April 3, 2025 • 26 mins
Episode 68: Living an Extraordinary Life: It's All Mountains and Valleys
Embracing Life's Mountains and Valleys: Finding True Happiness and Growth
In this episode of Conversations with Kimen, the speaker discusses the journey of living an extraordinary life, comparing it to navigating mountains and valleys. They emphasize the importance of accepting both the highs and lows, finding joy in the process rather than in the outcome, and maintaining resilience through challenges. The speaker highlights the significance of inner happiness and growth that arises from struggles. They also provide insights on the mindset needed to achieve big goals and the role of supportive relationships in life's journey. Listeners are encouraged to find strength in adversity and keep striving for their dreams while being thankful for the support around them.
00:00 Introduction: Embracing an Extraordinary Life
02:10 The Secret to True Happiness
03:27 Overcoming Life's Challenges
05:25 The Growth in Struggle
07:07 Pursuing Big Dreams
09:07 The Journey to Success
17:57 Navigating the Valleys
20:33 The Role of Support and Friendship
24:43 Conclusion: The Continuous Climb
25:54 Outro: Stay Connected
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Living in an extraordinary life.
It's all just mountains and valleys.
You know, I hear some people whowant to do amazing things on this
planet and in their lives, like,like athletic pursuits, uh, you know,
(00:26):
maybe financial pursuits, maybe.
Um, spiritual pursuits and sometimesthe, these people say that like, I
wish it could all just be stable.
I wish it could all be monotone.
And in my life I've understoodthat if you really want to be
(00:52):
extraordinary that you are going to.
Having extreme highs andsometimes extreme lows.
Life doesn't happen in thatlittle space in between.
(01:12):
Life happens up on the mountainand in the pursuit of that climb,
and life also happens down in the valley.
If you really wanna live an incrediblyextraordinary life, there's one
thing you may want to consider
(01:35):
is that there's no final destination.
It's not about the outcome.
You can't hang your hat on the outcome.
Like if you spend a life.
(01:57):
Only being happy
when you hit that goal.
When you crush it,
your happiness will befleeting, but there's a secret
to happiness, and if youcan find your happiness.
(02:22):
From inside, not from outside.
You don't look outside for your happiness.
You don't look at the people around you.
You don't look at your successes.
You don't look at your money, atyour fame, at your prestige, at
your job, because all these couldbe taken away from in a moment.
(02:48):
And outcomes, like say if you're a runner.
The majority of your time in yourrunning career will be spent training,
like putting miles, doing workouts,
lifting, getting therapy resting.
(03:10):
It's a very, very small percentage ofyour time that will actually be racing.
So if the only thing that makesyou happy is racing or winning.
Then you're hanging yourhappiness on something that's
gonna be fleeting at times.
Because the truth isthis will too will pass.
(03:32):
And to me, this too will pass, hasa significant, I have a significant
understanding of this that youknow, if I am in a really tough
time, if I'm down in a valley,
I can be comforted knowing that.
This too will pass.
There's only a certain amount oftime I'm going to spend in that
(03:56):
valley before I start the climb.
So tough times are, theyhave a finite amount of time.
You know, if you think of it, everyproblem you've ever had in your
entire life, that's now in the past.
It definitely has a few things in common.
(04:16):
The first thing it always has in common isif it's in the past, there was a solution,
and if you get really honest with your,with yourself that how you were thinking
about that problem, or you know that lowtime or when things aren't just going
your way, what you were thinking, orlike if you have a niggle or an injury.
(04:39):
What were you thinking?
The moment that it's probably,oh, will this ever go away?
And the truth is it did, or the problemwas solved or there was an outcome.
And if you get honest with yourself, theway it worked out was probably better
than you thought it would be whenyou were sitting deep in the problem.
(05:02):
So if you're sitting in a problem time,just ask yourself the simple question.
How is this different than any otherproblem I've ever had in my entire life?
And you will, you will come to therealization that this tool will pass.
There will be a solution.
The solution will be betterthan I think it is right now,
and then you can move forward.
