004 - What Climbing to Camp Muir Taught Me About Burnout + Mindset

Summary

This might be a different podcast but today I want to share with you some stories from climbing Camp Muir and what they taught me about having a strong mindset and avoiding burnout!

For show notes, head to coachellyn.com/podcast OR follow me on Instagram @coachellyn!

ACTION STEPS:

Lesson #1 - We often cannot see our own victories:

• I thought I was an imposter because I was struggling until I realized that everyone was struggling

• I didn't realize how good I'd done, how good WE had done, until we were told so by other climbers.

Lesson #2 - Differentiate between Microscopic Lens Compared to the Big Picture. ZOOM OUT!

• We only see our struggles because we're often just too close to our problems

• But when we zoom, we realize how fric ken great we're doing. How fricken great we've done.

Lesson #3 - Small Steps Get the Job Done

• It was really about counting steps to accomplish my goal

• That it's the second time I've done that. I did it on Macchu Picchu too

• That yes it's hard, but we can do it if we chunk it out and give ourselves small, mini-achievable milestones

Lesson #4 - Running Our Own Race + Going Our Own Pace

• I kept comparing my pace to my two friends

• I felt less than because I was moving slower

• It’s similar in business, similar in my career pursuits, similar in my life

• But I cannot go their speed or my body is going to burnout: emotionally and physically

  • I'm going to tap out my energy reserves

  • I'm going to tap out my willpower

  • I'm going to rush into something that I don't actually want

RESOURCES IN THIS EPISODE:

• My BRAND NEW “Take Back Your Life Membership” - here

Transcript for this episode… COMING SOON!

Ellyn: (00:09)

Hey there, my friend, and welcome to the burnout to bad-ass podcast. My name is Ellyn Schinke (@coachellyn on Instagram), and this is my monthly podcast where I am committed to giving you short, no BS episodes to help you—the busy burnout, professional and entrepreneur— find your balance and take back your life from burnout. Let's do this.

Hello there, friend. And welcome back to burnout to badass. I am so excited for today's topic. I feel like I'm going to say that near every time we started an episode, so, sorry, not sorry, but I am really excited for today's episode because these are frankly stories that I never thought I would share. And I kind of didn't realize that they were connected to burnout until recently, today we're going to be very much talking about the emotional side of burnout and some of the mindsets that we might be cultivating that really, really aren't serving us when we're struggling, when we're overwhelmed, when we're stressed and when we're burned out and to kind of convey some of these mindset shifts, I'm going to tell some stories from climbing camp here.

(01:22)

Some of the things that climbing cam here at the end of July with some of my friends taught me about burnout and about some of the mindsets that kind of undermine us when it comes to our struggles and when it comes to our burnout. So this is going to be a little bit of a different podcast today, but in no means, does that mean it's unrelated? No, just because you're not climbing mountains. Like I was, when I was doing this doesn't mean that some of these things aren't going to resonate for you, so let's kind of get into it. Um, but before we do, before we get into these lessons and I've got really four core lessons that I want to share with you all today, those of you that don't know, let's talk about what the heck cam here is. So, um, for,

(02:00)

For those of you, I don't remember. I live in the Pacific Northwest. I live just south of Seattle. So we're big hikers out here. Vastly. I feel like everybody in this area, hikes, um, and camp Muir is base camp on Mount Rainier and about, oh gosh, five months ago, six months ago, two of my friends asked me to do this hike with them and I was super intimidated, but also really, really excited about the prospect of doing this hike. I actually used to have this hiking community, which, you know, it's not dead and it might come back to life at some point in the future. Um, but I had this like in community called growth hikes. And the reason I created that hiking community was because for me, I have gotten so much in my past from going on really, really challenging hikes, physically challenging myself on a mountain.

(02:52)

You know, there's actually a reason why my logo looks like a mountain range, um, for so many different reasons. It's three pillars of my business. But also because I feel like mountains and hiking and climbing mountains is really metaphorical. It's a really, really a metaphor for life. The challenges you're going to face the summits that you're going to have to climb the challenges that are inevitably going to come up along the way. There's a lot of personal growth embedded in that. So I've always loved hiking and I've always loved the metaphor of climbing mountains and how much it can teach us about life and mindset and personal growth. So my friends invited me to do this and I was really, really excited for it, but I was also super freaking intimidated because it's base camp it's base camp on Mount Rainier. I don't have any interest in summiting Mount right here.

