MIDDLE AGEish
Authentically and unapologetically keeping it real, discussing all things Middle Age (ish), when metabolism slows and confidence grows. Middle Age(ish): A time of transition from dreaming of who we will grow up to be and looking at the legacy we will leave behind. Listen to this podcast and join the hosts of Middle Age(ish) as they sit around with a glass of wine to discuss all things related to middle age with some amazing guests!
MIDDLE AGEish
Finding Your Mount Everest with special guest, Jennifer Drummond
Get ready to embark on an extraordinary journey with our courageous guest, Jennifer Drummond, a mom of seven turned renowned mountaineer. You'll discover how her life was dramatically altered by a car accident, prompting a radical reassessment of her life's trajectory. Now, as she fearlessly ascends the world's second-highest summits, she shares her wisdom on living a life driven by purpose, joy, and adventure.
From a mother navigating a bustling household to a thriving business owner, Jenn's journey is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Listen in as she shares her audacious decision to scale Mount Everest for her 40th birthday, challenging personal limitations and defying societal norms. We delve into her training regimen, her creative strategies for staying motivated, and how she documented her unprecedented journey in a captivating book. Going beyond climbing, Jenn unravels her toolkit for managing difficult moments and her dedication to living in the present.
Jennifer's story isn't just about conquering physical peaks. It's about harnessing the power of community, the importance of a supportive team, and lessons learned in the pursuit of personal goals and dreams. Join us as we celebrate overcoming obstacles, reaching new heights, and explore the transformative journey of self-discovery. Prepare to be inspired by her infectious bravery, unshakeable commitment, and her unwavering belief in the importance of living a life full of joy.
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Welcome to the Middle-Age-ish podcast, authentically and unapologetically, keeping it real, discussing all things middle-age-ish, a time when metabolism slows and confidence grows. Join fashion and fitness entrepreneur Ashley Bedosky, former Celtic woman and founder of the Lisa Kelly Voice Academy, lisa Kelly, licensed psychologist and mental health expert, dr Pam Wright, and highly sought-after cosmetic injector and board certified nurse practitioner, trisha Kennedy-Roman. Join your hosts on the journey of Middle-Age-ish.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Middle-Age-ish podcast. I'm Trisha Kennedy-Roman and I'm joined here today with my co-host, ashley Bedosky, lisa Kelly and Dr Pam Wright, and tonight we are joined with Jen Drummond. We're super excited to have her. She is just an absolute go-getter, a mom of seven, oh Lee Cow Business owner. She's got a book out now and she's. I'm excited to talk to you about the seven second summit, because that was and that is amazing.
Speaker 3:We want to learn all about it.
Speaker 2:Just a high achiever but has a really great alloc on life, and so we are excited to learn from you this evening. So thank you for being here, jen, I'm excited. Thanks for having me. So we were talking, first of all, we were talking about having all of us have a lot of dogs and kids too, but seven kids, that is enough to keep you busy. Right there it is.
Speaker 4:It is. It can be all consuming if you allow it to be.
Speaker 3:That's true, that's true. So what are the age ranges?
Speaker 4:So my oldest will be 17 on October 20, and then my youngest are twin girls that are 10.
Speaker 5:Oh my, oh my. So you've like seven in? Oh my gosh, seven years span, that's a lot, holy cow.
Speaker 3:So that's not just seven, that's seven in seven, that's a lot.
Speaker 4:There's a lot. There's a seven in seven, that's for sure. Wow, and just one set of twins. One set of twins. So I have five boys and then twin girls, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:So cute though. So they are the family princesses. Yep, yes.
Speaker 4:Thank God they came as a pair, so otherwise one might be in therapy for life. So we got that going for us.
Speaker 6:So true.
Speaker 3:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:Wow, Well, and that is something we're talking in a previous podcast about how really our generation is kind of the generation that tried to do both to have a career and to have the children. You really, I mean you right, there is a full-time job with the seven kids, but you've been a really successful business owner and just really thriving in the business world, and so I know that that you know balancing all that can be quite, quite a lot.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and lucky for me, I got into the business world right out of college and got into finance and learned how to leverage that and hired myself out of a job when I started having kids. So I do have a job, but I am more removed than some other people are, and even that's a struggle, right? I can't even imagine doing it more, and most people do it more than I do, so cheers to everybody that's in that position.