(05:25):
The other thing about problems ortough times that you probably notice
is the problems, the tough times.
That's where the growth happens.
Growth, like, and strengthand resilience is not created.
Sitting on a beach inThailand drinking a Mi Thai
(05:52):
growth, resilience, and strength is builtin the struggle, in the tough times.
In the overcoming of, and thenreflecting on the fact that you overcame.
And over and over you reflectthat you were able to overcome.
(06:13):
And if you really pay attention to yourlife, if you have a lot of struggles,
this is pointing at the fact that maybeyou're here for big things, right?
Because there's a promise that it wouldnever be more than you could handle.
And if you look back in your life, in thetoughest moments, something showed up.
(06:33):
And supported you through that moment.
And then sometimes that somethingor someone or whatever that was
it moved, moved away like itwas in your life for a short
period, and then it was gone.
And then other others that come intoyour life, they come and they walk
(06:54):
with you for, for years, for decades.
And some of them will evenwalk with you for a lifetime.
If you want to consider having anextraordinary life, you gotta understand
that you are going to take on challenges,
(07:15):
and if you're already pursuing this,there is a part of you that probably
isn't really satisfied with any outcomeanyway, like in the back of your
mind, you think you'll be happy when?
But then when you reach that success,you automatically raise a bar
(07:40):
and you probably downplay the success insaying, well, I mean, I could have got a
pb and if you got a pb, uh, I could havedone even better than that, or I could
have got the like standard time for.
(08:01):
In the case of Runner Standard Time forWorlds or Olympics or national team.
And if you, if you nailedstandard time, man, I could have
like crushed a Canadian record.
Like I only, I only got likesecond fastest time ever and
I want a Canadian record.
(08:22):
And then from there it's like, oh, Icould have qualified for the Olympics.
And then if you qualify for theOlympics, it's like, oh man.
I could have had a national recordor like, why not a world record?
Like why not go to theOlympics and win a gold?
You know, I only won a bronze.
What I'm alluding to is actually thatmindset is what pushes you forward.
(08:47):
If you want to be extraordinary, you'llalso spend time not saying like, I hope
I can do this, or I would like to dothis, or Man, that would be my dream.
But it's hard to declare thatyou're gonna do something.
So consider, consider this visual.
(09:07):
So you set this goal, you decideand say, say it's a time goal,
it's a whatever goal, whatevergoal you're working on the moment.
Like maybe say you want to, you wannabreak, you know, a certain number.
(09:28):
And you can considerthat a mountain, right?
And as you're climbing up that mountain,at least it seems really tough, right?
Like you're running, doingworkouts, you're doing all the
other work, you're working on yourheadset, your, your mind space.
You're working with a group of people,
(09:50):
and then sometimes somewhere in the middleof that, things start going sideways.
Maybe a workout doesn't go sowell and you start questioning
whether you can achieve this goal.
You know, the climbsgetting steeper, right?
Know this?
I've known a number ofhuman beings, runners
(10:13):
who some of the, like literally wantedto quit during the build for a major
competition, and they stuck it out anyway.
And they actually crushedwhat they were looking to do.
So a thought in the back of your mindcould be, it's not necessarily a perfect
workout that creates a perfect race.
(10:37):
Like as long as you're getting the workin, as long as you're getting the recovery
in, you just don't know what'll happen.
So you're climbing.
And the crazy part of thisis if you've ever climbed a
mountain the last little bit.
The last little bit, you don't knowexactly where you are 'cause you
can't see the top because it's sosteep and it's probably rockier or
(11:00):
you're, you're going through a rockfield where every time you step up,
the whole rock field slides down a bitand it gets really, really difficult.
And this is the place where people,
a lot of people quit.
Now, don't get me wrongin this conversation here.
(11:22):
It's okay to take a stepback if you need to.
It's okay to redesign your timeframe.
It's okay to lie down.
Take a rest if you need one,
because the truth is whenyou're on the path through
(11:44):
extraordinary life, it's not linear.
It just, it's just not.
