This week's episode is a testament to the bonds that fortify us in the face of adversity, illuminated by the incredible journey of Jenn Drummond. We traverse the peaks and valleys of Jen's mountaineering exploits, including her enlightening philosophy on being 'Break Proof' as chronicled in her upcoming book.
From cheating death and escaping a near death car accident in 2018 to then experiencing several more curveballs along the way of her Guinness World Record pursuit, Jenn shows us how to make light of any obstacle in life and push forward. Her mindset shifts are useful for anyone as she incorporates fun into everything that she does!
Connect With Jenn!
Website
Buy Break Proof! - Jenn's New Book
LinkedIn
Social
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
This week's episode is a testament to the bonds that fortify us in the face of adversity, illuminated by the incredible journey of Jenn Drummond. We traverse the peaks and valleys of Jen's mountaineering exploits, including her enlightening philosophy on being 'Break Proof' as chronicled in her upcoming book.
From cheating death and escaping a near death car accident in 2018 to then experiencing several more curveballs along the way of her Guinness World Record pursuit, Jenn shows us how to make light of any obstacle in life and push forward. Her mindset shifts are useful for anyone as she incorporates fun into everything that she does!
Connect With Jenn!
Website
Buy Break Proof! - Jenn's New Book
LinkedIn
Social
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
And he's like you have a 40% chance of living right now. Had your boys not done what they did to get you to come home, I would have taken a week. That's like what you normally hike out at, especially because I wasn't feeling good right, like I was gonna go the slow, easy way. He's like there's no way you had another day or two, like if you would have still been there, you would, they wouldn't know to test, you'd be dead. And I sit there and think like this is the crazy thing about life. We can do everything in our power. There's just stuff we never know and you just have to trust that the universe has your back.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Win Today podcast, a weekly tour intentionally crafted to help people enhance performance, feel inspired and conquer life. Our commitment is that you will learn from some of the most disciplined, heartwarming and inspiring people on the globe, in addition to receiving a piece of a winning playbook from myself or a renowned expert in their field. My name is Ryan Cass and I'm your host, and it is my purpose in this world to inspire people to establish a foundation for sustained success by developing systems that will enable you to accomplish your goals, break systemic trends of adversity and chart a desirable course for life. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the top podcasts in the world by subscribing to the show, sharing it with somebody who you believe will benefit from it and leaving a review. Let's connect with our guest.
Speaker 2:After my K2 disappointment, I was initially overwhelmed by defeat. It's never easy to fall short of a goal, and this one took a greater toll on me than I'd like to admit to my friends and family. As I arrived home and the wound of not summiting was still fresh, had I quit? In my heart, I knew the answer was no. Here's why I believe that as I entered my home, naturally, the very first question my children asked me was so, mom, did you summit? And my answer was no, but I succeeded. I failed to summit, but I was successful because I showed up as a person I'm proud of.
Speaker 2:When faced with a decision to continue up the mountain, I elected to turn around, to be there for my team and live out my value People over peaks. When sharing the story with other adults, I added details about a fellow climbing partner and friend who died on the mountain. This belief that you don't get to choose how you die, but you do get to choose how you live has been my mantra, especially after surviving a near-death car accident in Utah. That's an excerpt from the soon-to-be best-selling book Breakproof from my good friend, author, mountaineer, guinness World Record holder, jen Drummond, who we have back on the show now for the third time. It's been amazing to keep up with her journey and this book will be releasing tomorrow as of today's publishing date. And, jen, I love who you are. So great to have you back and congrats on this amazing book.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you. So excited to be here, so excited about this book finally hitting bookshelves. All the things.
Speaker 2:It's been a blast to track your journey and now meet you in person and looking forward to seeing you again here soon. Now, when we look at this book and we see breakproof, and even just the word breakproof, one may assume that this book is all about pushing past everything no matter what. But there are some nuances in here that really put some more context around what it means to be breakproof. So, from your view, what does it mean to be breakproof?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the name is called breakproof because I feel in the break we have the proof. So when a break happens right because we're pushing forward, or we decide that we're being proactive and we wanna take a break, when we pause, in that moment we can evaluate what's working, what's not working. Is this even the mountain that I wanna climb going forward? Or now that I have this information because I've been on this pursuit, I wanna pursue something different. So when we take these breaks or they're forced upon us, it's our responsibility to evaluate and look at everything going on and say, okay, how do I continue? What's the best way forward? What do I know now that I didn't know before that allows me to succeed? Where do I need help? And all the different pieces that go into it.