Speaker 2:When having a podcast, you always listen to your podcast and I think it's great. By the way, One thing you said, it really stood out to me and how you know, a lot of times in life and I'm very guilty of this you always think, once I achieve this, then I'll be happy, Once I achieve this, then I'll be happy, and you're constantly, you know, seeking the next thing. I've talked about that many times, and so I love that you hit on that, that that's something that you finally realize that that's not the key to you know, owning your life and to being happy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, you do not want an. If, then clause on happiness for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, if then clause I like that. So true. And so if you can tell us just a little bit about your story, because I think it's, it's a really great story and as far as how you've really given your life a lot more purpose and meaning and taking a break, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 4:So you know, I think we all hit plateaus in life and something wakes us up or something causes us to pivot. Mine happened to be a car wreck that should have taken my life and didn't, and instead it woke me up to the idea of I don't get to choose when I die, but I sure get to choose how I live. And am I really living right now? And I would say I was more or less going through the boxes and just checking off the things to do and told myself I would get back to living when my kids got to college, because that's when I'd have time to do it again and I just felt like I had to be waiting in the wings if something was wrong, that I could always be there.
Speaker 4:Well, after that car accident I looked at my life and like what I want this life on for any of my children and the answer was a hard no. And I'm like I want to demonstrate what a full body yes Looks like to them. I want them to see a mom who's thriving and loving life and being a good mom, and so that really caused me to pivot and start paying attention to myself again and what I was interested in doing and what set my heart on fire. And we even had a discussion about it. I said, okay, guys, mom's kind of been slacking on herself. I'm going to start doing some things, like I'm excited it's going to shift things around here, but we can have conversations around it and it's going to be messy, but we'll figure it out. And everybody's like okay, sure.
Speaker 2:Oh nice. Yeah, we talked about that before, just about how, as moms, we can often feel guilty for self care, but how really important that is to be able to be good moms, to be able to be good wives, business leaders you know everything that we do to be able to fully function. We have to take care of ourselves.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, we use it like I'm self full instead of selfish, and so am I still full to be able to help everybody else.
Speaker 3:I love that. I mean I do Like, like Trisha said, I mean we know so many moms that don't see it that way and as soon as, like you talked about when you do that pivot, I mean it really is life changing and you, like your kids, see it and they grow in that strength and that love and that contentment and that peace. It's just making that pivot.
Speaker 4:It seems to be so hard for women our age, oh, we think for some of us, yeah, and we think about it like when we're looking at environments, we're looking for environmental cues, like is mom happy? Okay, mom's happy, I have permission to be happy, but if mom is always, on hustle and do and check off the list and this is like what it looks like then like it's hard to for other people to be themselves in that environment because you have that energy in the space.
Speaker 6:I love the fact I'm a psychologist, but I love the fact that you said we're going to have a conversation about it. So, like you included the family, and not just like, hey, this is what I'm doing, which is what a lot of people do, right, like that's what I'm doing and we're have to adjust, but it's more, hey, let's have a conversation. This is what I'm thinking. How will you guys react? What do you think? And it's important, it is.
Speaker 4:it is we have state of the unions is what we call them.
Speaker 6:Freaking love family chat.
Speaker 2:There's an influencer on Instagram and I can't think of her name right now, but I watch her all the time. I have mom envy, which is horrible, but she just has it all together, but they have. She treats her household like a business because I mean, that's the most important business we'll have and they have family meetings weekly and I thought that was really cool. They sit down they plan out the week and you know just like if you have a corporate business meeting important meeting.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's so important to do that, so important to check in with your kids, but they're so versatile as well. I often find that with with children, like you think it's going to be so detrimental to them or it's going to be a huge upheaval, but they're really, really good. They're nearly better than we are at pivoting.
Speaker 3:Oh, I think they are better. I was like they are definitely better at pivoting, for sure.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean I went to climb Everest and I remember like my biggest hesitation was I can't be gone for my kids for three weeks, maybe four weeks. That's never happened. That's not okay. A good mom doesn't leave her kids for three weeks. And I had to wrestle with that limiting belief in my head. I'm like, okay, well, is there another option? And when I started getting curious about other options, I'm like like a grandma can come and this person can help and all these things can be taken care of. I went to the kids school. I talked to their teacher and I said, hey, I'm going to be gone. They might be off a little bit, can you give them a little bit of grace? And the teacher is like you're climbing Everest.
Speaker 2:I said yeah, see, I'm thinking you're better mom than me, because I would be more worried about the height.
Speaker 4:I'm like yeah, I'm climbing Everest. And she's like, can you come in and teach the kids about studying an Everest like goal? And then we can. And I had a tracking device on me while I was climbing, so they made this mountain and then the school could track me and where I was and we talked about goal setting and like everybody was super involved and when I climbed that mountain it's like the whole school is climbing, the whole community is climbing, Like everybody was involved and knew. And I came back my kids are like thrilled with me for a day and then everything was back to normal.
Speaker 3:Right. They're like can you go away again, like don't you have something else to do? Right.