I haven't seen it be linear for anyone,and I don't think it's meant to be because
the times when you need to stop and takea rest are as important as the times you
(12:04):
need to push, and the truth is nobodycan tell you when you need to stop, and
nobody can tell you when you need to push.
You have to trust yourself.
And sometimes when youneed to take a break,
a lot of the people aroundyou won't understand
(12:24):
and that's okay.
'cause this is where it gets hard.
This is where you need to speakyour truth, and this is where
you have the greatest capacityof growth when you decide.
That you are more importantthan the pin opinions of others.
You are at a new level ofgrowth, which will serve you in
(12:49):
every single area of your life.
So even if you are just about at the peakand you need to stop and take a break
than do it and readjust the timeline.
'cause you know what?
It is quite possible that the reason youneed to do that is 'cause you need, you
need to push the peak a little further.
'cause there's something else,some other opportunity that's gonna
(13:11):
come up or it's just gonna fit.
'cause like if you think about life, life,life is like this massive tapestry, right?
You ever look in the back of a tapestry,you'll see all these strings all over
the place, chaos, no pattern, no nothing.
And if that, if that tapestry waslarge enough that up close to it, you
(13:34):
couldn't really see the full pattern.
This is life, right?
You can't see the pattern.
You can't see how everythingis interconnected with
everything until you look back.
So you got this massivetapestry called life.
You are looking from the back.
It looks like chaos, buteverything is woven on purpose.
(13:56):
And then when you're looking for thefront, you realize you can't see 'cause
you're too close, you're too in it.
And if you step backtime and distance slowly
it comes into focus
and you start to see.
(14:17):
How everything fit.
Now, I would never expect you tosee this in the moment, in the
energy, in the, in the upset of thatmoment when you need to step back.
I would just want you to trust that
the irony of life is, itmust be lived and forward.
(14:41):
This is an amazing quote.
But it can only be understoodwhen you look back.
So trust that when you put enoughtime and distance in between you
and that moment, you'll see why.
You know, it's like oneof my runners, two words.
Patience and trust.
(15:04):
Yeah, and I would say
unreasonable, patience and unreasonable.
Trust and maybe even unrealistic patienceand unrealistic trust because when
there's a dream that big in your heart,nothing on heaven or earth will stop it.
(15:27):
So finally you come up and youcrest the top of that mountain.
And it's funny, some of the amazingathletes I've met, they're like.
There's a couple minutes of maybe20 minutes, maybe a day of, yes.
And then there's like, oh, butyou know, could have gone faster.
(15:47):
I backed off a little bit here and Icould have set a Canadian record or
like, and so on, and so on and so on.
And that's, you know, that's totally okay.
That's like the competitive veg.
That is exactly what drives you forward.
So you don't want to change that.
You just wanna realize thatwhen things don't go your way,
don't let it take you out.
Don't let it take you out on the bad day.
(16:09):
Shake it off.
Use that energy to push yourself back.
As soon as you're rested,get back up and go.
So now, if you really, really wantto live an extraordinary life, if
that's your purpose, you get tothis top of the mountain, you take a
breath, maybe you chill a little bit
(16:31):
and then you look on off inthe distance, and guess what
you see for the next mountain?
And things are okay for a little while.
So you're starting to come down themountain, traverse it a little bit.
You know, there's, there's little bumpsin the road recovering from the race,
recovering for, from the tournament,um, like resting and, but it's not as
(16:57):
hard when you're coming off a high.
It's kind of easy and it's adownhill climb, which is a lot
better than an uphill climb Innocent.
It's better that it's not as taxing.
It's not better that it doesn'tcreate as much strength.
A downhill climb.
Yeah, and if you're kind of a mountainrunner, you'll know that the downhills
(17:19):
can kind of piss your quads off a littlebit unless you know how to free will.
The thing is, in your, if you're ina place with lots of mountains and
valleys, what you're gonna realizeis the sun goes down quite early.
Behind the mountain.
And even,
(17:46):
even if you're, you're stillinspired, you can see that you're
heading down into the valley
now.