Speaker 2:I love that because sometimes, when we think about breakproof or even I'll associate this with resiliency it's often shared in the context of no matter what you don't stop doesn't matter if you're faced with an obstacle. And if you do stop, then you're a failure and you're weak. And in this case, and how the book is written, it says, well, push forward through the obstacles, but sometimes it's okay to breathe, take a step back and assess whether or not it's truly worth continuing, not to ultimately quit, but you can come back and it's more of like it's acceptable to hit a pause button, knowing that you're going to hit play later, and I love that. That's in there. You can hit pause. No one, you're gonna hit play later, it's never. You're turning the remote off, you're turning the show off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I think? Sometimes we can just get caught up in the momentum of whatever we're doing and then, all of a sudden, we're just doing this thing and we get serious, or we get structured, or we get stressed, or we get so lost in the detail of it that when we take a break, we can remind ourselves this life's supposed to be fun, like we get one shot at this thing. It is our job to enjoy this pursuit, and so that looks different to all of us, right? And we have to just stop and say, hey, this is my journey, this is my story, I'm gonna set a world record, like I knew I was gonna set a world record. So it wasn't about setting the world record anymore. It was about how do I have fun, how do I empower others, how does this story teach me and teach those who follow along? And then it gives you just that space to be playful and curious and explore, instead of so serious and committed and determined Like. Those moments are obviously needed, but that can't be your entire thing.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, one thing I love about you is that you introduce fun throughout the way and you find a way to flip the script on just about anything, even in some of your most rigorous moments, on the most treacherous mountains in the world. You talk about how you're attempting to make a game out of something, or even your magic gummy bears that you have different flavors associated with them. This is my supercharger lemon flavor. Whatever the case may be, these are my watermelon sugar high singing glasses and I love that you introduce fun and you're flipping the script. Now for people that maybe this is their first time tuning in and Jen's other episodes will be linked in the show notes talk through your journey.
Speaker 2:Jen is the first woman in the world to summit the seven second summit and even with the amount of times that I've shared your story with people, jen, when I get to that seven second summit, it's kind of a tongue twister. So talk through the significance of that and why you chose to pursue that over what someone may naturally ask. Well, why didn't you climb the seven highest summits? Why'd you pick the second one? So what's the significance of the journey in choosing this record?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I sometimes feel records choose you as well. Fun fact about me is my favorite number is number two. I was born on May 2nd. So I'm always like, okay, I'm the girl that doesn't always get first, but the second time I get it. I got it baby Like. So just give me a little piece of it here. But you know.
Speaker 1:So I was in a horrific car crash. That car crash was a break in my way of doing life and proof that I was going down a path that really wasn't my most fulfilling. So I took a pause, evaluated things that I liked to do, started reconnecting with my inner being and kind of shutting society out. The goal of climbing a mountain came up. It got elevated, climbing Everest. Then it got elevated to this world record.
Speaker 1:And what like drew me to the world record was there hadn't been a female that had done this before. So I, the second human, first female. It's harder than the first seven. So that's kind of sexy and fun because it's the harder pursuit. It's the lesser known pursuit. I'm kind of one of those people that like the less famous thing but the more authentic thing. So it felt true to me and it was challenging and it was kind of a permission slip to my prior self Right.
Speaker 1:The whole thing was hey, jen, before the crash, this life is available to you If you'll pause and reconnect to who you are Honor, whatever crazy that looks like. I was in finance running a very successful company that I still run and own, but I hired myself out of a job. So to go from this finance field into mountaineering makes no sense to anybody. But it felt right to me so I had to keep going because it tugged at my heart and I had the courage to listen to that. And then when I stepped into this thing I mean I talk about it in the book the goal isn't the goal, like the goal was to set the world record, but really like what unfolded because I had that like compass pointing me in that direction was so magical that I couldn't even begin to fathom what was gonna unfold and happen and become a part of my story and that's available to all of us.
Speaker 2:What I heard in a theme that I'm hearing as I have been interviewing more people like you high performers, is really this theme of exploring your curiosity, and you mentioned that you had this feeling kind of tugging at you Now for somebody that, as we're in this new year, may have this thing they've been thinking about for a long time their mountain, whatever their mountain is. Maybe it is going to summit a major peak, maybe it's launching a podcast, maybe it's running a first marathon, whatever the case may be, you mentioned that you kind of felt it. You felt a pull there. What did that actually feel like? Was it just the thought of the mountains kept coming up in your head, because people may question whether this thought they have is real. So what was that feeling process like that kind of made you say, okay, this is it, we're doing it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, it wasn't like this feeling of oh my gosh, you have to do it or it's over, or like it has to be this immediate decision or you're going to miss the boat. It wasn't this anxiety, fast-paced thing, it was this underlying calmness of, hey, this pursuit sounds like a little bit of a, sound's pretty cool, hey, what could happen? Hey, and like, at first, of course, my brain's like you can't go do this, like you have seven children. You know your brain thinks of every single thing, of the reason why you can't do something. But those reasons didn't shut down the thought that kept coming. And the thought that kept coming was wasn't invasive, wasn't intrusive, wasn't aggressive, it was just. You know, there's something to this fountain thing. There's something to exploring this globe, there's something to finding yourself and living your truth, as crazy as it sounds to somebody else. And because it was this calm, consistent, like feeling, it was hard to ignore. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I appreciate the context there and that's interesting that it's this more of this calming, soothing voice, not this rush or this. Your heart's palpitating like you need to go do this right now. This is your thing. And it made me think, too, with a lot of the pursuits that are the mountains that I've chosen to climb or I'm climbing right now, to keep the theme that how I know it's right for me is, it's almost like this. What I'll say is like this magnetic force that is pulling me, like it keeps coming up. It's never this sudden. You need to go do this right now, but it's this thought that continues to come up and again and again and again, no matter what setting I'm in, whether I'm on a run or I'm at work or in a conversation with somebody, for instance, launching this podcast.
