussion is around bullying. Because my experience and I'm sure you as a mom and you've got kids in school, and I think a lot of the people listening have experienced bullying in some way or the other. Despite all the kindness campaigns in school and the anti-bullying campaigns, bullying is so insidious and sometimes it's not like what we see on TV. It's not this kid throwing my bag on the side, it's those little things you know. Sometimes it's friends being mean, being exclusionary. Do you think that it's on the rise, bullying that is, or do you think that it's just that we're talking about it more?

Shareez:

My personal experience through my kids. My son obviously went to an all-boys school and the dynamics being in those type of schools all boys, all girls is very different from co-ed.

Shareez:

He did experience a bit of bullying, but my reaction to it was not to take him out of the situation or rescue him. He didn't want that. He wanted the tools to be able to cope and defend himself in a way that's within the school's uh policies, procedures, not retaliating, and I always said to him that your mind is your biggest weapon or your worst enemy. So these are words. In this instance it wasn't physical bullying, but words. These are words. If you give them power, they have the power to bother you and affect you and insult you and hurt you. But if you don't give them the power, they cannot do anything to you.

Shareez:

And that's where the mental strength comes in, where you have to teach your kids take it in one year, throw it at the other, take it in one year, and the affirmations come in. Because the affirmations are saying I am brave, I am beautiful, I am loved, I'm a gift to the world. So when someone tells you otherwise, you're like stop you, man. I know my worth. Yes, I know what my mom tells me. I know who I am, yes. So it's to reinforce the person's worth, so that when someone starts to attack them, they know that it's not an attack on me and that strategy worked for him and I also said to him you show people through the work that you do, through the respect you command at school, through working hard, your accolades, your academic accolades or your sports or whatever, and then you prove that bully wrong. Because bullies, on the flip side, are the insecure ones, absolutely the ones that are not thriving, the ones that are coming from broken homes, the ones that are being bullied, the ones that are being from broken homes.

Natasha:

The ones that are being bullied, the ones that are being bullied at home.

Shareez:

Or parents are displaying those behaviors. So thankfully it hasn't been really bad and my daughter hasn't experienced any bullying yet. I hope it doesn't stay. I must say that the schools are very privileged.

Shareez:

The teachers are trained so well and they have wonderful campaigns. I mean, at St Mary's they have an EQ course at this level. That's amazing. We never knew about EQ. Nope, I only learned EQ two years ago. Officially EQ, what is it so at this age, they are learning that it's not just IQ, it's EQ that's going to get me through. So, conflict management, for example, they're able to navigate conflict management.

Shareez:

They're able to navigate. If I cannot fit in with the group, it's okay, I can find my own tribe, those elements of just relating to people, which is something that can be taught to kids.

Natasha:

Absolutely and has to be. It has to be be taught to kids. And you mentioned those affirmations and that's actually my favorite part of the book. So, right at the end, your end pages, where you have almost you can almost cut out these little affirmations I am capable, I can do hard things. You can cut them out and sneak them into lunch boxes and write your own for your kids because, like you said, this is something that they need to have within them, because we cannot change the culture, we cannot change that child that's insecure and bullying you. You can't change a mean person, but you can get stronger yourself, and that's what I've realized. I think my biggest realization as my kids have gone into school is that I have to fill them up with these things so that they're strong enough. Like you just said, it goes in the bad stuff goes in one ear and comes out the other, because they know who they so they don't internalize it.

Shareez:

Yes, the problem comes in when you start internalizing. Oh, am I really ugly? Am I really fat? Am I really bad at sports? Yes, yes. Or am I really stupid? Yes, you start internalizing. Oh, am I really ugly? Am I really fat? Am I really bad at sports? Yes, yes. Or am I really stupid? Yes, exactly, you start internalizing it. But if my, my mom says no, and my mom said that I'm amazing and she loves me, how does that child feel? And, on the converse, we know adults who have not been affirmed as children. And what is the product of that right? So, even more so, how much impactful is it on children as they get?

Natasha:

older. You know. I know how personal, how deeply personal the story is for you, because you know you're a mom and, like you said, these are actual experiences. Do you think that that brings additional challenges when you are writing or do you think that actually was what was actually good fuel for you for that creative? I think it's really great fuel.

Shareez:

I think a lot of people that write stories where there's an element of truth to it will say it's really good. It makes the story so unique that it's not things that were just thought up. You know, especially the last incident on the sports day is something that actually happened.

