This past weekend I had the chance to take a mini camping trip with my daughter, her request for spring break. We initially had planned to set up camp a couple hours from our home but the wacky weather that swept across the US on Tuesday had other ideas. So instead of throwing in the towel we decided to scroll south for our best bet…bye bye Ohio and Kentucky…Great Smokey Mountains (6 hours from our home) here we come!
While we love to claim we enjoy camping, the truth of the matter is we are very much amateurs, so the ideal location was one with plenty of amenities (i.e. clean bathrooms, showers) and close to food, ice cream 😊 and more. Campsite selected – check!
With each decision came more excitement and anticipation! The idea that my “I’m not good enough gremlin” would pop up was never a thought.
After the road trip to Townsend, TN, we were ready to get our hike on! We were wise on day one – a relatively easy hike to get our legs under us and prepare us for what was to come on day two. While it was an easy hike from an elevation perspective, we did have an adrenaline rush halfway through when we heard something relatively large (or that’s what we told ourselves, following us. Hike 1 - Check!
Day two started with more enthusiasm and we had selected a much more challenging hike – Alum Cave to Mount LeCounte - 10 miles with over 2,000ft elevation gain. Now we’re talking!
Food, water, layers, we were prepared – let’s get this hike started. It was a nice slow, steady climb at first, but we didn’t care, we were hiking on a beautiful sunny day, river flowing, and birds chirping. Oh, this is going to be awesome!
Wait, what’s that? Heavy breathing and legs starting to feel the burn? That’s when the gremlin showed up. A “gremlin”, you ask? Yeah, that’s the voice in our head that starts to make us question who we are, what we can do, and whether or not we are good enough. And mine was starting to play tricks in my head. “Am I too old to keep up with my daughter?”, “did I wear the right shoes?”, “why did I pack so much unnecessary crap in my pack?”, you get the idea.
I couldn’t let my daughter know how I was feeling. I’m the dad, I’m supposed to be the tough one, the prepared one, the experienced one. “Don’t show it Brian!” I kept saying to myself. But that gremlin kept chirping in my head…your pack is too heavy, your shoulders are hurting, etc., etc.
You may be asking – “but Brian, you’re a coach, you help others deal with their gremlins, how can you help others when you have your own?” Great question! All of us have our gremlins and I’m no exception to that rule. I’ve learned over the years how to manage mine, but they don’t go away. And each experience I go through is different than the past (completely new or experiencing them again but at a different stage in life), so I have to face my “I’m not good enough” gremlin each time.
So, what have I learned and how do I overcome these moments?
- Positive self-talk
o Instead of staying in the negative thoughts (too old, wrong shoes, etc) I
switch my thoughts to – I’m spending time with my daughter, weather is
beautiful
- I refocus my senses on things that distract my gremlin
o Visual…mountains, landscape, the wind whipping through the treetops
o Auditory…birds chirping, wind whistling, small critters scampering around,
water rushing through the valley
o Touch…grabbing the stone wall, picking up a small rock to carry
At last, we reached the top and wow the views were breathtaking, the mountains were majestic, and the noises in my head were gone. I was at the peak, looking down over the Great Smokeys, seeing the challenge we had just overcome, and taking in the moment with my daughter. It was pure joy!
Ok Brian, but what about the bear? Right. Well, we completed our hike, jumped in the car, headed back to civilization, and celebrated with ice cream. On our way back to camp we spotted a group of people gathering on the side of the road and what’s that we see – a yearling black bear just hanging out eating some berries and whatever else it could round up. It didn’t care about the 30 people taking pictures.
Which reminded me that we should all be like the bear – they don’t apologize for being bears! They recognize what they are and go about doing what is necessary to fulfill their needs – even if that miffs a few salmon along the way. There is something fabulous about finding strength in total self-acceptance, and I’ve decided to give it a shot.
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