Speaker 2:That was something I thought about well, into 2018, 2019. And that was also met with. Well, what about all these things? How about if nobody subscribes? Your protective brain comes up, because we're born as humans. We come out of the womb and what are we doing? From the very first second we're introduced to the world, we're seeking comfort. That's what we're born to do. That's what we're supposed to do. And anytime there's thoughts that get out of that comfort zone, you're met with that voice. But for me, the more and more I thought about the podcast and just creating an impact for people, it kept coming up very, very softly. So I can relate to you in that sense and I like that you're saying that, because maybe someone listening also has that calm voice that's in their mind for whatever mountain they want to summit next, and I believe this serves as encouragement to people that listen to that voice and don't be afraid of it. Is there anything else you'd add on there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I think for me climbing Everest was on the list, right, and whether I climbed Everest today or climbed Everest in 10 years from now, it was still a cool thing for me to do, like I was still excited about it. So when something comes into your mind and you'd be happy succeeding at it today, tomorrow, five years from now or whatever, that's also kind of a sign that this is something that's for you, because you'd be happy at any time that it came to fruition.
Speaker 1:There's not this sense of urgency that I'm going to miss the opportunity and it's never going to happen again.
Speaker 2:Right, no, I love that. And one thing that I'm curious about going back, you mentioned that the goal is not the goal, and that is the last chapter, or strategy, of the book, and in there even you mentioned that the goal wasn't necessarily to get up the seven second summits, like the goal was something greater than that. What language can we create around our goals in this new year? We may be on these pursuits, whether it's to run a marathon, or even for me it's going to be running 150 mile plus race, and I would say that getting there is great, but it's the process that I'm looking forward to the most and that on this journey, on this summit that I'm going to be going in 2024, as I document that and share that with the world, that it inspires at least one person to challenge themselves in a way that they haven't. That's ultimately what I want to get from it. Rather so, with that, what's? Some more context around? The goal is not the goal as we're here in the new year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I talk about a story of when I was pursuing my private pilot's license. Okay, so I went on with a friend in a private plane. We went shopping for a day, came home and I was like, oh my gosh, that was magical. I didn't have TSA and didn't have anything crazy. Like I want to get my private pilot's license. So it literally was like playing Kokomo in the song on the radio. I was like thinking of the beach and how cool it was going to be to have this plane.
Speaker 1:I sign up for private pilot lessons. I go and I go and I'm like I don't freaking like this. I come home and what happens when you fly is you get in the plane. You do a thousand things. You have to check on it to make sure it's working, which takes forever. And then you get up in the air and then you scan the area and you're like, oh, okay, if something went wrong here's where we land, something went wrong here's where we land. And then you scan all the gadgets in your cockpit and then for two seconds you're like, oh, isn't this cool that I'm in the plane? Oh wait, I got to make sure nothing goes wrong. Let me scan the environment.
Speaker 1:I would come home from flight lessons. I have seven children and I'd be scanning my environment for problems. Right, because that's what I just did. Guess what? There's endless problems if you want to find them in your household. When you scan, I'm like this is not good for my parenting. I'm like, okay, but I wasn't ready to give up yet. Right, I don't quit.
Speaker 1:So I bring two of my kids on the plane, because that's my whole idea. We're going to be able to fly down to Florida. We don't have to go through all the garbage. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I put two kids in the back seat with my flight instructor. They don't know why there's not a TV. They wonder when they're getting snacks or a drink, they're angry that there's not a bathroom and they're wondering when we're done. And so I'm sitting here thinking like I can't fly a plane and police the back seat. This is absolutely ridiculous. You should be happier in this flight. So we get out of the plane, whatever. I'm like, okay, well, that's not working the way that I thought it was. But I'm still like, okay, I'm going to stick with it. I'm a slow learner.
Speaker 1:So I'm like getting close, I take the flight test and then I go to take the, or I take the written test, and then I go to take the flight test and my coach calls me is like, hey, listen, you're going to want to let your insurance company know that you're getting your private license. You better call them before today. So I call my insurance company and you would think that I just like bought a 747 for my personal use or something I mean my insurance premiums and everything I was going to do is going to go through the roof. I'm like, wait a minute, this isn't cost effective or efficient. What's going on here? And they're like well, the risk and all this kind of stuff. And I finally went to my coach. I'm like, listen, I'll take the exam today. We are not turning in the records because I'm not becoming a pilot. This just isn't the path that I'm supposed to be on.