This is the moment, like fromthe top of the mountain to
the point where you c you're.
You are going down into the valley,you need to keep your eye on the next
(18:08):
mountain because when you get down tothe bottom of the valley and it's maybe
it's a really big valley, which has gota river in it, and it's got a a forest
because as soon as you enter that force,you're not gonna be able to see your goal.
And this is the timesare really difficult.
(18:31):
Maybe there's a niggle,maybe there's an injury.
You're losing track of what you see.
Maybe there's a lack of motivation.
There's fear.
Maybe you're covering from something
and you're in this dark valley, anda lot of people, when they're in the
(18:53):
valley, they, they get really tired.
Think about it, you're, you'rein this valley, in this forest,
you can't see where you're going.
You need to hold it in yourmind's eye as much as you can.
But when things get really tough, Ialways think of a metaphor like when
(19:14):
you're at your lowest point, thelowest, deepest part of the valley,
and you're tired and you lie downto your back and you're going, I
don't know if I can keep on going.
I don't know if I can, I can'teven see my dream anymore.
I can't see that goal.
And you're lying in your backin the dark in the lowest place.
(19:40):
This is when you need to open youreyes and look up because from the
lowest place you are in this life,
you'll see the stars.
When you're at the lowest place inyour life when it's really hard to
(20:00):
move, this is when you need to move
and just like maybe move your arm.
And think of it this way, whenyou're in the lowest place,
any movement is improvement.
That's my new phrase right now.
And you know how I said.
(20:23):
If you look back to the, allthe toughest times in your life,
usually somebody showed up
and I like to think I'mone of the valley dwellers
now.
I'm not.
I'm not staying in the valleybecause I'm sad or upset or, or
(20:43):
I want to be in a negative place.
I'm in the valley, in the forest.
And I'm watching for travelerswho've lost their way
and I'm carrying a light,
and this is like the purpose of my life.
(21:08):
And when you're stuck inthat valley and I show up,
convince you to stand back up,
convince you to trust your body.
It's built and designed toheal itself can, and it will
convince you itself to start moving andI'll walk with you through the valley.
(21:34):
If you've been through a long,tough time and you're in my life,
you'll know that I will walk withyou all the way through the valley.
I told somebody recently,I will be here for you.
Through this whole thing, butnot just, and then beyond,
(21:59):
and I'll walk with you andremind you of who you are.
You ever heard that quote?
This is really cool.
A true friend
will learn the song of your heart,
then sing it back to youwhen you forgot the words.
(22:22):
And if there's anything I want tobe in this lifetime as a true friend
and a confidant.
And a cheerleader.
So we'll walk through that, walk throughthat forest in the darkness with my
light, and I'll take you to the edgeof the forest and you'll be like, okay,
(22:42):
come on, let's climb the mountain.
And I'm like.
You go, this is your mountain.
I'll be right here if you need me,and I'll see you in the next valley.
But I'm going back
because there's gonna be anothertraveler in the valley who needs me.
(23:08):
And then once again, you'reclimbing the mountain.
And once again, you findthe toughest moments,
and once again, you're almost at the top
and maybe you need totake a step back, take it,
(23:30):
and maybe some people are afraidthat you won't return to the climb.
I got no doubt that you aregonna return to that climb.
I, I never will.
I never have.
I believe I believe in you.
I believe that you knowwhat you need in this life.
(23:54):
You know when you need to slow downand you need to know when you need to
push, and nobody else on this planetcan tell you what you need to do.
And the majority of the peoplein this life will not understand
your needs, your truth,
(24:16):
but I will do my best tosupport you in what you need.
And then you're struggling andit's so hard and you come, you
crest over that mountaintop
and you look.
And you see the next mountain,
(24:43):
and that's the extraordinary life.
The extreme highs.
Extreme lows.
You need to find joy in the process.
You know, happiness is actually a choice.
(25:08):
You need to choose to be happy.
You need to choose to be grateful everyday that you have two legs that can move,
that you're surrounded with humanbeings that support you, that you're
in a country where you're free.
