Greetings from Base Camp, Mt Everest

Sue Tierney

When this email lands in your inbox, I will be 5,360 metres above sea level, breathing the thin air at Base Camp in Nepal.

‘Peak experiences’ aren’t always metaphorical. In my case I’ve had a passion for far away places since my childhood growing up in Christchurch with no extended family. A friend’s grandmother took an interest in me and gave me an atlas – perhaps she had noticed my curiosity about geography. I don’t recall why but I’ve never looked back.

At 15 I booked my first solo holiday, flying to Australia on a three week holiday that I had saved up and paid for. Since then my travels have just grown more and more adventurous. I’ve been mountain biking in Mongolia, skiing in Norway and now, trekking in the Himalayas.

I set this trip as my goal when I heard Mike Allsop (Google him) give a TED talk in Auckland two years ago. He has climbed Everest and regularly returns there. He mentioned that he had taken his children to Base Camp – one of his kids was just seven years old at the time. “Well,” I thought, ” if a seven year old can do it, so can I!”

In July this year I saw Mike speak again, this time at a conference. At the end of the presentation he mentioned he had one space left on his next Himalayan trip. As he left the stage I was mentally packing my bags and the vacancy was filled that night. I won’t be tackling the peak, but just making it to Base Camp feels amazing in itself.

To my mind, this proves that opportunities present themselves all the time. As we’ve explored in previous editions of this newsletter, there’s a simple process to making the most of them:

Ask yourself what kind of life you want? Focusing on this will help you work out what your goals should be.
Write down your goals and check them regularly.
Be open to opportunity (as I was when Mike spoke about his forthcoming Himalayan trip).
Just do it!

If you believe that ‘yes is more fun than no’, ask yourself what opportunity are you going to grab with both hands?