Natasha:

You know, I'm physically watching her, the saccharine so don't you want to run there and just like help them, right, that is the instant response.

Shareez:

You want to go there pick them up, and you have to hold yourself back and and think in your mind come on, luna, you can do this, you know. And it's teaching them other lessons that it's not about. I always tell kids it's not where you start, it's where you finish absolutely and finish strong. It doesn't matter, but you start something and you finish it also, you know. So there's different lessons that come in in that whole episode and that exact scene.

Natasha:

We sat at the table talking about it and I said you know, she fell. Everyone else probably went ahead of her. There were definitely people laughing at her, but she got up and carried on, because it's also not about always being first, absolutely it's. You don't always have to be the best, yes, but you have to be the best version of yourself, correct?

Shareez:

every day I think so and that, and that's also something so important to teach kids. I always tell my son you can never be great at everything. I've not met a single person that is amazing at every single thing Nobody on this earth. And that's where the unique gifts come in. Find your unique gifts, and it's okay to try different things. It's okay to the saccharis. Might not be the greatest thing I've done, but you could be good at the swimming or something else, but at least you've tried it.

Natasha:

You know what it's like. Yes, and you know. You know whether or not that's for you. Yes 100%.

Natasha:

And without failure you're never going to really succeed in anything. So Luna's journey, you know it's an amazing one, it's an emotional one, it's a spiritual one. It it's an amazing one, it's an emotional one, it's a spiritual one, it's a physical one in some ways, and I think in some ways it feels like a metaphor for your own pursuit of the seven summits which we mentioned earlier. Was that intentional or did those parallels emerge as you wrote?

Shareez:

So, like I said, when I was reaching 40, I was trying to dig deep within myself to see who am I really? What is it that I'm doing with my life? How do I want to impact the world? What are the gifts that I have that I want to use? And I was like, because I came from a sporty background, I wanted to do continue that. You know, spent a lot of time with the kids and I had some time, so I started hiking and I was really enjoying it for many reasons. You know it challenges you physically and mentally. You cut off from work and the phone and you're in nature, which is totally resetting your whole mind and body.

Shareez:

And then you know, I just found it. A lot of people try hiking and they absolutely hate it. Sleeping in the tent, it's cold, you know just the toilet situation and all of that. So I did a few overnight hikes in the Berg and I absolutely loved it. I don't know what it was about it, I just loved it. And then I said you know what, let me try something really big. And I said let's go for Kilimanjaro.

Shareez:

So Kilimanjaro is eight days in the mountain, no showers, in a tent, heavy backpack, high altitude, almost 80 kilometers, almost 6,000 meters high. It's daunting even for someone that comes from a background where you are physically active and you've done a lot of sport and training and you know what you need, what type of body you need to be able to get there. But it wasn't just about the body, because the hard things shape us mentally as well. They condition our mind. So that experience taught me a lot about resilience. It taught me how to dig deep. You know the summit night is extremely daunting. That summit day is 15 hours in total. It's eight hours up from midnight to 8am, another eight hours back down and you are flabbergasted, tired. You know altitude affects you differently. So I had my own lessons in resilience.

Shareez:

But the biggest reason why I did that was I wanted to demonstrate to my kids it was the first time I'd ever stepped away from home for more than one night. So it was eight nights away and they wrote me letters to read on the mountain. And my friends wrote me letters and I wanted to show them that you can take something hard, you can plan and prepare. And you can take something hard, you can plan and prepare and you can give it your best shot and if everything is in your favor, you can succeed. So how do we show our kids how to tackle different things? We have to do it ourselves. We have to model the behaviors we want to see in there. We have to demonstrate that to them. That is so true. So they saw that they were so like enamored and mom, wow, we're so proud of you. And I think the bug bit, the bug bit for climbing other mountains. And so obviously I went to mount kenya and then last year was russia albris.

Shareez:

So I would like to every year do one mountain and hopefully tick off the seven summits. God willing, If I can do it, it would be great. But in life you get elephants and you eat an elephant one bite at a time. So I don't think of Everest at all, I just think what am I doing next year? When am I ticking off next year? And then from next year I will see. So that's why I always say God willing, and if it's meant to be, then we will do it. But I will keep climbing at least one mountain a year and see where it goes from there.