(03:39)

No thank you. Um, but base camp of Mount Rainier, that just sounded really freaking intimidating. And so I started looking at the specs of the hike, you know, the distance, the elevation gain, and it was going to be a. Like there was, there was no doubting that it was going to be a. It was like an eight, nine mile round trip hike. You know, I think like some like 4,000 feet in elevation gain, like pretty, pretty considerable elevation gain, but then you got to bring into the equation that you're doing this at altitude. I don't actually remember what the elevation gain was, but Mount Rainier is 14,000 feet high. So I think we were about nine, 10,000 feet for a chunk of this hike. So long hike, lots of elevation doing it at elevation. So it was going to be harder to breathe and harder to oxygenate.

(04:28)

And then the final straw you add to that, that you're doing this hike and about a mile of it, I think a mile mile and a half maybe round trip is snowfields. You are literally hiking across essentially like a glacier on Mount Rainier. And those were three elements that I have never ever done before in hiking. This was all new to me. I've done hikes at elevation. I've done challenging, long, difficult hikes, but taking all three of those elements together of a long grueling hike with a lot of vertical change that is at elevation with snow. That was like a completely new thing for me. But I signed up, I said, yes, we're going to do it. And then the day came and I was so intimidated and I had a lot of positive mindset going into it. But then we got to the part where we are at our highest point of elevation.

(05:22)

We were, you know, getting to the point where, where it was like the last mile or so until we would get to camp Muir. And that's when got hard. And that's when we got to the snowfield and it was so insanely challenging. I do not think I've ever done anything as challenging as hiking through that snowfield was, but in doing so, it taught me a ton. It taught me a lot about mindset. It taught me a lot about how those mindsets can, you know, bleed into burnout even just in everyday life. So those are the things that I'm going to share with you today. I wanted to give you some nice context for like the, what it was that we were doing and why it was so challenging, but let's get into some of the lessons that I learned. And the first one is we have to be cognizant of the fact that we often cannot see our own victories.

(06:16)

And let me give you some context for why I thought this was such an important lesson. Firstly, I don't think I've ever felt like as much of an imposter and a, I should not be here, probably not since I was in graduate school, but I don't think I've ever felt that on a mountain quite like I did when I was climbing to cam here, when I was climbing through that snowfield, I was struggling. I was struggling. So, so hard getting through that snowfield, you know, my feet were slipping. My muscles were just dying. I was like gasping for air. And you know, to top it all off, you know, my two friends who they both done this hike before, we're so far in front of me and I felt like such an imposter, you know, they're hiking at their own pace. And you know, I'm getting passed by all of these people with, you know, 40 pounds of stuff gear on their back.

(07:13)

And I just like the am I doing here? Like I shouldn't be doing this. Like I do not belong on this mountain. And then I finally got to camp near. I finally got to the top, I made it, I made it to where we were going. Thank God, because that snowfield freaking lasted forever. Like it was one of those situations where you go, you go, you're putting in all of this effort and you don't feel like you're getting any closer, like. Is that not a metaphor for life, for dating for, for, you know, career advancement for, or if you're a business owner for building your business. Like, that's what I felt like climbing the snowfield is I am doing all of this work and I'm not getting any closer. And I was just like, I don't belong here. Everybody here is such a better piker than I am.

(07:59)

And then, you know, we rested at the top and we started coming down and I realized something that was huge. I really, I realize that every single person I passed look like they were struggling just as much as I was, you know, the people who were in the group groups whose guides were taking them to the summit, they were struggling just as much as I was. And I don't even think, then I realized how good I done, how good we'd done. My friends and I had done until we were told. So by other climbers, there was this one guy who I kept calling him our Colorado friend, because there was this group who was submitting. They were all from Colorado and he got to camp mirror. Yeah. And we had we'd pass them. We had, you know, all three of us had we'd pass their group going up the hill, you know, maybe 30, 45 minutes after we got to camp Muir, he got there and his group got there and he saw us at the top kind of chilling, eating our in our snacks at the top.

(09:02)

And he's like, you ladies are so freaking impressive. And I don't think it was until I had an opportunity to process that comment and to realize what we done and to see those other hikers climbing up and struggling just as much as I was. I don't think I realized it until all of those things kind of came together until my brain was, you know, oxygenated again that I didn't see. My victories, all I saw was my struggles. And that's something to really, really keep in mind as you are pursuing, you know, more advancement in your career as you're building your business or as you're looking for that perfect relationship, whatever the hell, that thing is that you're just kind of defeated by and you feel like you're just never going to get what you want is just remember that you're often not seeing your own victories.

