29/09/2025
One year ago today I started to climb Africa’s highest mountain and the tallest free standing mountain in the world with 14 wonderful people.
One year ago today I stood at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.
This photo is me at the second camp with the summit behind me.
I learned so much about myself, about life and about how far I’ve come on my journey.
One of the lessons I learned is pertinent in my life right now.
Pole pole.
Translates as Slowly slowly in Swahili.
Your guides say this to you constantly. You can’t just race up the mountain. You must take it slowly, take time to acclimatise to the altitude.
You take one small, slow step at a time.
Many of my group had watched videos that people shared of their climbs.
I didn’t. I didn’t feel I needed to. I felt that knowing what was coming would probably ruminate, making me anxious. I heard Baranco Wall more times than I felt comfortable with 😅 I think if I’d have seen it prior I might have decided to give up before I even started.
But I took the view that as long as I put one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, I would reach the top. By the time I got to Baranco Wall it certainly looked terrifying but I was there, all I could do was carry on… one step at a time.
I conquered it all.
And I loved every minute of it.
How do you climb a mountain?
One small step at a time.
Just keep walking.