T.H.U.R.S. #9

Hola and welcome to The Summit, my biweekly newsletter where I share my unfiltered thoughts on navigating the peaks and valleys of adulthood.

My mission is to question everything, grow every day and have fun along the way. The Summit’s mission is to invite you to do the same.

Today: T.H.U.R.S. #

Thoughts:

• Something light:

I was reminded of this earlier in the week when I was feeling a little unmotivated. Similar to what I wrote about in the article, When Motivation Runs Out, it all comes back to your habits.

You can have the biggest, craziest and most ambitious goals in the world, but if you don’t build systems (habits) to work towards these goals, you probably won’t reach them!

The systems don’t need to be crazy (you don’t need to rise and grind at 5am every morning), but they do need to be consistent and moving you in the right direction.

• Something heavy:

Back to the podcast episode I have been speaking about lately (Arthur Brooks on Modern Wisdom), I loved this Brook’s quote. He spoke about how this can be one of the most damaging lies that we tell ourselves, others and children!

How many times have you been told that you are perfect just the way you are? Or told someone else?

Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t an evil thing to say 🤣 - it is obviously a nice reassuring compliment; however, there is a downside that is often overlooked… it leaves no room for growth.  

There are infinite ways that everyone can continue to grow and develop every day, and we all know that really, no one is perfect. So, why do we keep telling each other we are? Subconsciously, it discourages us from making positive changes because, ‘we are already perfect’ 🤔!

If you want to listen to Brook’s talk about it, check out the episode around 1:24!

Highlights:

My favourite thing I learnt this week: Success ≠ Happiness

Still from that same episode, Chris Williamson brings up this really interesting insight that often, some of the most successful people are the saddest.

The irony is that so many of us assume that being successful - making money, gaining power and gaining admiration (Thomas Aquinas’ false idols) - will make us happy.

We think that if we focus on success, happiness will come in its wake. Then, we end up sacrificing the thing we want, happiness, for the thing we think will get it, success…

It even sounds convoluted!

I know I shared this a while ago, but I can’t think of a better example of this, than the story of the Mexican fisherman.

Uplift:

Something uplifting that I stumbled across and want to share:

First and foremost, please take this with a grain of salt! Remember, Red Bull doesn’t actually give you wings - don’t be an idiot.

With that out the way, I actually love this light-hearted motto. It is a great excuse to be a ‘yes-man’ and do things for the plot! If there isn’t much to lose (this does not apply when climbing mountains), go for it. Worst case scenario you have a funny story to tell your mates - gotta keep the gc alive somehow!

Reflect:

A question I asked myself this week:

❓️What piece of advice have you given friends/family that you could use yourself? 

💁‍♂️ There are many examples I could share, but a recent example would be to ‘stop stressing about things outside your control, what’s done is done’.

What I’m really trying to get at here: it can be super easy to give advice and hold your friends/family accountable, but not yourself. Try to treat yourself the same way you would a friend. 

Summit:

A challenge I set myself: Cascade Mountain and Bald Eagle Peak!

As I mentioned last post, that big bad challenge of the week was to summit Banff’s big beauty - Cascade Mountain. We did that, and for the most part it was blast (pretending I didn’t lose my favourite sunnies down a cliff 🥹)! I made a little video of our experience:

@gabriboo992

22kms, 1700m gain 🤝 Cascade Mountain For the blog hehe

However, a week is a long time. So, after a few days of rest, I also managed to wrangle some friends to come with me and finally conquer Bald Eagle Peak (the mountain that taught me to trust my gut and turn around)! Now this was fun - exposed scrambling, crazy inclines and scree! Check it out (yes another TikTok 🫠):

The challenge this week: TBC. The weather is getting colder, so I am thinking maybe a five-minute cold plunge in the river.

What do you think?

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