(09:55)

And that actually kind of dovetails into the next big lesson that I was taught. These two are kind of connected is basically we have to learn to zoom out from that microscopic lens and start to look at the big picture. Like I mentioned, we often don't see our victories. We often only see our struggles. And the reason why we do is we're often just too close to our problems. As I was climbing up mirror, I had, you know, this microscopic eye blinders on basically to everything else I'd done. I'd kind of had blinders on to how far I had already climbed how much effort I'd already exerted, how good I had already done hell, just in preparation to do this hike. I did a hike in, um, the area called mailbox peak. And I did the old trail on mailbox peak, which if you're from Seattle, if you pipe that, you know, how much of a mailbox peak is, especially the old trail, the old trail is two miles, basically straight up.

(11:01)

It is the steepest thing I've ever climbed actually steeper than mere was. And you know, I'd kind of forgotten about that victory. I'd forgotten about the fact that I'd already climbed a pretty good chunk of elevation gain and I'd already climbed however many miles just to get to the snowfield. It's like I was so zeroed in on the fact that I was struggling in that moment. And I was struggling in that last mile that I did. I just completely forgot everything else. I was too close to the problem. I was too close to the struggle, but you can kind of see that when we zoom out, we realized how freaking great we're doing when we zoom out and look at how much we've already accomplished or how close we are, how much work we've already put in and how many obstacles we've already overcome. We realized how freaking great we're doing and how freaking great we've done.

(12:04)

So we've got to think about that. There's two different lenses with which we can look at our struggles and this applies to burnout as well. Is, are we using a microscopic lens or are we looking at the big picture? Because in the big picture, even though I was struggling on that snowfield, I had made a ton of progress. By the time things got really, really hard. And I had already done so much that day, that was worthy of being proud of. I mean, I freaking showed up to do this hike. You know, my crazy showed up to do this hike. That was already a really, really big victory in and of itself is that I showed up and I didn't just say to my friends, oh yeah, I'll do it. And then flake like that in and of itself is the big victory.

(12:47)

So what are some big victories that you are ignoring that you are brushing under the rug because your microscopic lens is so focused on your struggles right now?

So the next big lesson I had is that small steps, get the job done. I, you not, as I was climbing up this snowfield, I was literally counting my steps. I would literally count to 50 Alan, you have to take 50 steps and then you can take a break. And the funny thing is, that's really the second time I've done that. I actually did that the first time I hiked it elevation. I was hiking to Machu Picchu. We did the salt country trail to Machu Picchu, not the Inca trail and our highest point. Our second day of that track, we got to our high point and I think it was something like 4,800 meters. So it was even higher elevation actually than I was at when I did camp mere.

(13:42)

When I did this Mount Rainier hike. Um, and I did the exact same things. I just counted my steps to get myself to where I was going. And that ended up being this, you know, it's the second time I've done that. And it ended up being so effective and it ended up being what gun caught me to camp Muir. It ended up being what got me to the summit. We going to, when I did this mochi peachy track, you know, it might seem so silly, but frankly, what it is is if we can chunk it down and give ourselves these small mini achievable milestones, not only does it make that goal seem that much more tangible, but it gives us small victories to celebrate along the way. This is probably the one that is most tangible, most implementable when it comes to burnout is so often when I'm doing speaking engagements and I'm trying to share a lot of content.

(14:41)

I'm trying to give people a lot of ideas for things that they can implement. But the one thing I reiterate over and over and over again, and I reiterate it when I'm speaking, as well as when I'm coaching, don't overwhelm yourself like, you're burned out. You're already overwhelmed in some capacity. So don't feel like you have to leave here and implement every single thing I've talked about. Pick one thing, pick one, starting point, take that first small step. Yup. And once you've been able to do that, take the next one. And the next one, if we can chunk things down and give ourselves small mini achievable milestones, it's going to get the job done in the exact same way that me taking 50 steps at a time through that snowfield helped me get to camp Muir. It's these exact same thing is just take those first 50 steps and then stop and rest.

(15:38)

And that's literally what I was doing. 50 steps, stop, rest reevaluate. I got to a point where I would just like, girl, just do 20 steps. Like don't even feel like you have to do 50, just do 20 steps, the whatever you have to do, small steps, get the job done. Whether we're talking about burnout, whether we're talking about relationships, whether we're talking about career changes, doesn't matter what we're talking about. Small steps, get the job done. So don't feel like you have to make these big monumental shifts to do what you want to do. So those are kind of been the lessons so far, small steps, microscopic lens versus the big picture that we can't see our own victories. And that first one's just kind of a great awareness to have. But now we get to really, I think the meat of this and the meat of this, again, super applicable across the board, we've got to run our own race and we've got to go our own pace.