Speaker 4:I'm the one who's like sitting at base camp with nothing to do like bumming that I'm not with them. They have all their activities, they have all their things going on, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it was actually like a really good experience for all of us because they got to see what happens when mom's gone and how many other people loved them and step up to the plate and they felt seen and heard by my entire community. It was a really magical experience.
Speaker 5:That's amazing. Let's backtrack because I'm on the world did you?
Speaker 2:have you always been a thrill seeker or liked a hike? Or how in the world were you hiking?
Speaker 3:A climber like how do you just be like I'm gonna do air climbers, yeah, like us.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, it was crazy. So I had climbed one mountain before. It was like a mountain in Jackson Hole called the Grand Teton. And when I was going through my bucket list in 2019 after surviving that car wreck, like, okay, what are all the things I want to see? Do experience become try? And I had this huge list of everything from sea of pyramid, climb a mountain, you know, put my feet in the water, and San Diego and in Africa and all these things right.
Speaker 4:And so 2020 was coming and I was turning 40. I go, I want to climb a mountain for my 40th birthday, because that looks like something that would be great to launch this next decade. So I asked friends that were into mountaineering if you could climb one mountain in the whole world, what mountain would it be? And the general consensus was a mountain named Amma de Blom, and if anybody's watched a Paramount Pictures movie, you've seen that mountain, because it's part of their logo, it has all the stars around it and it means the mother's necklace. I'm like, perfect, I'm gonna climb Amma de Blom. Well, covid hits and I'm not climbing anything. And I'm a homeschool teacher to seven children because schools are shut down and so I'm doing homework with one of my sons and he's struggling, so I'm giving him the proverbial parent pep talk we do our things. You've got this and he looks at me and he goes if we do our things, why are you climbing a mountain called I'm a dumb blonde instead of a real top end like.
Speaker 1:Mount Everest.
Speaker 4:I'm like Amma de Blom, honey, not, I'm a dumb blonde, what's that mean that's you.
Speaker 4:That's you. You got a lot of children. Yes, that little punk. So I looked at Everest. I called the coach. He's like yes, I can get you ready. He sends me a book about becoming an uphill athlete. I read this book and in the front of it there was a forward about a lady who got a Guinness world record for doing something in the Alps. And during my call with my coach I was like I don't know, I think homeschooling wasn't going well and I'm like if I could have done that, I would have gotten the coolest mom award ever. My kids learned how to read and Guinness world record books.
Speaker 4:He's like I'll think of something. Like, okay, fine, but I'm not growing pumpkins or speed eating hot dogs or any of those other weird things that people do to get into that record book. He's like no, worries. And a few weeks later he comes back and he's like Jen, I have the perfect record for you. I'm like okay. He's like I think you should be the first female to climb the seven second summits. I'm like seven, seven, huh, what? What are you even talking about? He's like listen, he goes. The seven second summits are the second highest point on each of the seven continents. They're harder than the first seven. It's only been done by one male, so you'd be the first female to do it. And he goes. Let's be honest seven continents, seven mountains, seven children it sounds like a jackpot. And for me, like after my car accident, I kind of had three things I wanted to do hard things, experience the world and inspire others, and I felt this pursuit did that. So I said yes, wow.
Speaker 5:Were you always athletic.
Speaker 3:Like did you? It's not easy, Like it's not just something that I think me let's just go do this.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I mean, I was definitely always an athlete.
Speaker 4:So, that foundation definitely helped.
Speaker 5:So how do you train for like? I know there's like where do we even start?
Speaker 6:With so many questions. How and when do you train?
Speaker 3:Yeah, right, exactly.
Speaker 4:So, the win was more of a struggle than the how Right, Definitely. So. I live in Park City, Utah, which is great because we're a mountain town which gives me a lot of hiking options and things like that. But time was an issue, so I would go to soccer games and I'd be that mom with a 12 inch step and a backpack full of water bottles and during that hour and a half game I'd be doing step ups on that step instead of sitting and watching, because it allowed me to be there for my son and allowed me to still work on my goal and Zoom calls. If I didn't have to be camera ready, they were done while I was walking on a treadmill at an angle right. Just, you get creative because it's what you want to do.
Speaker 3:I still can't, I just I can't get over.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't know if you heard what Trisha said, but I'm still laughing at what she said. She said I can't even climb on my peloton, but it's just so hard to find the time, and obviously the car crash probably was a huge motivator as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I need to learn right Like you're like okay, my friends are like well, if I want to hang out with Jen, we're going for a hike.
