The Climb - Conquer Your Mountain

08/12/2020

5 Universal Truths of Life (Jay Shetty)

1- Purpose doesn't always look like purpose. 🤔

2- Choose to put yourself out there again and again. 🧘

3- What you cannot find within you, you will find in nature. ⛰️🌲

4- Nobody is putting a magnifying glass to your mistakes. Just you! 🔍

5- Your inner life defines your outer live. Self love is the greatest agent of change. 💕

09/11/2020

Just Breathe

Ever feel so overwhelmed that when you try to get things done you feel like you are moving in reverse?

For the last month or so, that has been me. There is so much going on at home including my new job (for I work from home, and hoping for a permanency - I'm in an interim... no pressure, right?) I felt like I just didn’t know what to tackle first. To add, because I have been finding great deals for my renos but the jobs are not being completed as fast as "stuff" is coming in , items are piling up everywhere!! So, I fix this, work a bit on that, make sure the kids are fed and happy... but feeling like I'm not moving forward.

Every other weekend (when I don’t have my children), I go to the mountains to run. Two week ago, for the 1st time since I fell in love with trail running, my alarm went off and I didn’t feel like going. I also told myself that I should stay home and advance my work. Well, guess what! I barely got anything done.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later, still as overwhelmed, I told myself: “ Just Go!” And that is what I did. And that is just what I needed. With temperatures in the double digits and sun in the forecast (in November? In Quebec? I know, right?), I couldn’t let that pass me by.

I didn’t care about my pace, time and whatever stats you get from sports watches (mind you, I barely do when I am in the mountains – but that's another story). I just wanted to be there: in the mountains in nature, have the sun shine on my face, feel the breeze… to take a step back and breathe. For me, trail running and going to the mountains is “Me Time”. It is “my place” that allows me to find balance, to take a look at the big picture, to reset the counter to zero and to reorganize my thoughts. I may not have all of the answers I seek by the time my run is through, but I feel like, especially after this weekend, that I am better able to see the bigger picture and to regroup and reorganize, to move forward with all that I need to do and have done. I feel calm and rejuvenated. Being in the mountains and nature brings me serenity.

And you? Do you have that special “go to” place when things feel a little crazy?

10/10/2020

Today is International Mental Health Day 💚

Be the light in someone's darkness. Ignite a light so they too can see. This simple gesture of kindness will not only make a world of difference, but bring significance to your lives.

(📸 Photo taken @ sunrise during a trip in 2017)

09/08/2020

"The more you are grateful for what you have the more you will have to be grateful for."
~Zig Ziglar

This morning, I went for one of my first runs in my new neighbourhood... 🏃

From the moment that I decided that "I needed" to sell my house to the moment a "For Sale" sign was planted in my yard, 4 years had passed... 4.

The thought of moving closer to the city didn't appeal to me what at all. I had a big yard on a quiet street, 2 street blocks from the lakeside city park (with access to the water, beach volleyball and a skate park). Bunnies 🐰and 🦨 skunks freely roamed the properties, and blue jays and cardinals visited frequently. I figured : " no way that I will get that in the city!."🏬
And, as it is, humans are creatures of habit. I had my running paths, my favorite stores (and where everything was and how long it took to get there whether on foot or by car,), etc..
But, a better quality of life for the kids (and as it turns out, for me as well) was the priority.

Fast forward to this morning, during my 13km run, I got to explore/discover a bit of my mew hood. I can across beautiful parks🌲 ( both with water to cool down 😉) with many bikers, runners, walkers and people on the water 🛶(and that early in the morning!!), old garbage cans painted and used as planters🌺, art work to hide construction sites, the marina🛥️...
Everytime I go out and about in my mew area, it is as though the universe is validating that I made the right decision.✨

Recently, someone asked me: "How are you liking living closer to the city? Are you getting used to it?' I answered:" I'm happy! It's just missing mountains... but that's what the weekends are for!"

How can I not be? Green spaces, the water, that much closer to the mountains, my boys already hooked up with friends and they can walk or bike to their dad's place and school...
I could focus on the things that bother me or that I dislike about being closer to the city, but as of yet, there aren't many and the good outway it by far (I've also been in a happy place for some time now - so what came first, the chicken 🐔or the egg🍳? 🤷)

I am overflowing with gratitude!🙏

04/07/2020

https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=35&emc=edit_ru_20200704&instance_id=19967&nl=running&productCode=RU®i_id=86882734&segment_id=32614&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2Fc07e1771-a999-4cee-b3df-96ca247a870c&user_id=eee9fac63002b8607537737a5b6c4c65

I should have been running a 50K today. I should have been spending my Fourth of July completing that race in the Finger Lakes National Forest in upstate New York, then celebrating my accomplishment with a pizza and a beer (or three), followed by glowing in the satisfaction of a job well done — or...

