“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” — Najwa Zebian

 

This week, I am focusing on this wonderful quote by Najwa Zebian. On the surface, it seems pretty straightforward. But when you pause for a minute to think about it, it gets deep pretty quickly.

 

Deep Thought #1: As a high-achieving individual, you are constantly striving, aka climbing. Typically, others are on the path with you, using their strengths to help you summit as a team. Yet, sometimes (or maybe too many times), your teammates don’t pull their weight or contribute at as high a level as you would prefer. So, what do you do? Pick up the slack, aka start carrying.

 

Deep Thought #2: As a high-achieving individual, you are climbing, but maybe you are on the path by yourself. There can be a variety of reasons for this—there isn’t anyone who has time, capabilities or interest in joining you. Or maybe you don’t know how or unwilling to invite or include others on your journey. So, rather that simply climbing, you end up carrying the full load.

 

Deep Thought #3: Once you start carrying, asking others for help feels like weakness. You tell yourself you “should” be able to handle this. It’s your path and vision, after all. And, by the way, many of you are climbing multiple mountains at the same time (career, family, community involvement, etc.) and expect to be able to carry for all of them well.

 

Final Deep Thought (for today): Stop and breathe. Put down the pack(s). You don’t have to climb AND carry all the time. You are not a lesser person by acknowledging that fact. You wouldn’t climb Mount Everest without a sherpa, would you?