Speaker 4:So do I feel like I could today I'll call Jen and hang out right. If it's just it was a lot of that kind of stuff and just being very scheduled and very deliberate, because I mean I was afraid. Now that I look back at it it's kind of silly, but at the time I was afraid I was going to die, like, if I'm not in physical shape, I could be putting my life at risk, and I'm not okay with that Absolutely because that's what you hear about Like it's no, like this is no joke.
Speaker 3:So what was your training time? So, from when you made this commitment and you made this decision, what did that training time look like for when you set foot on that massive mountain?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so when I climbed the first seven second summit was in December of 2020 and I summited the last one in June 1st of 2023. So it took me two and a half years to do the pursuit.
Speaker 2:So you are now like you have the record. Yeah, yes, thank you Congratulations, that's awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I'm still not cool if anybody's wondering, still not cool, but that's all right, I am.
Speaker 5:Kids are very humbling. I know they are so humbling.
Speaker 3:We think they're very cool, that's really awesome. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be on there for the hot dog eating before. I go Exactly.
Speaker 6:So what's your next goal? Do you have a new like goal or?
Speaker 4:plan. I wrote a book about the experience to kind of share some of the lessons that I learned on the mountains to help people achieve their goals, and so right now it's promoting the book and doing speaking engagements and different fun things like that.
Speaker 2:And what was the?
Speaker 4:title of your book? Yeah, it's called Breakproof Seven strategies to build resilience and achieve your life goals.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I like that, yeah, and the breakproof is kind of playful, right. So I find that we all break because we pushed past our limits and that's where we hit a breaking point and it's in that break that we have the proof of what's working, what's not working. The time for reflection is this even the mountain that we wanna climb, or is there something else that we wanna do with our lives and just have these options to continue forward with intention?
Speaker 6:So when you got to those moments that were really hard. What helped you push through?
Speaker 4:Oh everything. I've tried every trick under the book, because your brain is like oh, you're tricking me, this doesn't work. So I had a fear of heights, which would have been a nice thing to know before I set out on this quest, but it didn't go well up until I started climbing which was awesome.
Speaker 4:And when you climb Everest, you've seen those ladder photos, right when the ladder connects the two crevasses. And I just remember sweating profusely when we got to this area and I'm like I can't do this, like I cannot do this, and so I had to stop. I'd give myself a pep talk. Might have played a little bit of like vanilla ice for a little pep talk music. Oh, ice ice, baby. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 4:And then, when it's time to get on the ladder, I just remember thinking, okay, the only thing that I can control right now is a safe step. So I literally said out loud safe step. And I do a step, safe step, and I do a step, safe step, and I do a step. And I feel like that blocked out any negative thoughts, being able to grab on to what I was doing, and it just allowed me to really hone in and repeat that mantra and just do that thing. Then we got to the other side. I mean, it was a dance party. I was so excited, like I was a child at Christmas, I could not and you get that confidence right. You're like, okay, I did that, scared, and I still did it Right. And here I am and guess what? We can be scared, but that doesn't mean stop, it just means like I'm doing the scared.
Speaker 2:So when you hit that, that last mountain and you hit that record, what did that feel like?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you get to the top and you take in the deepest breath you can when there's no oxygen, so you need it. But you take in this deep breath and when that breath fills your body, everything disappears. There's no time, there's no space, there's no distance, there's no separation. You're just aw, you're just one with everything. And then you exhale and you slowly start to form again and time shows up and separation appears and you sit with yourself and you realize that it's in the pursuit that we're living life and you kind of take your soul out of your body and you throw it back out into the universe and say I can't wait to find you next, and down you go to play the game of hide and seek and experience this world as best as we can.
Speaker 2:I love that I have to live vicariously, I know.
Speaker 6:Yeah, Wow. So what was your hardest? Most difficult was Everest.
Speaker 4:No, actually Everest is not the most difficult, it's just the most well known. So, okay, you know they all had like unique challenges. For sure, I would say Mount Logan was probably our hardest, which is unfair because Mount Logan is the second highest point for North America, so your home mountain should be your easiest one, but it's really challenging because you have to ski up it. So, oh, wait, wait, oh dear, you have to ski it because it's so long, it just takes forever. So you put these like felt things on the bottom of your skis and then there's no trail, right, you're on this huge glacier and really nobody's on the mountain. And so for you to take a step forward because you don't know if you're on a snow bridge or not, like you just don't know what's underneath you you take your ski pole and you poke into the ground to the left of you, to the center of you and to the right of you, and you hope that pole gets rejected back, because that means that the next step you take is safe. And then you repeat that oh my God, and you repeat that Wow, and you repeat that. And then you put bamboo sticks in to mark where you've gone. So you have a trail to follow back and when you build your tent you have to build an igloo every single time because the winds get so strong that you can't have the winds rip your tent or you're going to be dead, because that's what's keeping you warm at night, and so it's just so much work.