And you need to commit your lifeto always climbing mountains.
(25:31):
Now, mountains will change over time.
Like maybe they're not gonna be astall when we get older, but they're
always look for the next mountain.
And if you're ever in thevalley, afraid in the dark,
(25:53):
I'll be there.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of conversation with Kimen.
Please follow me on Instagramat conversations with Kimen
and feel free to direct message me.
(26:15):
Also, please share my podcast withanyone you may feel would benefit
from its content and let them know.
And you can find me atconversations with Kimen on Apple
podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean.
Have an amazing day.
Living in an extraordinary life.
It's all just mountains and valleys.
You know, I hear some people whowant to do amazing things on this
planet and in their lives, like,like athletic pursuits, uh, you know,
(00:26):
maybe financial pursuits, maybe.
Um, spiritual pursuits and sometimesthe, these people say that like, I
wish it could all just be stable.
I wish it could all be monotone.
And in my life I've understoodthat if you really want to be
(00:52):
extraordinary that you are going to.
Having extreme highs andsometimes extreme lows.
Life doesn't happen in thatlittle space in between.
(01:12):
Life happens up on the mountainand in the pursuit of that climb,
and life also happens down in the valley.
If you really wanna live an incrediblyextraordinary life, there's one
thing you may want to consider
(01:35):
is that there's no final destination.
It's not about the outcome.
You can't hang your hat on the outcome.
Like if you spend a life.
(01:57):
Only being happy
when you hit that goal.
When you crush it,
your happiness will befleeting, but there's a secret
to happiness, and if youcan find your happiness.
(02:22):
From inside, not from outside.
You don't look outside for your happiness.
You don't look at the people around you.
You don't look at your successes.
You don't look at your money, atyour fame, at your prestige, at
your job, because all these couldbe taken away from in a moment.
(02:48):
And outcomes, like say if you're a runner.
The majority of your time in yourrunning career will be spent training,
like putting miles, doing workouts,
lifting, getting therapy resting.
(03:10):
It's a very, very small percentage ofyour time that will actually be racing.
So if the only thing that makesyou happy is racing or winning.
Then you're hanging yourhappiness on something that's
gonna be fleeting at times.
Because the truth isthis will too will pass.
(03:32):
And to me, this too will pass, hasa significant, I have a significant
understanding of this that youknow, if I am in a really tough
time, if I'm down in a valley,
I can be comforted knowing that.
This too will pass.
There's only a certain amount oftime I'm going to spend in that
(03:56):
valley before I start the climb.
So tough times are, theyhave a finite amount of time.
You know, if you think of it, everyproblem you've ever had in your
entire life, that's now in the past.
It definitely has a few things in common.
(04:16):
The first thing it always has in common isif it's in the past, there was a solution,
and if you get really honest with your,with yourself that how you were thinking
about that problem, or you know that lowtime or when things aren't just going
your way, what you were thinking, orlike if you have a niggle or an injury.
(04:39):
What were you thinking?
The moment that it's probably,oh, will this ever go away?
And the truth is it did, or the problemwas solved or there was an outcome.
And if you get honest with yourself, theway it worked out was probably better
than you thought it would be whenyou were sitting deep in the problem.
(05:02):
So if you're sitting in a problem time,just ask yourself the simple question.
How is this different than any otherproblem I've ever had in my entire life?
And you will, you will come to therealization that this tool will pass.
There will be a solution.
The solution will be betterthan I think it is right now,
and then you can move forward.
(05:25):
The other thing about problems ortough times that you probably notice
is the problems, the tough times.
That's where the growth happens.
Growth, like, and strengthand resilience is not created.
Sitting on a beach inThailand drinking a Mi Thai
(05:52):
growth, resilience, and strength is builtin the struggle, in the tough times.
In the overcoming of, and thenreflecting on the fact that you overcame.
And over and over you reflectthat you were able to overcome.
(06:13):
And if you really pay attention to yourlife, if you have a lot of struggles,
this is pointing at the fact that maybeyou're here for big things, right?
