What Mountains Have You Overcome in Life?

We all have mountains to climb in life. Only we can decide how we’ll respond to their inevitable challenges.

I spent a recent Saturday morning with a beautiful group of women in an Honest Heart Conversations online workshop. 

As I looked around the digital room, I felt such love as I saw courageous women whom I’m aware are navigating challenging times – caring for elderly parents; healing after losing husbands; rediscovering themselves after divorce; and embracing teen daughters who are claiming their independence, often at their mothers’ expense. 

We all have our mountains to climb. I myself have walked many of these trails. 

Within that morning’s offering, facilitator Heather Barron, shared her story of climbing Mt Rainier in 2005, two years after the heartbreak of losing a child and moving on from her marriage. If you haven’t heard her story, you must. Her generous, warm heart will resonate, in some way, within each of us.

As we climb our individual mountains, how can we be both vulnerable AND capable, tender AND strong? How can we honor what has happened while choosing to be resilient? 

What was the message that embraced Heather as she navigated Rainier’s ice fields and responded to the uncertainty of those around her?

I belong here.
I am ready.
I am not alone.

Right on that mountain, suspended above a crevice thousands of feet deep, she was alert and tethered to the strength of this message. Being there had taken more courage than she thought she had, and she was able to lead and bless others that day from these truths that centered her. This message continues to inspire her work with others today.

During that morning workshop, we each reflected on our individual mountains. What came to me as I listened and made Heather’s message my own? 

I BELONG HERE… to the present moment right where and as I find myself. There’s a reason I’m here now and a beauty in accepting the opportunities that come with being fully present. 

I am learning to rest and feel whole and grateful in quiet, centered trust.I am learning to understand and embrace my job as a faithful visioner and cherisher of ideas - the What and Why. In recent months, I’ve witnessed the power of the Divine as the unfolder of the How, When and Where.

Since that Saturday morning workshop with Heather, my husband and I have moved across the country. Again. It’s the 17th move of our marriage, the fifth state. Once again, we’re in a new community. 

How long will I be here? Who will my friends be? Will the people I left behind remain in my life? I’ve seen individuals come and go in their season when we’re no longer within arm’s reach.

I have a great memory for what I love about people and the ability to keep them close in my heart. That’s my gift. And yet, I feel it acutely when that’s not as natural to others. I’m currently hiking that mountain trail of Resolution.

This may seem cliche, but for good reason. We must belong to ourselves.

For me, I find my belonging when I can still the doubt that arises with new circumstances and feel my oneness with the ever present Divine that doesn't change.

Poet Maya Angelou once said, “You are only free when you realize you belong no place—you belong every place—no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”

One of the most profound invitations that I’ve embraced this past year has been to let go of Ego’s comparisons or fear of others’ thoughts and to love my own full genuineness - so that I belong to myself, with honesty.

I AM READY… for whatever situation or relationship I find myself in. I don’t need another person, role or situation to complete me. I am innately whole and include all that I need, including the grace with which to listen, discern, and navigate the present.

Working with Clifton Strengths, an assessment that identifies one's innate talents, strengths and behaviors, I am discovering and honoring my own core values and gifts – what I naturally share with others. The beauty is that we all have them, and we, as women, can fully celebrate what we see in one another.

I’m humbled by my #1 Clifton strength – Belief – because, again and again, it’s shown me my clear purpose, and the resilience and resolve with which to carry on. I trust that I am ready, that I have the specific resources I need, that the ideas and people with whom I should work unfold with such eloquent grace.

The very fact that I belong in the immediate moment assures that I have what I need to fulfill it. And so do we all! 


I AM NOT ALONE… because I am one with my Source, my Divine, that Infinite Being that knows, cherishes, and guides me. People and situations may come and go, and even disappoint, but my most important relationship is eternal.

Within this Honest Heart community, I can be and embrace my genuine fullness. Knowing that there are others thinking about and striving for the same freedom and joy of growth is heartening.

Knowing that there are others who are open to honest, healing reflection about the situational journeys that we walk together keeps me company.

As I journaled my response to Heather’s inquiry about what our personal mountains are, something surprising unfolded. I felt a deeply buried ache resurface, a familiar mountain path ahead. 

It was time to give it light, then release it.

To be honest, I often feel alone. As someone who’s been a leader, I’ve headed up teams but sometimes felt on the outside. I even designed my own major in college and didn’t feel part of a specific department!

For me, being outgoing can hide feelings of separation. For someone who’s struggled to love myself, and to belong, it’s easy to question if others like me. This has probably been my most recurring interruption on the horizon.

There. Said. It’s out in the open. And if it resonates with only one woman reading, the vulnerability is worth it. You are not alone. You belong. You are ready…to move beyond such a limiting belief!

Heather told us that her doula pointed out that, while we give birth, there are hundreds of thousands of other women giving birth at the very same time. We are not alone. We share an understanding of the courage and strength required during such an incredible experience.

Thousands of us are caring for our parents, or wondering how to stay connected in our grown children’s lives…and so on. None of us is truly alone.

One woman shared that Saturday morning how grateful she was to give herself permission to tune in and be mindful of her own thoughts. To honor herself. To let go of what isn’t hers, what she’s carried around for others for so long.

This poem says it all to me. I love to share it with a group at the end of a deeply-focused time together. As we listen and look around the circle, we can recognize and honor the courage of honest growth that we see in others. We can know, too, that when we return to our daily lives, we will see ourselves and others differently, wherever we are.

I Have Climbed Mountains

I have climbed mountains since I saw you last;
You will not find me where you left me.
I have scaled pinnacles and seen the vast
Horizon of a higher point of view.
There was the struggle of the mounting way,
There was the longing to go backward,
Back to the known, the loved, the day to day,
The old and tried to save me from the new.
But there seemed no way out but up and on;
(There was a light sometimes that beckoned me)
It was as though it were agreed upon;
Now was the time and this the thing to do.
I have climbed mountains since I saw you last;
I will not find you where I left you;
No one remains in valleys of the past;
Each has her mountain, each her larger view.                                     
                                            – by Doris Quinn