Speaker 4:You get dropped off and then you set up your tent, you build your igloo and then the next day you wake up, you ski some of your stuff up the mountain, you bury it so it doesn't blow away. You come back to your tent, you go to bed and the next day you wake up, you pack up your tent, you ski past where you buried stuff, you set up camp again, build another igloo, go to bed and you ski back down to get your gear that you couldn't carry all the way up because it was too long, and you just like inchworm up this mountain and you're reading weather reports, you're making decisions, you're melting water so that you can have food, and we did a three-man team and one of my teammates got frostbite. We had to be airlifted off with a long line so the helicopter can't even land on the glacier, like it has to drop a line that you strap a person to, because if it landed on the glacier, there's not enough oxygen in the air for it to lift off again. And so all of a sudden, now there's two of you left your friends injured and you're just like what am I doing? Why couldn't I pick like the seven nicest beaches in the world? Like what was that Exactly, I mean?
Speaker 4:I might have thought that, yes, wow. So it's just crazy. But where is my inch Logan? My Logan is in Canada and it's on the border of Alaska and Canada, but you have to enter from Canada.
Speaker 5:Oh wow, Nice.
Speaker 6:Cold. So how long did that take? That one took, like we were making record time.
Speaker 4:That one took 14 days and it's just long Like it's tedious and it's work and it's whatever. But we and it took me two tries so we tried in 2022. It was too cold to melt water with the burners, so Parks Canada pulled us off the mountain and said it was too dangerous for us to continue with the weather conditions, and so then, when we went back in 2023, we had entirely different weather, which was amazing because it was a lot more tolerable. But then we had the frostbite issue. Yeah, it took two weeks, but you know, it's a. It's a crazy dichotomy of when something's hard and you overcome it. It's such a high right, Like if everything was easy.
Speaker 4:you'd get bored and you want to want to play the game anymore. So that challenge is just enough to push you to your limits, and I think that's where living happens.
Speaker 5:But where do you go from, like climbing? I just like where did you get your next trial?
Speaker 4:Yes, yeah, I don't know. Yet I don't know. I will say that everybody asks what's next and I'm like you know what. I'm trying to appreciate what is Exactly. And so I'm not answering that question for another year, so that I can just learn how to appreciate the home.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, yep, it's amazing. I had to reflect on what you've done because, I mean, I'm sure it's quite surreal at the time when you're doing it as well. Yeah and you're sad Because you're in the moment. Yeah, you're in a moment of nervousness and worry and anxiety. I can just kind of imagine that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and then it's done right. And all of a sudden you're a little sad when it's done, because that was so much focus and so much energy and so much I don't know. You just had so much purpose and all of a sudden it's done. You're like wait, it's done. Now, what you know and I'm like now what is like learning the mountain right now for me is chilling out, like just being yes, yeah.
Speaker 5:Now you can check out the beaches.
Speaker 4:I'm in, I'm in, I'm sure it's going to take quite a few beaches to figure out what, once the night is when you made this announcement that you were going to do this.
Speaker 2:did you have a fear? Once you said you were going to do it, that you'd not be able to do it?
Speaker 4:1,000%. I didn't even want to talk about it. Like I literally am like, oh, we'll just talk about it when it's done. And because I started this pursuit in COVID, my friends are like no, you have to take us on this journey with you because it's the closest thing we're going to get to these experiences. And who cares if you don't summit? We have enough Beyonce's and people that get to the top. We want to know the real stuff that goes on behind the scenes and the making of these things and share that. I was like, ok, that's a good point. So I was scared. I mean, I was scared, but it's also like it's never been done by a female. So if it doesn't get done, it's not like somebody did it and I couldn't Just it hasn't done yet. So that kind of gave me a little window of wiggle room.
Speaker 2:So with your book you obviously you tell the story about. Could you kind of tell what brought you to that point and then kind of tell your readers the process of doing it?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I take the readers into the expedition, so every mountain is covered and we kind of extract one lesson from each mountain and then help them apply it to their own lives. So, for example, big mountains take big teams. So if you have a big goal, it's going to take a big team for you to bring that goal home. And if you're feeling tired or exhausted or just don't want to do it anymore, I encourage you to ask yourself like do I have enough people helping me to make this possible? You know, like when you climb Everest, you have Sherpas that help carry the weight. I had to carry that weight all by myself all the way up to the top. It would have taken a lot longer and it wouldn't have been as much fun. So if you have a big goal, like an Everest goal, do you have people on your team to help lighten the load?
Speaker 5:Do your kids share the same interest?