Because there's a promise that it wouldnever be more than you could handle.
And if you look back in your life, in thetoughest moments, something showed up.
(06:33):
And supported you through that moment.
And then sometimes that somethingor someone or whatever that was
it moved, moved away like itwas in your life for a short
period, and then it was gone.
And then other others that come intoyour life, they come and they walk
(06:54):
with you for, for years, for decades.
And some of them will evenwalk with you for a lifetime.
If you want to consider having anextraordinary life, you gotta understand
that you are going to take on challenges,
(07:15):
and if you're already pursuing this,there is a part of you that probably
isn't really satisfied with any outcomeanyway, like in the back of your
mind, you think you'll be happy when?
But then when you reach that success,you automatically raise a bar
(07:40):
and you probably downplay the success insaying, well, I mean, I could have got a
pb and if you got a pb, uh, I could havedone even better than that, or I could
have got the like standard time for.
(08:01):
In the case of Runner Standard Time forWorlds or Olympics or national team.
And if you, if you nailedstandard time, man, I could have
like crushed a Canadian record.
Like I only, I only got likesecond fastest time ever and
I want a Canadian record.
(08:22):
And then from there it's like, oh, Icould have qualified for the Olympics.
And then if you qualify for theOlympics, it's like, oh man.
I could have had a national recordor like, why not a world record?
Like why not go to theOlympics and win a gold?
You know, I only won a bronze.
What I'm alluding to is actually thatmindset is what pushes you forward.
(08:47):
If you want to be extraordinary, you'llalso spend time not saying like, I hope
I can do this, or I would like to dothis, or Man, that would be my dream.
But it's hard to declare thatyou're gonna do something.
So consider, consider this visual.
(09:07):
So you set this goal, you decideand say, say it's a time goal,
it's a whatever goal, whatevergoal you're working on the moment.
Like maybe say you want to, you wannabreak, you know, a certain number.
(09:28):
And you can considerthat a mountain, right?
And as you're climbing up that mountain,at least it seems really tough, right?
Like you're running, doingworkouts, you're doing all the
other work, you're working on yourheadset, your, your mind space.
You're working with a group of people,
(09:50):
and then sometimes somewhere in the middleof that, things start going sideways.
Maybe a workout doesn't go sowell and you start questioning
whether you can achieve this goal.
You know, the climbsgetting steeper, right?
Know this?
I've known a number ofhuman beings, runners
(10:13):
who some of the, like literally wantedto quit during the build for a major
competition, and they stuck it out anyway.
And they actually crushedwhat they were looking to do.
So a thought in the back of your mindcould be, it's not necessarily a perfect
workout that creates a perfect race.
(10:37):
Like as long as you're getting the workin, as long as you're getting the recovery
in, you just don't know what'll happen.
So you're climbing.
And the crazy part of thisis if you've ever climbed a
mountain the last little bit.
The last little bit, you don't knowexactly where you are 'cause you
can't see the top because it's sosteep and it's probably rockier or
(11:00):
you're, you're going through a rockfield where every time you step up,
the whole rock field slides down a bitand it gets really, really difficult.
And this is the place where people,
a lot of people quit.
Now, don't get me wrongin this conversation here.
(11:22):
It's okay to take a stepback if you need to.
It's okay to redesign your timeframe.
It's okay to lie down.
Take a rest if you need one,
because the truth is whenyou're on the path through
(11:44):
extraordinary life, it's not linear.
It just, it's just not.
I haven't seen it be linear for anyone,and I don't think it's meant to be because
the times when you need to stop and takea rest are as important as the times you
(12:04):
need to push, and the truth is nobodycan tell you when you need to stop, and
nobody can tell you when you need to push.
You have to trust yourself.
And sometimes when youneed to take a break,
a lot of the people aroundyou won't understand
(12:24):
and that's okay.
'cause this is where it gets hard.
This is where you need to speakyour truth, and this is where
you have the greatest capacityof growth when you decide.
That you are more importantthan the pin opinions of others.
