AFRAID TO ASK

Some people stare. Some people just catch a glimpse. Some noticeably try not to look. Many are afraid to ask…about my tattoo.

I have a tattoo on the back side of my right forearm. I often forget it is even there because it is out of my visual field. The only times I really see it is in the mirror.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Afraid to Ask

I got my first one 23 years ago and this is my third. The other ones are not in plain site and are usually covered by clothes and many don’t even know I have them.

This one is different. I had it done in January of this year. Up until now, it has been covered by long sleeves. Now that it is warmer, it is exposed most of the day and due to the location on my arm, I never realized how much I use that hand to rest my chin on while my elbow is on a table.

I thought I would write about it because so many are afraid to ask.

The coordinates read 3.0666 S, 37.3507 E and is the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro which I reached the summit in March, 2017.

When I completed that trek, I unfortunately ended up 6 months in a walking boot due to a severe tendinitis/plantar fascitis. I was asked hundreds and hundreds of times “what happened?” My answer was always “I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and this is the souvenir I never wanted.” Of course that would then lead to further conversation around the trip. As overwhelming as it was to answer the same question hundreds of times, I enjoy the curiosity and sharing my journey…because it really was an epic adventure!

When I get ready in the morning is when I see it. To me, it serves as a continuous reminder. It reminds me that I can do hard things, really hard things. It reminds me that I am brave. It reminds me of the connections with the women I did the trek with and some of the strength of their own stories they shared. It reminds me that I have serious endurance and that I am capable of reaching my goals.

I have done many hard things although nothing was as physically taxing as that. When I got home, everyone asked “what’s the next mountain you will climb?” I do not have another physical mountain to climb, I have no desire to do Everest or anything like that. When I look back over the 2 years since the climb, I realize I have already reached the summit of another couple goals although there is always more ahead. I just thought I would share a little bit so that you are not afraid to ask. AND not just me, ask others of their stories too because maybe their ink represents a story they would like to share. I am adding my short Kilimanjaro vlog to the end of this in case you haven’t had a chance to take a view.

THE HARDEST DAY

“It is hard to prepare for the hardest day of your life when you have no idea about what the hardest day in your life will be like.”Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - The Sidelines - Dr Erica Peabody

That was a quote from my brother, Garrett, last night as I sat in my office with 3 women who will be heading to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2 months.

Since my trek, many local (semi-local in the region) people have stepped up to ask what it is like to do that climb because they are heading that way within months.

“How did you train?”

“What did you bring?”

“What was the most used piece of gear that you didn’t expect?”

“What about medications?  And which vaccinations?”

“What is the bathroom situation when you are climbing?”

“What did they feed you?”

“Tell us about summit night…

“What do you mean ‘Don’t die with your day pack on?'”

The last one was the best one.

I walked and talked these ladies through my entire trip last night over 2 hours of conversation.  They are bringing their husbands and teenagers with them.Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Surrender Hikers - Dr Erica Peabody Mt. Kilimanjaro

As we were going through all the details, I realized just how amazing the trip was doing it with an incredible group of women.  I remembered around any corner, if anyone needed anything, someone had extra of it and was willing to share.  What could you possibly want that one of the 31 women didn’t have...I mean half of them were moms and MOMS ARE PREPARED!!!

We all suffered a lot during the trip but, and this may be a major over-generalization and stereotype (sorry, not sorry), women are pretty graceful at dealing with suffering and moving forward anyway.

When Kelly and I headed over to Kilimanjaro, WHOA Travel gave us a packing list and sort of an idea about the trip with the FAQs of course, but we didn’t have anyone to sit down and have this kind of conversation with, which looking back was a blessing and a curse.

How did I prepare for dealing with having to go to the bathroom out on the trail?

How did I clean my body and what was it like to use wet wipes as a “shower” every morning and night for all those days?Dr Erica Peabody - A Month Later - Chiropractor Fenton Michigan

How did I manage my period that started on day 2 of an 8 day trip and summit on the day of highest level of anemia in oxygen levels half the normal of sea level?

What about the hole in my heart and the decreased oxygen levels that I experience at sea level just walking around much less 19,341 ft above sea level.

How did you manage the 10 day trip with a total of 24 hours of sleep?  How did you function like that?

What did you do at night when you were unable to sleep?  and then the next night?  and the next?  How did you keep hiking 6-7 hours per day with such little sleep?

How did you keep your clothes in good working order and what materials did you prefer to wear up there?

How do you manage temperatures from 90 degrees at the bottom to below zero at the top?

Were you bored out on the trail during the days?

How do you hike 15,000 ft to 19,341 on the final day with barely anything to eat or drink (due to my own specific circumstances) while having 3 bouts of massive diarrhea and having to still manage your period sitting and squatting on porous lava rocks at zero degrees?

What do you mean your porter had to help your every single step for the final 100 yards to the top?

It seems so strange that going down is actually harder than going up?  A walking boot for 6 months following your trek?  Still not healed?  How is that even possible?Dr Erica Peabody - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - The Hardest Day

There was a real thought on my plane ride over there that it is possible, possible anytime of course but more possible than anything I had done before, that I wasn’t coming back.  Of course that wouldn’t have been ideal, and I am glad that it didn’t happen and I lived to tell all these stories, but truly that trek is quite dangerous.  The trail is relatively safe but exposure to the different elements, not to mention 19,341 ft elevation, can cost you your life.  I am not sure they ever really considered that deeply…maybe they have but I think they were caught off-guard that I would speak about it so casually.