Speaker 1:I am convinced. Thank you for your time. And you know what? That whole pursuit I wouldn't change it. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I know I learned a ton about me. I learned a ton about how sexy things look until you actually start doing them and how unsexy they can be because of all the details. But all of our goals have that. All of our goals have stuff that we love about them. We have stuff that we don't love about them, but we do it because we love the end result and for me the cost of doing the thing was more than what the benefit of doing the thing was, and so I closed the door and I'm confident that I made the right decision and now I have energy to go do something else and I have a story on speed dial in my brain of like, hey, I tried it, I gave it everything I could. It wasn't for me, that's okay, now I can go on. I don't have that wondering.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what I'm hearing there despite not moving forward with the private pilots license, you still look at all the things that that experience gave you and I think that's what's really neat and that's really the gift. And all of these pursuits or these summits that we choose, you get to the top or you accomplish the goal. That's great. Really, that's the cherry on top, as I recently described in a in a my last episode about questions to ask ourselves to prepare for a great 2024. This whole journey, whatever goal we're going for or summit, it's really a process of becoming, because even for you to achieve what you did, jen, with setting the world record and subbing the seven second peaks, it took you becoming a certain type of person. That took you becoming this highly resilient and ultra focused woman that still prioritized her family, and it wasn't just you took your seven flights, you did your seven, seven hikes and that was that you became a different person and transform.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I mean that's why I wrote the book breakproof, and it's all about resilience, because when I don't want you to avoid the storm, I want you to have the confidence that whatever storm you're in, you're able to get through it. And so this book just helps you realize, like okay, storms are going to come, I'm not avoiding them, I'm living life. If I'm living life, I'm going to have a storm someday. So this book just helps you realize okay, when you're in that storm, what tools can you use to get through the other side, because you're stronger than whatever's thrown at you.
Speaker 2:Now it's almost like you're reading my prep notes and show notes because, as you say that my favorite chapter of the book was embracing imperfect starts. And I love this book because, even though I've spoken with you now numerous times and we've become friends, I've learned so many new things, not just in our conversations. But this book, folks, is packed with so many action-filled stories that it's tough to put down and I figured that I knew most of your cool stories, jen. But then, as I'm reading through this chapter, embrace Imperfect Starts, you have this crazy encounter as you're going to Russia to climb the Dio.
Speaker 1:I'm blanking out Dig Tau.
Speaker 2:Dig Tau, Dig Tau, Dig Tau. You get to Russia and then, basically, or you get close to Russia and this is just barely post-pandemic and right around the Russia-Ukraine invasion and you're about to get on a flight. They say this flight is only for repatriated citizens. You can't get on that flight. You have to go around Russia when your gear gets lost and you can't just go climb these mountains with normal everyday REI hiking gear. So talk about the importance of embracing Imperfect Starts and dig into that story. That actually might be one of my new favorite ones about you.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, russia, I tell you, I tell you, I tell you, so that's country. Yeah, so I go to Russia to climb Dig Tau, and Russia is a technical climb. So I ordered, for example, 20 pairs of gloves and sent 19 pairs back because I'm like, okay, this pair is the perfect ability for dexterity and warmth and it's going to do all the things that I need it to do. So this is the pair I'm bringing in. I did that with all my gear. Right, when you're layering stuff, you have to buy it in different sizes because you're thinking, okay, this is going to go under that, or it's going to go over that, or it's going to go over that. So this is how it's going to work.
Speaker 1:I land in Moscow, my bags do not. The guide with me is like the weather's now, so we either go now or you fly home. And I still go back to that moment and to that feeling of do I want to go home? And I did. And the only reason why I didn't go home is because, at the exact time he asked me this, the airport surround sound system goes off again. I'm like I cannot be in an airport for any more time and hear that flight leaving at blah blah. My brain had heard that for 36 hours and it sounded more painful than going to the mountain and figuring out whatever we needed to figure out. So, okay, the guys are like okay, we'll go to a gear store and we'll try to find stuff.
Speaker 1:Like you said, it was September of 2021. We're not finding stuff. Like no one has any inventory. Covid got everybody outdoors, everybody's out of gear. Nothing's been shipping in.