03/07/2020

https://www.humnutrition.com/blog/importance-of-alone-time/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=engagement&utm_term=awareness_alone&utm_content=blog_alone

You’ve likely heard of—and almost surely have experienced—the many benefits of sharing quality experiences with friends and loved ones. Less …

01/07/2020

For many of us, I don't think we need studies to tell us this... but always interesting to read ;)

https://blog.aboutmybrain.com/the-profound-effects-of-nature-on-our-brain-health

Research has shown the many benefits of spending time in nature, but many people still don’t seem to be paying attention.

22/06/2020

“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

16/06/2020

Are you a Happy Runner?

I cannot express how much I ❤️ this book!! 📚
I have mentioned many times to several people of my sentiments regarding trail running 🏃and what my WHYs are. Up until reading this book (ok, I am half way through), it was just how it was for me. But this book explains the why of my whys , and in ways that I never could (basically because I never knew why it was I felt the way I did about running). It just makes so much sense to me!

And, not only are the author's thoughts and statements backed up by studies, quotes from psychiatrists, philosophers, champion athletes and so on, what they "preach" about in their book can be applied to all aspects of our lives.

(**Talking about the authors, David and Megan Roche, I was in a zoom conference with them last night as part of the Sinister Sports- Northstar Trail Running (virtual) Festival. 😊 There a great people doing great things for the trail community! )

09/06/2020

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature ... the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."
~Rachel Carson

12/05/2020

Repost - There is still time!
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May is mental health month, and though we may not be able to be together physically, we wanted to find a way to celebrate mental health with all of you.

So on May 16, we will be hosting the 2020 BTTT Block Party! A virtual race for everyone. With distances of 1 mile to 100 miles, let’s all come together and stand up for mental health.

All events are a $20 tax-deductible entry, and 100% of funds raised will go to providing online counseling services to those who need it most.

To learn more and sign up: https://bttt.run/block-party
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** So many great giveaways as well (stuff from Nathan Sports, GoPro, Tailwind, and more)! Don't miss out!

A wonderful community, great fun and fighting a good fight by doing what we love best!

(ps: for those who cannot/don't want to run, walk it. And you decide on the distance 😉)

02/05/2020

May is Mental Health awareness month! 💚

And with half of Canadians reporting that their mental health has gotten worse since Covid-19, it is most important to keep ourselves in check and adopt habits that will improve our well being.
Break your routine. Do something that makes you feel good. Contact friends and family. Text or call a helpline. (Check photos in this post idea! 👇)

Link to Mental Health Commission of Canada: https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English

Keep well. Stay safe!

30/04/2020

Cause haters are going to hate, so let them - they don't matter. And some will even want to see you fail - Disappoint them!

"The problem is that if you try to resonate with everyone, the self-consciousness may lead you to become someone you’re not, another sugarless, flourless, butterless doughball cooked up in a hater’s cookie-cutter. So be yourself and share your unique voice. Because you are uniquely awesome, and it’s good that haters don’t get you."

https://trailrunnermag.com/training/being-yourself-in-a-world-with-haters.html

I love anonymous internet comments. What a wonderful window into the feelings of strangers unconstrained by social niceties! There’s a temptation to write off anonymous commenters as some particularly vocal … Continue reading "Being Yourself In A World With Haters"

21/04/2020

As humains, many times we tend to complicate things more than they need to be. We create so much of our own stress...and lose our true selves in the process.

03/04/2020

An interesting view on how people react to fear/stress/anxiety, and how to protect yourself ;)

https://medium.com/the-mission/why-coronavirus-should-be-the-least-of-your-worries-d6ed6abe75bc

Especially if you don’t have it yet

02/04/2020

Practicing gratitude is one of the most powerful variable when determining ones happiness and wellbeing.
Something as simple a writing down 3 things we are grateful for on a daily basis has been proven to increase life satisfaction and relationship fulfilment, to fend off worry and depression, increase resilience and much more.

During times such as the crisis we are presently living, it is easier to see the negative - that's normal! These are not easy times for many. But, if one looks around, there is still so much to be grateful for.

Here, let me go first.
I am grateful for:
- my children who are happy and healthy.
- the roof over our heads
- that my 10km run was not 10 x a 1km loop or back and forth (we are not yet restricted to a 1km radius)

Yes, it is as simple as that! Every day for 2 weeks minimum.

Your turn!

29/03/2020

Give. Yourself. Time.

The butterfly, has always been for me, something of most symbolic. Not only are they pretty, graceful and enchanting, 🦋 their transformation is of much significance. A caterpillar 🐛 has no choice but to succumb to solitude. It must trust the process of transformation. The end result, a positive and beautiful change.

Sometimes, it is during the darkest, more difficult times or during solitude that we find our strengths, our wings.

27/03/2020

Focus on the positive... there is some to be found in every situation! And, by seeking the positive, the negativity we experience in any given situation will be minimized.