Speaker 4:You know they do. I'm going to take three of my boys climbing in Africa in February. We're going to go help out a chair there and do a climb there. They're pretty excited about it and my daughters are probably my best climbers, to be honest with you. So it's just fun to share the experience with everybody, because it gets you outside and it challenges you and you support each other in those times.
Speaker 5:That's amazing. Just imagine my friends or my family if I turned around and said I was going to climb about and they would all die of shock.
Speaker 4:Like who ate my mom.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mine would be like. Well cheers, mom, I'll see you on the other side.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, yeah. It's just incredible to me that you kind of like I know you said you're athletic and all that but that you kind of wake up one day and go, no, this is what I want to do, and you do it. I just that kind of perseverance and just I think that's never really appreciated in people either, that the amount of work that goes into it to fulfilling what you want to do it's. You can have dreams, but to actually make them come true just takes a lot of hard work.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I talk about it in the book a little bit too, about committing to the commitment. Once you say you're going to do something like that, that's that decision's made. Now it's how do we have fun doing it, how do we enjoy?
Speaker 5:it? And were you always like that as a person, though? Or was this something new to you? Because I kind of feel like the older I've gotten, we've talked about, like you know, when you're middle aged and you just get a whole lot braver than you ever did but were you always like this?
Speaker 4:I don't know. I mean maybe a little bit. I mean I definitely was driven if anybody asked you. But what happened after the accident is like I gave probably before the accident I was so afraid of failure and so like viscoping life that I'll just do it harder twice as whatever to make it happen. And after the accident it was like it doesn't even matter. It doesn't even matter, if I summit the mountain.
Speaker 4:What matters is that I got up there and tried it and I had the experience of it and it really changed my perspective and allowed me to enjoy the pursuit much more than being like we have to do this because I said I would you know, yeah, so yeah, it's just so inspiring Incredible Love it yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I love how you talk, you know, on your website and your podcast, about how life's challenges are, when you can really use those to and we've had other guests talk about that and use those to kind of catapult to to bigger things and to really strengthen yourself, versus, you know, being being break proof and letting it break you or or letting it make you stronger.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And here's the thing about sharing the journey when you're on the pursuit Like we love to wave our flag at the top of the mountain, like how many photos have you seen online of somebody like waving their flag because they got to the top? But the reality is, if you're brave enough to wave your flag down your and your entire journey, you're letting the world know, like, here's what I'm trying to do, here's what I need, here's how I can help. So when I first listed this experience on Instagram, I was actually saving Mount Kenya, which is in Africa, for the end, because it's a 20 pitch rock climb and, like rock climbing isn't my best thing, and so I'm like I just want a little more experience.
Speaker 4:But this charity reached out to me and said hey, listen, we have an ambulance that we're trying to deliver and, kenya, if you're going to go there soon, would you mind being the face of our charity so that we don't have to pay money to send somebody else over? I'm like, yeah, of course I'll do that. So I got to go over there and help deliver this ambulance. Well, that charity knew some people that would be really good for me to work with on the mountain, so they helped me figure that piece out and I just started training for that earlier. And so when people know what you're trying to do, you just start attracting things that help you get possible, and you have to wave your flag the entire time. I mean, it's just part of it.
Speaker 5:That's just great, yeah, I think it's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mine, that's a big thing that we we learn as we get older that it's okay to ask for help and and to have that team to support you, like that's really great.
Speaker 3:I think that's part of the lesson you know we always talk about like a take, it does take a village, I mean we're not, we're never meant to walk this journey alone.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think of those. It's also so important to show people the struggle and how hard it is to redo what you do, because I think there's such we're such an instant kind of gratification time. Like everybody you know you, even when you look at stuff like American Idol or all these things, you just see the audition process and then you see them become a superstar and you don't see the blood, the sweat and tears that go into every part of everything that you're doing.
Speaker 3:There's no filter, yeah.
Speaker 5:It's just so important to share the journey so that people know how hard it is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, and like when I climbed K2 in 2021, I failed the first time. What happened was is a person on my team got caught in an avalanche and died, and so, all of a sudden, I was faced with, like they offered me like hey Jen, do you want to continue climbing or do you want to go back down? And like continue climbing. We just had a teammate die. I'm going to go back down and help take care of my team. Are you kidding me? This bowing is always going to be here. We need you know. So I helped take care of my team. I flew back home. My kids came home from camp a few days later and they're like Mom, mom, did you summit? I said no, I didn't, but I had success. And they looked at me confused and I'm like listen, guys who we show up as people is way more important than anything we're ever going to achieve. Right, absolutely, and I was on the small end. This horrific event happened, but I am proud of myself on how I showed up and what I did, and I just want like this was the lesson. This is why this had to happen, so that people could see that we need to always put people over peaks and whatever our pursuits are. And what's magical is that I'm metabolizing this whole situation. I need to go back to K2 in 2022.