Natasha:

I am shaking my head here because you know we are a hiking family awesome, we've done the Otter Trail, which is, you know, the five day hike.

Natasha:

We've done the otter trail, which is, you know, the five-day hike we've done. I did sani last year with my eight-year-old amazing. But this is extreme on another level, and I'm watching you sit here talking to me about this so casually and so chill, and it's just sinking in here that you know you're not just talking the talk about resilience, you're walking the walk. Yeah, so when you're telling your kids, or when you're telling your kids, or when you're writing about, just take that one more step. You know, it's in your mind, it's what we shouldn't believe, the things that our mind's telling us we shouldn't be. If, if we're on that mountain whether it's a metaphorical mountain, an actual mountain and we're telling ourselves I can't do this, you can actually say you, because you've been there, you know that's walking the walk and I think it's such an inspirational bucket list. My husband and I are always talking about doing Kelly, but for us at the moment it's just talking the talk.

Shareez:

You should. But the beauty of doing hard things is that you never know how strong you are. You never know what you're made of until you take that plunge, because you're always going to sit on the fence and say I'd like to, I'd like to I'd like to right, and then call me in a couple of years.

Natasha:

But I'm just interested just from a hiking perspective and I know I'm going off a tangent in the tea tales and tomes podcast but I would love to know what your preparation for these hikes are. How do you juggle mom life right to life, right to life and the pursuit of these seven summers? Because every mom that you speak to will often tell you how they don't have time. You know, there's the mental load, there's the physical load, there's the chauffeuring, the kids, but then there's also work, your own work. So how do you juggle that and how are you preparing for your next hike?

Shareez:

So I watched a really nice video on YouTube and it was so weirdly illustrated by a man. He said we are all juggling these balls. Okay, some of them are plastic and some of them are glass. All right, the glass ones you can never drop. You can never drop your work, because that's money. You can never drop your kids, because that's your life, that's who you are and part of why you do what you do.

Shareez:

And so there's other things that people have as non-negotiables in their lives. Right, it's different for you, it's different for me, and so sometimes the balls get, get dropped, sometimes I don't wash my hair for days, my nails are not done, we eating take out one or two nights and you know the house is a mess because the maid hasn't rocked up, and that's okay. But the non-negotiables remain, and for me, I train every single day, you know, every single day, without fail. Even the trainer says it's a rest day. I do something physical, so that's done there.

Shareez:

And in terms of the writing, so I mean behind the scenes, you put a few words together. I mean I do have something else planned for next year. So, as and when ideas pop up, you jot them down and you know you get a bit of inspiration and you write things and you put them together, but never losing focus of the bigger picture, even though you have the smaller day-to-day things. You know, and it's important to say no to a lot of things, things that waste your time, don't align with where you see yourself, where you want to go. Is it infringing on my family time or is it just going to be, you know, frivolous conversation, absolutely. People waste a lot of time, and I love Arnold Schwarzenegger. I posted a video about him the other day. He's just so straight-talking. He's like you want to be a wussy. You say you don't have time for the gym. You've got 24 hours in the day. You can't spend one hour for the gym, and people spend four and five hours on social media watching other people's lives. So time management is critical. I've become so mindful when I turned 40. I've only got maybe 30 years, if I'm lucky to be impactful, to do the things I want to do.

Shareez:

And so it became something that was always at the back of my head that I don't have time. We think we have time, we think we have time. That's my head that I don't have time. We think we have time. We think we have time. That's so true. We don't have time. We have to make the most of the time we have, and time is the most important commodity that we have. I always tell my kids, as young as they are. My daughter first guessed it and I was like what is the most important resource we have? She was like is it family? I was like no, no.

Natasha:

Good ones, good ones. Nice choice, I was like Luna, it's time. How we use our time is going to determine how impactful we are and how we use our time also tells you who you are.

Shareez:

Tells you who you are, tells you who you are absolutely laziness. You know, tv is good. It's all about a balance, but, yet again, the non-negotiables like you probably have non-negotiables as well with your home, your family, um, and that those kind of things help you to go forward. You know, I spoke yesterday at an event and I said to the ladies your husband's not gonna say to you oh tash, you had that dream of starting that podcast. Here's the mic, here's the camera. I'm going to drive you there. I'm going to drive you there. You have to be the driver. You have to say this is what I want.