(16:33)

You probably heard throughout this, there was a lot of comparison happening on that hill as I was hiking up, you know, you've heard me talk about comparing my pace to my two friends, comparing myself to these other hikers who were freaking summiting Rainier. Like they were summiting the mountain. I was just going to base camp, you know, and I kept comparing myself and I felt like less because I was moving slower. I felt like a bad hiker that imposter syndrome was kicking in so hard and. I felt that in so many parts of my life that notion that I'm not worthy or I'm not enough, or this isn't going to happen for me because I was moving slower. I felt that way in my business. I felt that way in my career. I felt that way in my life. You know, the fact that I have not met my person and I'm still single, I have felt that I'm somehow not enough because I was moving slower.

(17:38)

I'm an imposter or I'm failing or I'm doing life wrong because I was moving slower. And that's how I felt on that mountain. When I was comparing my pace to my two friends, one of whom I kept calling the Energizer bunny because she just didn't seem tired. Um, and you know, I was comparing my pace to all of these other people, these complete strangers, but I still got to my destination. I still got to where I wanted to go. And I think, you know, in retrospect, it's made me realize that I cannot go there speed, or I'm going to burn out. And I mean, emotionally and physically, if I went there, speed on the mountain, I'm going to tap out my energy reserves. You know, I'm not going to have anything left. And you know, getting to the destination is only part of the climb. You know, they always say that if you're, I'm a big fan of watching Everest documentaries,

(18:37)

I love them. I don't really know why, but I do.

(18:40)

Um, I always say, you know, getting to the summit is only half of the journey. You have to get yourself back down. So if I'd gone there, speed. If I pushed myself and gone too fast, maybe I tap out my energy reserves and many, maybe I don't have anything to give to get back down. Or God forbid, I give so much that I injured myself coming back down. You know, I'm going to tap myself out. Physically. If I go there, speed, push myself too hard. I might tap out my willpower again. It's only half the battle. It's only half the journey getting there. You got to get back. So emotionally and physically, I could have burned myself out. I could have drained myself, or if we're just talking about life and how the same kind of thing applies to life, get into rushing into something that we don't actually want.

(19:29)

If we don't go our own speed, we could rush into a relationship that we don't actually want. Which good God is that gonna emotionally burn you out later, we could rush into a job or a career path that we don't actually want. Which again, if you're unfulfilled by the situation you're in, it's going to burn you out later. Right? So we got to run our own race and go our own pace and stop comparing ourselves and our pace and our speed and the benchmarks that were celebrated. We've got to stop comparing that to other people. And I learned that the hard way, because I really was until I realized my pace was working just fine. My pace got me to where I wanted to go. And my pace was worth celebrating because of that, you know, it does seem unrelated. It might not seem like we're talking about burnout here, but every single aspect of this is we burn ourselves out, especially when we're high achievers, because we're so driven by that end result.

(20:30)

And we're so driven by achievement. We'll burn ourselves out. If we cannot zoom out, see the big, big picture and see our victories. If we're so microscopically focused on the struggles and the issues that we're having, that we cannot celebrate the wins. It's going to burn us out. It's going to emotionally us out. If we're focusing on the big steps that we're taking, instead of the small ones that just as effectively get the job done, we're not only going to burn ourselves out. We're probably going to overwhelm ourselves, you know, and if we are running someone else's race, instead of our own, the destination may not end up being the right one for us, or we're going to exhaust ourselves emotionally and physically in the pursuit of it. All of those things tie to burnout, particularly emotional burnout. And so I really wanted to share some of those lessons with you, with you with this really, you know, tangible example of climbing a mountain, because did that climb teach me a lot. And I really want to share that with you. So I hope some of this resonated. I hope we got a lot out of

(21:32)

Hearing the story. Maybe I inspired you to go climb some big mountain near you, but

(21:37)

More so than anything. I just want you to take these couple little lessons and think about how they can apply to your life. Because we might be talking about climbing a mountain, but are these some powerful, powerful lessons to take and apply to our burnout, our work and our lives. I hope you see that as well. If you did enjoy this podcast episode, once again, we're new. So anything you can do to share this, to spread this podcast and this episode with friends, with anybody you think needs to hear it or will appreciate it, I would greatly greatly appreciate that. Send them over to apple podcasts, send them over to Spotify. I've been really enjoying listening to podcasts on Spotify actually recently.

(22:20)

Um, but I really appreciate you sharing this, or if you're really loving things, head on over to apple or Spotify and give us a five-star review again, it's really important for helping us grow these new podcasts, getting the word out there. Those reviews count for so much. And I really want to share this content with as many people as possible because we know how big burnout has become for so many people in this may have been a different episode, but I hope you can see how it still relates. So share, give that five star review and thank you again so much for being here for listening. And I will talk to you next time, my friend, bye.