Speaker 4:I'm not really excited about going back to this climb because of the things that happened the first time. Right, and I get a phone call from somebody and they're like hey, jenner, you coming back this year? I said, yeah, I am. There's an individual that's been training to climb this mountain, but they don't have the resources to do it. Do you think you could help? I'm like, yeah, I haven't left yet. Let me grab some extra gear, come over and I'll help for sure. So I came back to K2 and I submitted as a third American female and 30 minutes later, the first Pakistani female stood on top of our country's prize.
Speaker 4:Because I helped and, if I had failed that first time, I wouldn't have been able to help the second time, right yeah. And so sometimes I think we get so caught up in our obstacles or our setbacks or our perceived failures when we don't understand that maybe the universe is using us for more and maybe this is just our first story and trust the process.
Speaker 3:Correct Trust the process 100%.
Speaker 5:Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite country songs is live like you're dying, and I think that that's how you were seeing a lot of people put off while they're waiting till they kids are in college or waiting till this. But to just really just take every day you don't know how many days you're going to have so to really try to live it to the fullest, I think that's great. Obviously, you are doing that big time.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes yes, yes, I live by the motto I do not get to choose when I die, but I should get to choose how I live. And every day is a choice, and I just have to keep reminding myself. These are the choices I'm making. Do I want to continue to make these or pivot?
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I love that. It's the journey for you too, not just the destination. I think we get so caught up in the goals and the destination, but really it's the process and the journeys that you went through along the way.
Speaker 4:You're on the top of Everest for 10 minutes, 10 minutes. You want that journey drilled into your head. Go climb Everest and be up there for 10 minutes. You're like man. It's a good thing. I loved all the things on the way to this point, because maybe 10 minutes.
Speaker 3:That's just a blip in time. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Matt. Well, you were super inspiring. I'm excited to read your book. I love your attitude. I think it's just a really good reminder and you did enjoy the process and enjoy the journey and not give up. That's awesome. So we will definitely include a link to your book or to your website. You've got your great podcast. It's really enjoyable to listen to and gosh, just you're the first. Guinness World Book for Records person yes, the world's book too.
Speaker 6:So yeah, yes.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you all so much for your time tonight. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 6:Love you, to speak to you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, bye-bye, bye, I am not sure what to do with it. Oh amazing, my heart was racing listening to our talk.
Speaker 5:I know.
Speaker 2:Just thinking about like we should talk about doing the steps. Oh gosh. That would be a big held to the note for me.
Speaker 6:Well, just the cold, and then of itself and like and the whole frostbite and like how do you train? That's the thing. Cause like, yeah, you train for like marathons, you train for triathlons, things like that, but when it's when it's that cold and you have that many obstacles and people are literally dying.
Speaker 3:It's just unforgiving, unpredictable. Not that, like you know, training for a marathon, or I mean, cause that is again, you do not see me running a marathon, or doing triathlons no. No, but when you talk to like, when you hear those stories of these people that have, that's amazing, they have done these summits cause you really are up against mother nature at its most brutal Right.
Speaker 2:How do you Pull, like, yeah, like. How do you To make sure it's okay?
Speaker 3:How long do you train for? And I wish I had asked that like cause, that's like how, like, how long do you train for that? So you, you had this accident and I totally get it, like you know.
Speaker 5:I didn't say like she trained very long, because she said like the accident was in 2018.
Speaker 2:Six months, yeah, she's.
Speaker 6:I think the most important is the team approach, like having people who have been there with you, have done this maybe before Girl.
Speaker 3:I'm saying a thousand percent, I know Hands down.
Speaker 5:But you have to be surrounded by like in your life. You'd have to be surrounded by people like yourself, because I know, if I came to my family and said I'm going to do this, they'd all go, you're crazy or have fun.
Speaker 6:No, you're not Cause, I'm not. No, no, no.
Speaker 5:But it would be met by no, you're absolutely won't be doing that Like that's ridiculous Right Like I'm not the option number two, checking mom into a mental health facility. Because, yeah, like I am, this is not I'm Cuckoo for Cocoa Pops.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but yeah, cause like that is again, and I don't there is no discount as far as like training for all these other things. A thousand percent, I mean I still I couldn't do those either, but you are literally up against mother nature.
Speaker 5:You're taking your life into your hands.
Speaker 3:So unpredictable, it's a twist of fate. It's like how do you train for that?
Speaker 2:When she said that all of her friends know if you're going to be friends with her, you have to hike, I was like we wouldn't have been friends. Oh no.