Speaker 1:And when you go to Russia, it's like everything is a Walmart in the size of a gas station. Okay, so you can buy anything from pharmaceuticals to alarm clocks, to socks, to gum, right, like I mean it's just, but it's tiny. They don't have depth of like options. So we go to two different stores. I literally feel like I'm at a TJ Maxx trying to find stuff to go climb a mountain that I had spent months sending gear back and forth on. Right, I'm like it just doesn't even equate in my head. But I'm like whatever, I mean I'm wearing Scooby-Doo underwear to climb this mountain because it's the only underwear that I could find that like won't fall off my hips and like go down. I'm like this is it. I mean like who climbs it's Scooby-Doo underwear as an adult female. But we're good, and so I mean, I have a backpack that I have to tie so it doesn't fall off my shoulders, I have a jacket that I have to roll the sleeves on, I mean all of it. The shoes are too big and my story was okay, I don't get to the top, but we don't have a lot of information on this mountain. So anything that I collect while I'm there is knowledge for when I come back and it's gonna make me better for when I come back and I'm gonna actually know what gloves to bring or all this kind of stuff. And, believe me, if I was to go back and do it again today, there's a thousand things that would have done different than the first time I did it, even as I prepared, and then the time that it actually happened, when everything went sideways.
Speaker 1:So we go to climb and the unique thing about this mountain it's between two oceans, and so you get a ton of snow every single day and you have a ton of avalanches, so you're always walking on ridge lines. You're actually sometimes digging yourself up the mountain because there's so much snow that fell, and you're tied to your guide. So the guide and I are tied to each other. So if he makes a mistake, we're both falling down the mountain until one of us kind of rests ourselves. If I make a mistake and pull on him, I could pull us both down the mountain until we like save ourselves. So every step is so important and takes so much mental energy because you wanna make sure that everything you do isn't a mistake. We somehow, by, like the love of the universe, summit this mountain.
Speaker 1:Okay, when we're at the top we take like two photos and have to get down as fast as possible because we're in an electrical storm. And I'm thinking an electrical storm is when you see lightning and thunder and all this kind of stuff, but there is no lightning or thunder. What happens is is, all of a sudden, like I was walking and my back started to burn, like I was on fire. I'm like why am I on fire, why am I on fire? And I'm arching trying to figure out what's going on, and the guide's like throw, throw. And so we grabbed my ice axe and threw it, and so what happened was the electrical current had collected to that metal piece and it would have made electricity had I let it continue to connect. So now we're on this mountain and I'm not joking you when you're like in kindergarten and you know, when you slither like a snake across the floor, I'm like I'm slithering like a snake on the second highest mountain in Europe right now. This is awesome.
Speaker 1:So, like, the whole experience was zero of what I thought it was going to look like. Right, like, did I think I'd be wearing Scooby underwear? No, did I think I'd be slithering like a snake? There's parts of that mountain that I butt scooted down because I broke a toe from jamming into the front of the boot so many times and I'm like, okay, this section I can butt scoot, I just need to give my toe a break.
Speaker 1:But here's the deal. No one asks you about all the details of what the whole thing looks like, right, they just want to know did you summit? Yeah, we summited. It was the craziest, ugliest sideways thing, embarrassing, whatever, but it doesn't matter because we got it done. And the craziest thing about this whole story is I get to the airport. My bags landed the day before, they like to tell me. So I grab my bags, I fly home and six months later Russia closes. I still wouldn't be able to climb that mountain if I waited for the perfect conditions or for my gear to come or for whatever, and I wouldn't have that record right now. And I think there's so many of us that are sitting in these stories waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect thing or whatever else like that, instead of just allowing it to look sloppy and ugly and improvise as we go.
Speaker 2:Man, yeah, I love that. And there's so many great lessons packed in that, and even what you just said there that it's not about waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect conditions. If you have the opportunity and if, rather, if you have the opportunity, then frickin' go, go for it. And the electrical storm story I'm not kidding you, jen. As I was reading that, I'm scratching my head like what the hell is she talking about? And like this invisible electrical storm. Because, yeah, over here for us an electrical storm. We think, okay, where's the thunder, where's the lightning? And stay the heck away. But in this case, the picture I'm painting in my head and, as you're saying that, you know, in the scene in Talladega nights where Ricky Bobby's running around, he thinks he's on fire, like that, that's what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1:Totally was the moment. I'm like this is the good point. I'm like you freak out and you cannot, because it is like the space right before the electrical current happens that if we would have stayed and you didn't break that connection, then you would have had the electricity right, then you would have had it. And you're saying like, oh, my God, this is real life. Like real life, this is what goes on. Okay, great, good to know.