You are at a new level ofgrowth, which will serve you in
(12:49):
every single area of your life.
So even if you are just about at the peakand you need to stop and take a break
than do it and readjust the timeline.
'cause you know what?
It is quite possible that the reason youneed to do that is 'cause you need, you
need to push the peak a little further.
'cause there's something else,some other opportunity that's gonna
(13:11):
come up or it's just gonna fit.
'cause like if you think about life, life,life is like this massive tapestry, right?
You ever look in the back of a tapestry,you'll see all these strings all over
the place, chaos, no pattern, no nothing.
And if that, if that tapestry waslarge enough that up close to it, you
(13:34):
couldn't really see the full pattern.
This is life, right?
You can't see the pattern.
You can't see how everythingis interconnected with
everything until you look back.
So you got this massivetapestry called life.
You are looking from the back.
It looks like chaos, buteverything is woven on purpose.
(13:56):
And then when you're looking for thefront, you realize you can't see 'cause
you're too close, you're too in it.
And if you step backtime and distance slowly
it comes into focus
and you start to see.
(14:17):
How everything fit.
Now, I would never expect you tosee this in the moment, in the
energy, in the, in the upset of thatmoment when you need to step back.
I would just want you to trust that
the irony of life is, itmust be lived and forward.
(14:41):
This is an amazing quote.
But it can only be understoodwhen you look back.
So trust that when you put enoughtime and distance in between you
and that moment, you'll see why.
You know, it's like oneof my runners, two words.
Patience and trust.
(15:04):
Yeah, and I would say
unreasonable, patience and unreasonable.
Trust and maybe even unrealistic patienceand unrealistic trust because when
there's a dream that big in your heart,nothing on heaven or earth will stop it.
(15:27):
So finally you come up and youcrest the top of that mountain.
And it's funny, some of the amazingathletes I've met, they're like.
There's a couple minutes of maybe20 minutes, maybe a day of, yes.
And then there's like, oh, butyou know, could have gone faster.
(15:47):
I backed off a little bit here and Icould have set a Canadian record or
like, and so on, and so on and so on.
And that's, you know, that's totally okay.
That's like the competitive veg.
That is exactly what drives you forward.
So you don't want to change that.
You just wanna realize thatwhen things don't go your way,
don't let it take you out.
Don't let it take you out on the bad day.
(16:09):
Shake it off.
Use that energy to push yourself back.
As soon as you're rested,get back up and go.
So now, if you really, really wantto live an extraordinary life, if
that's your purpose, you get tothis top of the mountain, you take a
breath, maybe you chill a little bit
(16:31):
and then you look on off inthe distance, and guess what
you see for the next mountain?
And things are okay for a little while.
So you're starting to come down themountain, traverse it a little bit.
You know, there's, there's little bumpsin the road recovering from the race,
recovering for, from the tournament,um, like resting and, but it's not as
(16:57):
hard when you're coming off a high.
It's kind of easy and it's adownhill climb, which is a lot
better than an uphill climb Innocent.
It's better that it's not as taxing.
It's not better that it doesn'tcreate as much strength.
A downhill climb.
Yeah, and if you're kind of a mountainrunner, you'll know that the downhills
(17:19):
can kind of piss your quads off a littlebit unless you know how to free will.
The thing is, in your, if you're ina place with lots of mountains and
valleys, what you're gonna realizeis the sun goes down quite early.
Behind the mountain.
And even,
(17:46):
even if you're, you're stillinspired, you can see that you're
heading down into the valley
now.
This is the moment, like fromthe top of the mountain to
the point where you c you're.
You are going down into the valley,you need to keep your eye on the next
(18:08):
mountain because when you get down tothe bottom of the valley and it's maybe
it's a really big valley, which has gota river in it, and it's got a a forest
because as soon as you enter that force,you're not gonna be able to see your goal.
And this is the timesare really difficult.
(18:31):
Maybe there's a niggle,maybe there's an injury.
You're losing track of what you see.
Maybe there's a lack of motivation.
There's fear.
