Last Friday I took another step towards joining the top 1% of the world by standing 12,300 feet in the air at the summit of Mt. Adams in SW Washington.
It was a fun trip and I learned a lot from my climbing partner, Adam, who I met at Cascade Climbers – a great site for anyone who wants to learn about mountaineering.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but notice that on my second climb ever, there was a big gap between some of the expectations I had for the trip and the reality of how it actually played out. And the more I thought about them, the more I realized that the inconsistencies weren’t unique to this trip, but actually relevant to a number of different circumstances I run into regularly in life, work, and adventure.
Generally, the distance between expectations and reality are either a hard pill to swallow or a happy realization. Regardless which way they go, though, “surprising” is almost always a good word to describe it.
Here’s what I learned on my trek up Mt Adams. There’s probably something relevant to your own life:
It was a lot harder than I (or anyone else) expected.
When I climbed Mt. St. Helens last month with no previous experience, I made it up and down in one day feeling fine even after getting lost in the woods and doing an extra 3 miles worth of bushwhacking.
I went into this climb thinking it would be similar. Not even close. Adams is a much taller and more difficult mountain and I wasn’t prepared for the mental challenge it presented.
You don’t need to be an expert to get where you’re going in life, but don’t lure yourself into a false sense of security just because you have a little experience. Life has a funny way of changing once you think you have it all figured out.
The weather was the opposite of what I expected.
Mountains are supposed to be snowy, windy, and cold, right? That’s what I prepared for, but when we set up camp at 9,000 feet, it was over 85 degrees out. There was snow as far as the eye could see, but I felt like I was standing on the beach and spent most of the afternoon with my shirt off.
Even when you think you know what you’re getting into, there’s just no way to know for sure until you actually do it. The weather on a mountain is just as unpredictable as the outcomes of the challenges you give yourself in life. Just because you’re predicting failure doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll get if you muster up the courage to give it a shot.
Animals live at the summit.
I was 100% certain that there’s no way any animal could survive at such a high altitude where it’s normally frigid, unsheltered, and there’s little or nothing to eat. Then I saw a hummingbird, a mouse, bees, and hundreds of spiders and other insects going about their day in a field of snow on top of a mountain where I was having a hard time just catching my breath.
Despite convincing myself otherwise, these creatures have found a way to make their life in what I considered an unlivable environment.
And isn’t that how we all find our success? By doing the things we know we’re meant for despite the fact that nobody else can understand how it’s possible we get along?
When I tell people now that I’m a blogger, the standard reaction is “but what’s your job?” and they wonder what secret I’m keeping from them when I explain that that is my job.
There’s probably something interesting that you do and few else can understand why it works for you. In life and at work, we succeed by thriving where others can’t.
More Than an Adventure
As you can see, these missions I’m on are a lot more than random adventures, though there’s really nothing wrong with having a random adventure just for the sake of it.
Whether I set out to or not, I tend to learn something very important about myself, other people, or the world in general by the time I complete one.
I know this now, and no longer need much of a specific reason why I do this when others ask. The life lessons that come with adventure are reason enough to pursue it.
Coming back with something that I can show for it is less of a concern now that I know that the intangible benefit that I get from it. The improvement to my life that I can’t quite explain but can feel with all of my being is all the explanation I need to say “yes” when an opportunity comes knocking.
How about you? What have you learned from your own expectations?
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You can see all the pictures from this climb over at my flickr page.
Man. The pictures look amazing. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to your email every single day. Thank you for living your dream because it makes me want to persue mine. My question is how do you get paid to blog? You inspire me. Please dont stop. I wish you the very best in everything in life.
Hey Skittlez, Glad you’re getting so much from the articles. Getting paid to blog is a little misleading because, yes, this website does make money, but no one actually pays me directly to write Advanced Riskology. Perhaps I can go into some more details about how it works in a future post?
I would love to read that future post, too! I’m interested in how blogging as a means of making money works. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Tyler,
Great job climbing Mt Adams! I am planning on climbing Mt St Helens next year and have a goal to climb Kilimanjaro before the snow melts. I am also participating in my first 50K in October – wish me luck! I’m 42 and have decided to start living my life the way I want to and doing the things that make me feel alive.