Shareez:

That's what I did. There are things that I want and I will get them done. No one's going to tell me I should do them, or push me because it's something that I want. You have to be the driver. That's so true, so that's how you get things done in your life is to you have to be the driver. The motherhood role is never going to go away, Absolutely.

Natasha:

You know it's not at 18. It's not when they go to bed.

Shareez:

No, it's life. It's life and you have to take it and deal with it. And that's what makes us such beautiful creatures is we're able to deal with all of that? We're able to deal with the demands of nurturing kids, managing a home, working, having our side passions, nurturing ourselves, essentially. Yes, I'm also involved in my husband's business, which takes up 80% of the day, so it's running a big factory, but that's another story. But I mean, I just really make good use of my time, that's it and I think that's a very important point.

Natasha:

So I'm actually working on an episode now about moms and reading for themselves, because a lot of moms, when I talk to them or when I post about a book that I am reading, yes, but how are you finding the time? But, like you just said, you will find the time for the things that matter yes, correct things that are important. But also there are 24 hours in a day. If I read 10 minutes in a day, that's 10 minutes. Here we go, that's a chapter, there we go. You know, and at the end of the the week, I finished a book.

Shareez:

Yes, and that's what I tell people is the mountain mindset. What I learned on the mountain is it's. I wasn't thinking of the summit day, eight days away. I thought of today. My mindset was today I'm going to get from camp one to camp two, and tomorrow I will go from camp two to camp three. And yet again, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Shareez:

Yes, absolutely. So I tell people oh, you don't have time for reading. The book is 300 pages. You can read five pages a day. In a week you've got 35 pages In a month. You've got 140 pages In three months. You've done one book. In a year, you've done four books. That's amazing.

Natasha:

And books have transformed my life recently, so many. I mean that's another podcast topic altogether, I'm sure. What are you reading at the moment? We are getting there, yes, but I'm just saying, you know?

Shareez:

it's one example. Yes, People say I don't have time for exercise. No, I love that, I really do.

Natasha:

And exercising and taking care of our minds and our bodies. It's also it's so critical. We can't say that you know, my kids are so important to me, but then, at the same time, we're not living for them.

Shareez:

We need to live our best lives. So you can't pour from an empty cup, absolutely. You can't refresh your child when you yourself are not refreshed. You cannot inspire your child if you don't feel inspired right. So you cannot encourage your child if you yourself are not feeling encouraged or motivated or excited about life. So this is the problem that a lot of moms have, if that they've neglected themselves so they can't pour into their families and children. When you take care of yourself, mentally and physically, you give the best version of yourself to all around you. That is so true. And so when my kids know that I'm resting, don't disturb mom. She's resting, because when I do grind, I grind hard.

Natasha:

Yes, and when you are there, you're there 100%, I'm there 100%, and that's it's a very important thing, it's a very important takeaway. Just back onto your climbs, is there a particular one that terrifies you or excites you the most?

Shareez:

looking forward or behind? Oh yeah, looking forward there's lots that are so scary I don't need to do that. So the next, the next, uh, one that I'm eyeing is in um south america, and it's called Aconcagua.

Natasha:

Okay.

Shareez:

Okay, and it's the highest peak in South America. It's almost 7,000 meters, 7,800, somewhat, so sorry, 8,000 meters, 7,000 meters, yes, and it's 21 days of hiking, of hiking, and it's very, very hard, so you're carrying all your stuff for 21 days.

Shareez:

So on the first portion of the trip you have mules that help you take it to the base camp, then from the base camp up to the camps, up to the top, you are carrying a bit of it and you can also get porters and guides. But you know we have to do the things that scare us. We have to try. You know, last year when I went to russia, I've tasted failure, so it's okay. I know that it's not always about the summit. So last year when I went to Russia, I've tasted failure, so it's okay. I know that it's not always about the summit. So last year when I went to Russia, we were 150 meters from the summit and because the wind speeds were really high, it was minus 23 degrees, 70 k's per hour and people falling off the mountain.

Shareez:

Oh gosh, that's dangerous, yeah, we had to turn around and you know, eight days basically went kind of in vain. But I mean I will go back. It's not in vain. I've tasted failure, but at least I've attempted it. At least I can say I've been there, I know what it's like. So I will attempt it, I will go for it, I will prepare as best as I can, absolutely, and do it. Uh, it's better to try something and fail than to not try at all. And that's the beauty of life, it's the experiences that matter.

