The thoughts we choose to think about stress or challenges will either help us become who we want to be or make us feel like a victim. I want to feel empowered. I want to feel alive. It’s OK that sometimes feeling alive includes negative emotions. As the waves keep coming in, I want to remember that I was made for this. 

“Everyone has an Everest. Whether it’s a climb you choose, or a circumstance you find yourself in, you’re in the middle of an important journey. Can you imagine a climber scaling the wall of ice at Everest’s Lhotse Face and saying, ‘This is such a hassle’? Or spending the first night in the mountain’s ‘death zone’ and thinking, ‘I don’t need this stress’? The climber knows the context of his stress. It has personal meaning to him; he has chosen it. You are most liable to feel like a victim of the stress in your life when you forget the context the stress is unfolding in. ‘Just another cold, dark night on the side of Everest’ is a way to remember the paradox of stress. The most meaningful challenges in your life will come with a few dark nights.” -Kelly McGonigal 

I decided to leave some of the layers showing in this piece and love how it turned out. It feels alive and full of energy.