Maybe you're covering from something
and you're in this dark valley, anda lot of people, when they're in the
(18:53):
valley, they, they get really tired.
Think about it, you're, you'rein this valley, in this forest,
you can't see where you're going.
You need to hold it in yourmind's eye as much as you can.
But when things get really tough, Ialways think of a metaphor like when
(19:14):
you're at your lowest point, thelowest, deepest part of the valley,
and you're tired and you lie downto your back and you're going, I
don't know if I can keep on going.
I don't know if I can, I can'teven see my dream anymore.
I can't see that goal.
And you're lying in your backin the dark in the lowest place.
(19:40):
This is when you need to open youreyes and look up because from the
lowest place you are in this life,
you'll see the stars.
When you're at the lowest place inyour life when it's really hard to
(20:00):
move, this is when you need to move
and just like maybe move your arm.
And think of it this way, whenyou're in the lowest place,
any movement is improvement.
That's my new phrase right now.
And you know how I said.
(20:23):
If you look back to the, allthe toughest times in your life,
usually somebody showed up
and I like to think I'mone of the valley dwellers
now.
I'm not.
I'm not staying in the valleybecause I'm sad or upset or, or
(20:43):
I want to be in a negative place.
I'm in the valley, in the forest.
And I'm watching for travelerswho've lost their way
and I'm carrying a light,
and this is like the purpose of my life.
(21:08):
And when you're stuck inthat valley and I show up,
convince you to stand back up,
convince you to trust your body.
It's built and designed toheal itself can, and it will
convince you itself to start moving andI'll walk with you through the valley.
(21:34):
If you've been through a long,tough time and you're in my life,
you'll know that I will walk withyou all the way through the valley.
I told somebody recently,I will be here for you.
Through this whole thing, butnot just, and then beyond,
(21:59):
and I'll walk with you andremind you of who you are.
You ever heard that quote?
This is really cool.
A true friend
will learn the song of your heart,
then sing it back to youwhen you forgot the words.
(22:22):
And if there's anything I want tobe in this lifetime as a true friend
and a confidant.
And a cheerleader.
So we'll walk through that, walk throughthat forest in the darkness with my
light, and I'll take you to the edgeof the forest and you'll be like, okay,
(22:42):
come on, let's climb the mountain.
And I'm like.
You go, this is your mountain.
I'll be right here if you need me,and I'll see you in the next valley.
But I'm going back
because there's gonna be anothertraveler in the valley who needs me.
(23:08):
And then once again, you'reclimbing the mountain.
And once again, you findthe toughest moments,
and once again, you're almost at the top
and maybe you need totake a step back, take it,
(23:30):
and maybe some people are afraidthat you won't return to the climb.
I got no doubt that you aregonna return to that climb.
I, I never will.
I never have.
I believe I believe in you.
I believe that you knowwhat you need in this life.
(23:54):
You know when you need to slow downand you need to know when you need to
push, and nobody else on this planetcan tell you what you need to do.
And the majority of the peoplein this life will not understand
your needs, your truth,
(24:16):
but I will do my best tosupport you in what you need.
And then you're struggling andit's so hard and you come, you
crest over that mountaintop
and you look.
And you see the next mountain,
(24:43):
and that's the extraordinary life.
The extreme highs.
Extreme lows.
You need to find joy in the process.
You know, happiness is actually a choice.
(25:08):
You need to choose to be happy.
You need to choose to be grateful everyday that you have two legs that can move,
that you're surrounded with humanbeings that support you, that you're
in a country where you're free.
And you need to commit your lifeto always climbing mountains.
(25:31):
Now, mountains will change over time.
Like maybe they're not gonna be astall when we get older, but they're
always look for the next mountain.
And if you're ever in thevalley, afraid in the dark,
(25:53):
I'll be there.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of conversation with Kimen.
Please follow me on Instagramat conversations with Kimen
and feel free to direct message me.
(26:15):
Also, please share my podcast withanyone you may feel would benefit
from its content and let them know.
And you can find me atconversations with Kimen on Apple
podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean.
Have an amazing day.
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