Speaker 2:Oh man, you are all about the curve ball and you know how to hit it. I will say that especially now reading through this and there's one more that was new for me that I'd love for you to share. And again going back to embracing the imperfect starts and embracing the moments that you wouldn't expect and looking at what it's giving you, I think that if anyone's a champion of that, it's you, jen. And another thing I learned about you on K2 and I believe this was on your second attempt is that you got hit with anthrax. Yes, something we haven't heard of in a very long time. I think the last time I remember hearing about anthrax was in the early 2000s, when I believe they were sending packages to the US and you had to worry about if it was laced with anthrax, but actually contracting it. I've never heard of that, because that's not something that's common here in the United States. So talk through that curve ball and that experience, because I think there's some more lessons and learning packed in that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So I think, in a nutshell, you'll learn that I am the luckiest, unlucky person in the whole world, like I think I'm both ends of the spectrum. At all times it's like, okay, this crazy thing's gonna happen, and then this crazy thing's gonna happen and it's gonna balance out. So when you hike into K2, you do not have tea houses along the way, you're packing up your tent, you're setting it up, you're melting water, you're doing all the things, and then you pack up and go and it takes about a week to get to K2 based camp because you're gaining altitude and you're trying to get there. Well, it's not uncommon, unfortunately, to not get Jardia. So Jardia is a bacteria that happens when the water isn't fully cleaned and you drink it or your food's cooked in it, and it's almost like when are you going to get it, not if you're going to get it. So I got it and I went on a Z-Pack, which is difficult, probably a little bit heavy duty because of my weight and height and everything. But whatever we thought, okay, it kicked it away.
Speaker 1:I'm the human that hikes and we have donkeys and stuff carrying our gear. I care about the animals. I don't know why. I'm an animal person, I guess, and so every day I checked to make sure they had enough water, they had enough food, like were they being taken care of. And one day, one of the donkeys sneezes on me. Okay, so I'm full of donkey slime. I'm just like you, jerk, I'm the only person who cares about you, and you sneeze at me with slime, like forget you.
Speaker 2:How dare you and I?
Speaker 1:was like so mad at this donkey sneeze and I didn't think anything of it. But then a couple of days later I got like the symptoms of Jardia again, which is basically everything just runs right through you. And so I go on another Z-Pack. That Z-Pack cuts things back for a couple of days I feel good, and then I start getting sick again. So I go on another Z-Pack, right. So I've done three of these things and then it's still like I'm good for a couple of days and then I start getting a bad stomach again. I'm 30 pounds lighter at this point Now. I'm 30 pounds lighter once I get back into the US. So I'm losing weight. Like you can visibly tell I'm not doing awesome.
Speaker 1:I call my doctor back in the United States on my sat phone and he's like I don't think that prescription's working for you. I wouldn't take another. He's like, just, you know, maybe you should act in the expedition. And it was like time to go up the mountain. And so my guy's like, well, maybe you shouldn't come. Oh, and I'm coming, I don't care if I'm sick up that entire mountain, I'm not coming back to this country. Like there is no way. This just no. And so I climbed K2 sick, with what we thought was Jardia, which at one level was kind of a blessing, because anybody who's sick, you know that you don't have the bandwidth to worry or think about anything else. Right Like it just is all consuming. And when I climbed K2 in 2021, I lost a friend to an avalanche and I was like nervous about climbing in 2022 because I didn't know if that was going to all come up and PTSD and everything else like that. Well, guess what, when you're sick, you don't have time to think about those kinds of things, you're just sick and you just do the thing.
Speaker 1:So, lucky for me, we summit and we get back down to base camp and I go to call my family because I'm so excited and I want to like tell them all the news. And my phone has a voicemail on it and the voicemail is from Yosemite National Park and they're like hey, jen, you're two sons that are a camp here, don't like it, and they're at the ages where they can check themselves out of camp. So they've checked themselves out, we've assigned them to a hotel and there's a camp counselor staying with them and you're paying $1,000 a day until you can come pick up your children. And I call the camp and I'm like listen, I'm in Pakistan, I just climbed K2. They're fine, they will be fine. Bring them back to camp, don't worry about like, don't let them talk you out of this. Like not enough. She's like I'm sorry, they're at the ages where they have to want to be here. We don't force kids to be here at their ages. It's just not worth it to all the other kids in camp. Okay, fine, so I'm saying everything.
Speaker 1:What are my options? I need to get my butt home as fast as I can Do. I leave, like, all my stuff. I have a day pack. We double down. I'm sick as a dog. It's like 36 hours to climb, like hike 55 miles out, which is altitude, and all these different things.
Speaker 1:I get to the airport, I fly home, I pick up these knuckleheads and bring them back to Park City and I'm like you know I need to go to the doctor. I'm not feeling good. Still, I'm now throwing up water, like things just don't feel right. So I go to the hospital. I meet my doctor there and he's like running tests, and they come back in and like, okay, we need to figure out some more questions. Nothing's coming back with what we're hoping. And he's like, okay, were you by farm animals? And of course I'm like I wasn't by farm animals. I just climbed K2. And I said, wait, no, I was by farm animals because they carry our gear in and in fact one of those darned donkeys sneezed on me. He's like, okay, we know what to run.