Natasha:

And you said, you know, you said it was in vain, definitely not in vain. Yeah, you know just 150 meters away. I know it feels like I went all this way yes, different country, freezing cold, and I couldn't get to the summit, but it's still such a huge accomplishment it is.

Shareez:

And I think there's a lot of learnings from that which I came down and tried and processed. You know, failure is a social construct. It's not failure, it's a learning. And how do we reframe when we don't get things that goes, are supposed to go away? How do we reframe that perspective? How do we take that negative, negative experience and use it in a positive way going forward? So I learned so much. I learned how to move in snow. I learned how to use ice axes, crampons, use ropes and clips and all the technical parts of climbing in snow. So from hiking to going to actually moving in snow, it's different. So there's learnings in the failures. Like you said right, it's not through the successes that you learn, it's ins in the failures. Like you said right, it's not through the successes that you learn, it's in the setbacks and the failures that you learn.

Natasha:

And if everything was easy?

Shareez:

it wouldn't be fun. It wouldn't be fun, and sometimes things don't always go our way, which is what I say to the kids as well. Things will never always go your way. Don't take them personally. It's outside of our control. The weather was outside of my control, so it's not a reflection of my effort or my training or my intention. The weather, it's the weather.

Natasha:

It's literally the weather. So that's true for so many other things in life. Sometimes you don't get selected. It may not be because you didn't perform your best, totally, you know whatever.

Shareez:

First, team dynamic. Second, you know this is you know you're talking to a mom when you know whatever first team dynamic second team.

Natasha:

You know this is. You know you're talking to a mom we know about. We know this is the same wavelength, right, yeah, so let's be okay. Firstly, I just have to say I think south america is so magical. There's so much history. It's just and good luck, thank you to you, and I look forward to hearing all about it thank you. Let's be honest now. Do you sneak books into your hiking gear, or is that just too much weight to be?

Shareez:

carrying. Actually, I did, but I never got the chance to read it, because you meet so many interesting people along the way and that's the beauty of going to these lovely destinations. There's all international climbers and then you know, in Russia we had a group of people from Belarus, india, russia, so there were about five of us and you just spend time connecting, chatting and yeah, that's amazing and I guess human beings are the best books.

Natasha:

Hey, once we open them up, absolutely All right. So let's switch it up a little. A little rapid fire storytelling, storytelling Tea or trail mix Tea. A book that you wish you unread, you could unread just so that you could feel it again.

Shareez:

So the one that was most impactful in my life recently was David Goggins. Can't Hurt Me and it's raw. It's painful as a parent to watch what a little child had gone through and how he emerged. He grew up in a really poor environment Parents were divorced, dad was really abusive, grew up very obese and working as a pest control technician and then one day just looked at himself in the mirror and said I'm disgusted by what I see. I know that God has given me so much more. What am I going to do with my life?

Shareez:

Enlisted to sign up with the US Marines, the Navy SEALs and if you know anything about that, it is the hardest thing, iq-wise and in terms of physical fitness, is the hardest standard that you have to meet to pass. And they told him you've got three months to lose 120 pounds, which is like maybe 30, 40, 50 kilos. I don't know. He trained, he did it. He became the best us marine. He's the most decorated in history. Apart from that, he became an ultra marathon runner Wow, guinness World Book of Records for the most number of pull-ups. He's somebody that when I don't feel like training, I go watch one of his clips and he starts swearing rapidly. He says if you're lazy, you're just useless, that kind of and I'm like, yes, let's go do.

Shareez:

This was so. It was so painful but so beautiful at the same time that you have to read it. It will inspire you to take that next step, to maybe climb Kilimanjaro or do something more, because he came from such brokenness and such a disadvantage. But you know, resilience, mindset, digging deep, uh, discipline motivation book talks about it all. Okay, I will definitely add a new york times bestseller okay adds to tbr.

Natasha:

Yes, and I think that's what I always say. I think is that it's okay if a book's going to hit those hard notes. Yes, as long as there's a note as well of hope and it seems that way with this, yes, yeah, totally a note of hope. All right, another one. Um, if luna was going to survive one of your mountain treks, what three things would she pack?

