As we are in the home stretch for 2023, I wonder if you are taking time to really take inventory of this past year. Because before we start planning for the upcoming year, I offer that we need to assess both our current habits and our deliberate practices, and how we chose to show up this year.
The question I feel needs to be asked is: Has what I’ve done this past year taken me closer to the mountain, or has it moved me further away from it?
It’s also the question we need to pose as we start to think about Future Self as we move into 2024, and how we want to 10x our life and business.
But, first … what is the mountain?
The mountain is a metaphor for life and that which we desire most. It’s the big dreams, the ones that seem as if they are impossible to achieve. It’s the climb to the summit of our next level … our 10x move.
As Miley Cyrus wrote in her song, The Climb:
I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming
But there’s a voice inside my head saying
You’ll never reach it
Every step I’m taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I, I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb
You see, the mountain represents the climb.
It’s what moves us out of our current comfort zone and state of complacency, and out of the status quo. It’s what pushes us to strive for more, to stretch, to fail, to falter, and to grow.
For what doesn’t grow us, kills us. We are either investing in our next level, our own 10x, or we are becoming more and more irrelevant. We become stagnant and we begin to die otherwise, from our soul first. The mountain represent that which we are aspiring towards and our future self.
When we reflect on the past year, we need to get honest with ourselves. What habits (those automatic rituals and practices that often hold us back) kept us playing small this year? Where did we move towards the mountain? And, if we are really being honest, where did we hold ourselves back?
Where did we implement deliberate practices (those efforts that require our presence and clear intention) that were aligned with moving towards the mountain? Where did we fall short?
It’s only when we pull the lens back on the stories and excuses we tell ourselves that we can see the truth for what it truly is.
In order to look forward into the upcoming year, it’s imperative that we access the truth of this past year. Most of us get really good at playing into the narrative we keep on a loop in our mind. We convince ourselves that we are really doing the things that align to move us closer to the mountain.
When, in fact and in reality, that is far from the truth.
We waste a lot of time and energy on the low-hanging fruit and the small goals. We push off our dreams into a place of “tomorrow.” We hesitate and procrastinate, believing that “someday” we will live our purpose. We spend the majority of our time doing what’s urgent, not what’s important.
When we look at the mountain and assess our own journey, we realize we are, often times, moving further and further away, and that we’ve lost site of the mountain, itself. We keep grinding and hustling, essentially going nowhere, like we’re stuck on an endless hamster wheel. Or, we find ourselves going backwards, reliving our past triumphs over-and-over again.
The point being is that we don’t end up moving forward. We stop growing, striving, and thriving. We get complacent and we get stuck. We allow all the external noise to take over, and we stop listening to the whisper within. The whisper knows what the mountain is. The whisper tells us who our future self wants and needs to be. The challenge is that for most of us, the noise is too loud and we have forgotten how to tune it all out and really listen.
The mountain, while challenging to climb at times, as it requires a deeper level of commitment and courage, is the pathway that leads us to the transformative power of nature and provides a way to reconnect with and restore our own sense of inner peace, Ultimately, it’s our pathway home.
The mountain is the symbol for hope.
It signifies the climb above the noise, the scarcity mindset, and the belief that this is all there is. It represents our ability to open up our truest potential and to tap into the infinite realm of possibilities. The mountain is about accessing more joy, love, peace, and fulfillment.
So, when you evaluate this past year, what took you closer to the mountain? What pulled you away from it? And, what will you reset and refocus for this incoming new year? Who is the future you waiting to shine through? What will it take for you to set her free? What deliberate practices will move you towards the mountain? How will you commit to them?
The mountain then become a metaphor for your own freedom.
Is what you are committed to moving closer to the mountain or pulling you further away? Isn’t it time for you to explore that question?