Speaker 1:I'm like, okay, so they ran a test for anthrax, which is actually a natural bacteria. That's in that can be airborne, that's in farm animals in third world countries. And typically your body would be strong enough to fight it off, unless it came in like at huge amounts or if you are immunocompromised, which my, since I was on antibiotic and knocked out all my good and bad bacteria. So when I got full of bad bacteria it grew and I didn't have enough good bacteria to back it down. When we took the Z-Pack, it dialed it back, but I never took it long enough to kill the anthrax. So it kept growing back and stronger. And the crazy thing is is like so I'm on an IV antibiotic right away. They're like running.
Speaker 1:He's like you have a 40% chance of living right now. Not your boys not done what they did to get you to come home. I would have taken a week. That's like what you normally hike out at, especially because I wasn't feeling good, right, like I was going to go the slow, easy way. He's like there's no way you had another day or two. Like if you would have still been there, you would, they wouldn't know to test, you'd be dead.
Speaker 1:And I sit there and think like this is the crazy thing about life. We can do everything in our power. There's just stuff we never know and you just have to trust that the universe has your back. The only way I would have flown home is if something was wrong with one of my kids. Anything else that would have been like it can wait till I get there. It can wait till I get there. Something's wrong with one of my kids. Mama bear is coming home and I sit there and think like wow, like this universe is fascinating, like it truly has your back. Like just do your thing, you're going to be good.
Speaker 2:That is wild. Jenna did not know. The second piece of it or the 40%, that's holy smokes and getting the building that trust in the universe, or that, hey, good will come. Is that a muscle that you've built over time? Was that something that was present in, let's say, gen 1.0, which gen 1.0 is pre nearly fatal crash? Or is that something that you've built over time? Because I think that's an important one in. I preach positivity, want everyone to believe that good will come, or at least find the good in anything that is not good in the present moment. So what's your take on that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me it was definitely a journey Because gen 1.0, the more control I had, the safer. I felt. Right, like control equaled safety for me. And then that car accident made me realize there's stuff in life that I'm not going to be able to control. I mean just I can't and I let go. Like I let go in that wreck and surrendered to what was. And because I let go, I survived.
Speaker 1:If I would have resisted that car accident at any point, like it would have been too powerful for me and I wouldn't have been able to get through it. And I think that's the thing about this resilience piece and this breakproof piece it's not white knuckle to the end, it's like, hey, I have this thing, I'm going to relax in it and allow it to show up the way that it does and like, maybe drive me off track a little bit, because it's my version of off track. It's not off track, it's just because it doesn't line up with how I thought it was going to be. It's off track, right, and then allow that to be what it is. We are there's so much more happening in our favor than we truly ever understand. Born in this country is in your favor, like you truly do not understand until you travel to other countries. Right, there are so many things that are in here to help us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. You know, one thing that I'm very curious about, jen, is we are in this new year. I heard you recently on Lauren Woodrick's podcast and she asked you what's going to be your focus for 2024. And you and I have also had these discussions as well, and I remember you sharing that it's not going to be this big, massive list, and even when we look at goals, you allow yourself one big goal per year. For somebody that just said again this world record, someone that doesn't know, you may naturally think, well, her 2024 focus must be on bigger and better. Let's go find the next record to set. You said something very interesting. You said that your focus is going to be on being a human being versus a human doing. So, as we're in this new year, what does it mean for you to focus on being a human being?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have endurance to do things. You know this is an endurance athlete because we allow ourselves time to rest and recover and we realize that that's actually part of the pursuit. If you do not rest and recover, you're not going to be able to run 150 miles. You have to have that be part of the movement forward and I think so often we get used to well, I want to be 1% better or this or that, or that's how I'm making progress and becoming this better human.
Speaker 1:Well, I just did this huge thing. I used two and a half years of my life that I was pushing and going hard and figuring it out and doing the thing that now it's my season of winter, it's my recovery, it's my recharging, it's my recalibrating, it's integrating Right, like I just did this huge thing, how do I integrate that into my being to make sure that when I go to the next thing, I'm showing up as my full self instead of a half charged battery? And so I'm really just honoring the season of rest and recovery and rejuvenation and recharging. And I want my kids to see that, because so much of what we see in the news and everything else is everybody's summer, it's their highlight reel. It's all their like, best of best. And for those high highlight reels to exist, there's a season of rest behind them.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:I'm living that rest season right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and even with that, you've been plenty busy and you are going to be, I'm sure, a little more occupied here as the book launches tomorrow, and you've been doing countless interviews, tv, radio, podcast appearances. What's your vision with breakproof, and is it already too early to look ahead, and I see you as somebody that probably has multiple books in them, but I'm curious what you see and where this is going to go?
Speaker 1:You know it's fun about having a book as you have this idea, right. And then you share the book with the world. So we have a handful of people that have gotten advanced copies for different reasons. Right, they joined the book team, they did whatever. We sent advanced copies to get feedback, to do whatever.