Shareez:

luna. That's a cute one. Luna would would definitely pack something sweet, like a sweet treat, chocolates. She likes playing with her hands and getting messy and dirty, so slime. Okay, you go up to her room you'll find slime stuck in the corner. For the last six years it hasn't been able to take it out, slime and she wants a looboo, so we're trying to get a looboo. I'm sure she'll take the looboo, just slime, and um, she wants a labubu. So we're trying to get a lot of labubus just as a little key ring on the outside of her bag, a labubu.

Shareez:

I find those creatures scary, but I also.

Natasha:

It's so creepy right. I have no idea where this craze came from. I'm actually really glad I have got boys. Yes, because it's not on their radar at the moment.

Shareez:

So her daddy's getting her one. I didn't tell her yet. Oh, oh no.

Natasha:

Gosh, if there was an author or person, let's take an author. If there was one person that you would love to climb a mountain with, who would? It be.

Shareez:

Nelson Mandela yeah, I cannot say the impact. I mean I never met him, read the book, heard him speak on TV, watched him conduct himself. After all of that, after all of the torture, the abuse, you know the trauma, the terror, the terror, the experience, the experience. But to still emerge, this peaceful, forgiving human that embraced everyone, that loved people, that walked the talk, that forgave, you know, and what resilience do you need to have to endure that and come out with such a forgiving heart and such a loving heart? So we would walk and talk the whole time and I would want to know how do you work through that to through people who try to kill you, hate you, imprison you probably the most hated man at that time, absolutely and how do you emerge through all that trauma, still being able to love and forgive and leave this beautiful legacy and fill us all with hope, and somebody that's so loved all around the world? So definitely Nelson Mandela embodied everything that people need today love and forgiveness and peace. I love that.

Natasha:

I think that's an amazing. It would be an amazing journey to take with him.

Shareez:

Yep Right.

Natasha:

Totally. And what I always ask and always interest in what was the book? When you were little, you said your dad was an avid reader, principal of a school, always with his nose in a book. But what was your book? If you can remember one story that made you a reader when you were little?

Shareez:

yeah, I think there were quite a few. I think early years is definitely like the Dr Seuss's I can't put a name to any of them but we all loved the rhyming absolutely words yes and the rhythm and um. You know the, the words that um, um sounded funny but made sense and stuck together and the illustrations, dr susan, then into the teenagers. It was definitely in it lightened and because I had brothers, it was a lot of the tintin that came in. Oh, interesting yes so we love.

Shareez:

Tintin is excellent. Tintin up we had so many Tintin books and the kids don't know who Tintin is now.

Natasha:

Tell me about it. I'm trying to push Tintin and Asterix and Obelix onto my kids, but it's just going over their heads.

Shareez:

Tintin was like we just gobbled it up. We loved the adventure and who he was and the humor and the captain and the snowy and he was and the humor and the captain and the snowy and the illustrations. It felt like you know, it felt so welcoming, so beautiful. Those big a4 books yes, definitely those growing up oh, I love that.

Natasha:

I really really do. Shareez. Thank you so much for taking us on this journey, on paper and in life. I actually have a very sad story to tell you now. I was at a coffee shop before I came here and I took a little picture because obviously I had to post that I was coming to meet you and I left the book in the coffee shop. So I will be going back here now.

Shareez:

No, no, no, no I have one, you can have no, no, please it would be my pleasure that barrister's like what is this woman doing?

Natasha:

why is she leaving her books?

Natasha:

anyways, I was like I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get Shareez to autograph this book and the kids are gonna think I'm such a celebrity, but thank you so much, you know, we started this chat, imagining ourselves in that little bookshop cafe, yes, trading stories over tea, and it's been. It's felt like that. It felt like old friends just chatting to my listeners. Listeners, grab a copy of Luna's Journey. Trust me, you are going to be amazed, your kids are going to love it and it's going to spark the most amazing conversations with your children.

Natasha:

Follow Shareez's literal as well as her literary climbs and remember stories themselves are the mountains that we climb. Until next time, stay bookish, stay bold and, as always, join us next week for more bookish wonder. Thank you, wasn't that such a wonderful conversation, bookish friends? A big thank you to Shareez for opening her home and her heart and for sharing her stories with us. If you'd like to know more about her work or follow along on her incredible journey, you'll find all the links in the show notes. And, as always, thank you, bookish friends, for tuning in to Tea, tales and Tomes. Don't forget to join us next time for more bookish wonder.

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Natasha

Host
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Timothy Wiggill

Editor