“Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills” – Stevie Nicks
I know, I know it’s still summer. I’m not trying to speed time. It’s just a sweet reminder of the power of walking through the woods to achieve great heights, then turning to reflect.
What do you see? When you push yourself to new heights, what’s the upshot?
Better yet, why do we stop when trying to push ourselves? Why do some power on ahead at unimaginable odds?
There’s an old adage we’re used to telling each other… “Listen to your body.” Turns out that’s misleading.
Your body does know best and will react to physical exertion with smart cues to help you endure limit pushing. The misleading part is that the brain loves to hijack this system. Let’s just say that the brain is your very nerdy, overly cautious Marcy to your get-over-it, nothing-can-get-in-my-way Peppermint Patty body. In other words, your brain senses your body is going for baroque and tells you to stop and think it over first. The truth is that your body can do quite a lot more than your brain let’s on.
In the ancient forest and fields the brain’s caution was a good thing because we were in fact pushing ourselves to the true limit. But today in our far less physical world, those queues have gotten a little, shall we say, wimpy and nervous.
And therein lies the answer to why some people can do outrageous things with their bodies that the rest of us can’t even imagine. Marvel at how people are running 100 miles on Vermont route 100, all at once, for example. Check out our friend Lindsay Simpson, formerly the Agency of Education’s Physical Education coordinator. This past July, at 41, she won the women’s division and finished in the top 10 overall. It took her 18 hours, 2 mins and 21 seconds, averaging a 10:49 mile pace! Whenever things got “dark”, she said, she would simply count steps. One, two, three….
Then there’s the king of Crossfit, Vermonter Mathew Fraser, who just won the international Crossfit Games 2018 for the third year in a row. Besides being known as the Fittest Man on Earth, he’s supremely good at handling the pain of hard work — the Pain Cave, as many crossfitters like to call it. When the rest of us say, “I’m out,” Matt soldiers on telling his brain that he’s got this.
Then there’s Amelia Harris, my young friend who has limited use of one arm and both legs. This week she successfully ventured out in a kayak with smiles and cheers. Her summit was on a lake. Matt’s was on a podium and Lindsay’s was on a Vermont highway. And mine? I scrambled up the stairs onto an airplane to hold my mom’s hand at a hospital in Michigan.
We don’t’ know what tomorrow brings, so go ahead, become what we call “Summit Proof”… Push yourself so that you have the strength and the reserves to get through life’s challenges. We must always be in training, always working toward those moment to moment summits of survival and passion beyond the odds.
Plainly put, pushing yourself is a state of mind worth exploring. It’s exciting and produces endorphins to beat the band. Of course we want to be cautious but when it comes to adventure and exertion, as a whole, most of us are due for some body brilliance. Push yourself toward inspiration this week and past the brain’s outmoded stop gap measures.
You can and you will, one step, one weight, one paddle, one breath, one hand squeeze at a time.
See you on the PATH Ahead…
Gillian, Shevonne, Amy, Ashley and the VEHI PATH team.