Thank you for sharing your life with us.
-Kris
Way to go Kris! St. Helens is a fun climb and a great spot to get started. Perhaps I’ll see you on Kilimanjaro.
I’ve gotten really into reading books that involve mountaineering, like Into Thin Air and Three Cups of Tea, and it seems like a lot of their experiences are similar to yours.
One part of Into Thin Air that I loved was when the author talks about how climbing Mount Everest isn’t so much about skill, it’s just about who can handle that level of pain and exhaustion. I can definitely see that applying to a lot of other areas in life too.
If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend it!
Oh, and your pictures are fantastic!
I actually haven’t read them, but they’ve been on my radar for some time. And I think you’re right about the pain and exhaustion – most things in life that people are impressed by are less about some technical skill and more about just pounding it out until you get it right.
Hey Tyler,
When reality ends up conflicting with our expectations, at least for me, there’s only one option: adapt and grow.
This reminds me of Bruce Lee’s philosophy of having ‘no way as way’ in Jeet Kune Do. His philosophy was, by having no distinct form, he could properly adapt to any opponents’ fighting style with relative ease, since Jeet Kune Do was founded on basics, rather than a more advanced style.
This applies here: by going in with no expectations, just by preparing for all the things that *could* happen, we save ourselves a bit of stress and make ourselves a lot more adaptable.
That’s a good analogy, Brett. I probably won’t ever stop setting expectations – learning how to adapt when they don’t match up with reality is the real goal.
Congrats, Tyler! I’d say about 50% of the things I attempt I assume off the bat I won’t be good at or enjoy. I didn’t expect myself to enjoy ice climbing but my first climb made me feel as incredibly exhilarated as my first skydive. When I started jumping again after I had my first child I assumed I would be nervous and guilty and panicy. Jumping as an individual does feel a lot different than jumping as a new mom, however I felt like I was right back home in the air again and my worry and false expectations of myself were for nothing. I thought slacklining looked a bit boring but after trying it for the first time it was like crack…I wanted to keep getting on that rope! It’s these expectations that a lot of time society has us set up for as well. Business only works “this” way. Well, maybe we once believed it, but it wasn’t until we attempted our own trial and error did we learn that statement is not really true. Just as Tyler is chronicling now for us on this website. Surprises DO await us at every turn when we start breaking down the walls of expectations…our own as well as the world’s. Thanks for your honest report, Tyler!
Congrats Tyler!
I’m almost always surprised by what I learn when I set out to do something impossible & take huge risks.
As the saying goes-
You think you know, but you have no idea.
My expectations are this:
There are no expectations.
But of course, we all have them regardless.
What is REALLY experiencing life other than what is happening “right now?”
Of course, naturally we all have expectations: What may be, what will be, what could be, etc.
The only thing we can really know is what we are creating at this very moment, what is happening right now.
We are creating our existence in every moment of our lives.
I like what Brett had to say..being adaptable
I think the really insidious thing about expectations is that for the large part, we’re not even aware that we have them. When you’re heading into an unfamiliar situation, you might form some kind of preconceived expectation about it which later turns out to be inconsistent with the actual experience. But for the most part, you form expectations about the norms of life, whether you realise it or not. Those expectations are almost always confirmed, again and again. Patterns like that can really stifle growth. The trick is to let go of expectations and embrace the unknown, wouldn’t you say?
Hey Tyler,
I feel like I can compare this to surfing a break that I’ve never surfed before. I’d been surfing at my local spot (which I learned sucks balls) after finally going to a new place 8 months later. I had expected it to be really challenging for me since it was somewhere I’d never been before. So it’s kind of the opposite then your experience. It turned out the break I surfed was a really perfect wave and my 8 months at my home break had prepared me for it without me evening knowing it. I’m going to spending some time in your archives today.
Ice Axes rock. Nice work, Tyler.
[...] charity. 49. Plant a tree. 50. Read to kids. 51. Read to seniors. 52. Read. 53. Go skydiving. 54. Climb a mountain. 55. Dance. 56. Go skiing. 57. Go snowboarding. 58. Go swimming. 59. Do yoga. 60. Sing. 61. Sing [...]