Speaker 6:I would have been like, yeah, let's go.
Speaker 3:I mean I'd walk around the lake, not in the cold.
Speaker 2:I'll text you and say go get them. Yeah, I'll time you.
Speaker 5:I'll sit in the car, my Starbucks and time you go.
Speaker 6:See, I would think I would do it. It's just the cold that would get me Like, if I go to ski, I love it, but then I'm like at the end of the day I'm like, oh, the fireplace and the you know hot chocolate or whatever. I think it's just like, that's but to be. Can you imagine being in that kind of cold?
Speaker 5:No, and.
Speaker 6:I love the cold. I couldn't do it.
Speaker 3:I don't and I cannot. It's brutal Like I have seen, like videos and stuff of you know the climbers, and like the wind gusts and it's just but I just, I do think you know it's such a testament to her spirit and just the sense of when you have such something happen to, instead of I don't want to say, but you know, like just get into that. Like, yeah, like exactly Like you act like you really do, like you're a phoenix.
Speaker 3:You rise you rise and you're like okay, this is, this is a new life, right? So I think that that's what's so important. Like okay, so none of us are going to go climb Mount Everest.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I see Pam like spinning her head now she's like I'm tight.
Speaker 6:I would, I would do if it were not for the cold. Literally, I would go.
Speaker 5:So I meant to do it next week.
Speaker 3:I'll do that one with you.
Speaker 5:I know I will do that.
Speaker 3:But I do love cause you know what. Everyone has a different Mount Everest 100%, you know and I think that that's what's so amazing about her story. Is that her literally Mount Everest was that. But each person out there that's listening, each one of us we've had our own car crash.
Speaker 1:We've had our own.
Speaker 3:Mount Everest, and I think that that's what I just so love about this process is that we find those little nuggets of it and it just continues to empower women to just push, push through and, you know, find their Mount Everest, whatever that is, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a. She gave me the title, yeah, and I was like what the?
Speaker 6:but she doesn't give up and she's she's very resilient and she's willing to say, like this didn't work out. But maybe the universe is telling me something else.
Speaker 3:And that's a message that every single person listening, and really every single person on this planet needs to hear versus.
Speaker 6:that was hard.
Speaker 3:I'm giving up it was like oh my God, maybe there's a. I got hurt and I had something really bad happen to me and I'm just going to stay in this, in this place, because that's really not. I just don't think that's what the universe is. It's not what it's meant to do for you. So, yeah, I just think it's. It's such a powerful message that you, no matter what life throws your way you got to you got to keep climbing.
Speaker 5:Keep on keeping up.
Speaker 3:Wasn't there a Miley Cyrus song about that. There we go, there we go Lisa, we can release that.
Speaker 5:I love that one. I do too, yes, I think, yeah, you probably need to release for him. I do. I will say I do think if you have seven children you can pretty much do anything, though Absolutely Again.
Speaker 3:Two children, seven dogs and I said a twin's, five boys and seven twins.
Speaker 5:She had seven children under the age of eight.
Speaker 2:Maybe she would climb the mountain.
Speaker 5:Maybe she, maybe that was just to get away, that would. That would, if I had. Okay, I will tell you this right now.
Speaker 3:If Ashley Badoski had seven children, I would, for wreaking I would have. I would have been the holder of that title.
Speaker 6:Okay. So can I tell you is this crazy that when she was saying she was at the game for her son's game for an hour and a half and she had the step with like the waters of the?
Speaker 2:back pack.
Speaker 6:I just figured that was like that's a great idea. Oh gosh, not me. I was like this is a great idea, I love this idea.
Speaker 5:No, I would still be in the car with my Starbuck's. I love this.
Speaker 6:I'm going to be at somebody's game With my T-Nose water bottle yeah. Sip, sip, come on guys. That's a great idea, is it not?
Speaker 3:No, okay.
Speaker 1:That one's turning on me now.
Speaker 5:No. But you know what that's your idea, you go to you and we will clap and we will cheer. We will cheer you.
Speaker 6:I was like oh girl thank you for that good idea. I love this. You're going to be that mom. You're going to see me at the Starzmille game when my little steps open down, opened to the bleachers.
Speaker 5:There's Pam. There's Pam Up her mountain.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, all right.
Speaker 5:Cheers to your mountains. Cheers to your mountains, yeah cheers to mountains and overcoming. Oh, and there's like the sand music, climb every mountain as well.
Speaker 3:There's so many songs. There's so many songs. It is Okay, yeah, mountains, cheers and that's it for today's episode.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you next time. Thanks for watching. Once again, thank you so much for joining us and we'll catch you in the next episode of the Middle Age-ish podcast.