I also remember, when I had that thought I mentioned above, that I was okay with how my life had been and how much I have done and accomplished and just how many lives I had helped to make a difference, big or small.  Because life is truly about contribution.  When exposed to cultures like what was in Tanzania, and spend those 10 days with them, life gets really simple.  Clothes on their backs, shoes on their feet, roof over their heads, foot to eat and family and that is true happiness.  Truly.  <<<—-THAT is the simplest thing of all.

So how do you prepare for the hardest day of your life….put a smile on your face, look around, be sure you packed the right layers and take in every last moment because your life will FOREVER BE CHANGED…for the better.  Best of luck to that group, I am sure you will all have massive success and I am excited for the report back when you are done!  <3

 

 

 

SURRENDER

Many things have crossed my mind over the past 3 months, many, many, many life lessons learned and one of the greatest has been SURRENDER.

In the 10 days that we were on Mt. Kilimanjaro and and traveling to and from Africa, I counted somewhere around a total of 24 hours of sleep.   Once I was on the mountain, I averaged around 3 hours of sleep per night.Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Surrender - Mt Kilimanjaro Dr Erica Peabody

The dayss would look like this:

  • The team would come to each tent and wake us up at 6:30am.
  • We would make it to breakfast at  7 and on the trail around 8.
  • We would hike for 3-4 hours and stop for lunch.  We would hike another 3-4 hours to the next camp so our days were around 6-8 hours of total hiking time.
  • We would get settled in and they would call us for dinner around 6:30-7pm.
  • We would get our briefing for the following day, turn our water bladders for our camelbaks in and head back to our tents around 8-8:30.

At this point we were free to go to sleep and that would have been AWESOME if I would have been able to.  There is this thing called “high altitude insomnia”.  It happens because the heart is beating faster than usual, like it does for exercise, because there is less oxygen.  My my mind thought my body was still working out and it is very hard to sleep with my body in that mode.

My usual is I would finally find sleep around 11ish and sleep for about 3 hours and then be up for the rest of the night.  This happened every single night.  I would lay there frustrated because I knew every minute I wasn’t sleeping was also a minute my body wasn’t truly resting and recuperating from the intense day before and not really able to prepare for the next intense day ahead.

When the team would come by the tent at 6:30am to wake us up again, I would be so beside myself with frustration.Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Surrender Hike - Dr Erica Peabody Mt Kilimanjaro

I would get my stuff packed up anyway.  I would strap my boots on and get my backpack ready, grab my water and be ready for breakfast no matter what.  In the back of my mind I would think to myself, “maybe later tonight I will be able to finally sleep”.

The thing is, I felt miserable inside in those moments.  But there are 30 other women maybe feeling just the same or having some other experience just as miserable.  It didn’t do me any good to complain to anyone.  I would get in this mode of I need to do what needs to be done right now, which was strap my boots on and prepare for the day ahead.  Even though it would have felt good to at least express my stress and frustration to the staff, that didn’t matter either because the trail heads in one direction, it isn’t an “out and back”.  We start on one trail and continue to another one for the descent.  Forward momentum is vital.

It didn’t matter how much I slept that night, or the night before, or the previous 6 nights.  It didn’t matter how sore I was, how foggy my head was, nothing mattered but forward momentum and so I knew I better get started.

Endurance, the whole “put your big girl panties on and step forward“ness of this trip was such a powerful lesson in surrender.  I had many logical reasons to resist what was happening and most people in that position would have similar self-talk going on about the whole scenario.  But pure surrender, strapping on my boots and getting after the task at hand for that day was my only option.  There was no turning around, no turning back and only one way to move.  FORWARD!

When I equate this to things in my life back home, I see how this lesson has served me so well in the past few months.  I have a different view on life.  I have spent a lot of my years paddling upstream.  I have spent so much Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Surrender Hikers - Dr Erica Peabody Mt. Kilimanjarotime and effort pushing against the current going in the other direction.  The past three months I have spent more time setting down my oars, surrendering and allowing myself to be pushed in the direction that life is trying to naturally take me anyway.

I have always had high and lofty goals for my life and I always will.  Though I have goals and the “WHAT” I want to accomplish figured out, I don’t have to be so wrapped up in trying to control the “HOW” it all happens.  I set some really powerful intentions at the beginning of April this year and life has unfolded more beautifully than I could have ever imagined.  I am in shock and awe sometimes knowing that the most powerful move I can make is keep surrendering my own plan for the bigger plan of the Universe.

Maybe surrender in your mind means “to give up”, “to give in” an “to stop progress”.  To me, it means to “let go and let God”.  It also means to set the goals you want to achieve but surrender to the process of how it all unfolds.  Our thoughts about how we want things to be or how we want them to look is usually a limited view of what is really possible.  I have been taught this lesson over and over and over.

My action of surrender in the mornings on Mt. Kilimanjaro was the moment I strapped my boots on.  From that point I would stand up from the tent, put my arms through the straps of my backpack, embrace the unknown for the day ahead (have no idea exactly what the day would hold, which direction we were going or how long it would take) and start stepping one foot in front of the other.

“Surrender isn’t about being passive, it is about being open.”  -Danielle LaPorte

For 8 solid days, this strategy worked and I realized it would work for my life when I got home as well “Have a goal and a destination ahead, surrender to the process of the steps in getting there.”  Yet another humbling life lesson and a huge THANK YOU to KILIMANJARO!!!

 

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Surrender - Dr Erica Peabody