Speaker 1:And I got an email yesterday from a friend that's on this book launch team and he said my sister just got cancer in my heart, like just, oh, kidding. And he's like and I gave her the book and she's going to be breakproof in this pursuit. And he's like would you come and talk to the people that are going through cancer about resilience and these different pieces. So here's what's exciting about this this next year, because I don't have this solid plan, because it's this rest and recovery plan, I'm going to get on stages, I'm going to go talk to places, I'm going to be pulled in different directions based on what something in this book resonated with somebody and they want me to share that message in more detail with their book club, with their group, with their company, with whatever. And I'm excited about it because it's stuff I never anticipated and it's going to be a way that I can give and be recharged because of the impact it's having.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful, jen, and looking forward to that first stage of the year that's going to be just outside of my hometown at Grab Life by the Gold Summit. Obviously, by the time this comes out, that will have already happened, but I'm glad that this is going to lead to the stages and you being in front of people and people getting to experience more of Jen, and I love that. Again, you are I'll call you the queen of the curveball. Maybe I don't know I'll have to think more about what I'd really call you, but I love that through every step of the way, something has presented itself to you and you've taken something from it and turned it. You've taken negative and turned it into positive, and that's what I love and appreciate most about you.
Speaker 2:You also have your 40 day challenges. I saw that are coming back up and talk through that, because I really want people to understand all of the resources that you make available so that people can become more breakproof besides just having the book. But you also have your 40 day challenges and I'm actually signed up on the emails for those, so looking to maybe tap into one of those with Christina. So what is that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so okay, the Everest challenge is just started for everybody listening.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to do another one in February.
Speaker 1:It's a 40 day challenge to recline Mount Everest from the comfort of your home and it teaches you the lessons of like daily little things can add up to significant deals and every day I go over like a little mindset hack or trick or thing.
Speaker 1:That's worked for me, because how we do anything is how we do everything, and when you can condense something into 40 days, you're going to learn a lot about yourself and realize like, oh, here's where I normally trip up or here's where I succeed, or here's what's going on, and when you can learn it in this little micro environment, it helps you to apply it into your macro environment, whatever that looks like. So that's why I do that challenge, because it brings me back to the basics and allows me to get like granular when I do something bigger and I can't get as granular. Also, it just starts building the community. Like I'm taking a group of people to go climb Kilimanjaro in February. I'm super excited about it. That came about a couple of different ways and I know different retreats and journeys and experiences are going to keep showing up and I'm just kind of allowing these programs to find the people, to feed the ideas, to build the next thing.
Speaker 2:That's so cool and that's going to be. That'll be linked in the notes. Now, jen, as you know, what's customary to end the show is the rapid fire session and it's the three questions. Where we're going up the elevator, one new person gets on and they ask you one question. The amount of time you have to answer is the amount of time it takes to go up one elevator floor. So the one gem one step, one book. So someone gets on and they recognize you. You've read the book, heard you on a podcast, jen. What's one gem that you have in your back pocket or live your life by, whether it's a mantra or a quote that I can put in my back pocket for 2024?
Speaker 1:Oh and you're awesome. Oh and you're awesome, oh and you're awesome. Oh, and who you are. Oh and it.
Speaker 2:Amen. Next person gets on, Jen. What's one step that I can take today to become more breakproof?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know awareness, and awareness comes from setting triggers. So a trigger meditation for me is, every single time I do a doorknob, I pause into myself and be like, okay, am I living my truth or am I caught in the flow of life? So, whatever you want to do, set a trigger and every single time that trigger happens like an alarm goes off, a doorknob's open you get in your car. Whatever you want that trigger to be, that's a moment to pause, take a break and connect to yourself and then go forward.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that. That actually just made me think of your gratitude that you do at Red Light as well. Yeah, gratitude, red Light, so I love the trigger. Now last person gets on, jen. What's one book besides breakproof that you recommend I read in 2024 to enhance my mindset?
Speaker 1:Yeah, have you read the book the Magic of Thinking Big?
Speaker 2:I love that book.
Speaker 1:I love that book. I love it, I do, I do. I do you know another book I'm reading right now that I've really enjoyed. It's the Way Forward. It's super simple and it's just like little, teeny, tiny things every day, like here's one I'll read real quick. They asked her how do you get through tough moments? She answered do not trust the way you see yourself when your mind is turbulent. Remember that even pain is temporary. Honor your boundaries. Treat yourself gently. Let go of perfection. Feel your emotions without letting them control you. You have enough experience to face the storm and evolve from it. And it's like these little bite-sized bits.
Speaker 1:Like every day I'm like I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not only did you recommend the book, you're the first one to actually hey, here's something from it. That's cool. That's cool. You're the first one, you're actually and you're the first three-time guest here. So, jen, as always, I appreciate you for who you are as a friend, as a positive influence in the world, super excited for Breakproof. Folks pick this up. This is going to be on the bestseller list. I know it and can't wait for your continued success, jen. Check out Jen and become more Breakproof and win today. Thanks so much for tuning in.