Conquering Your Everest: Climbing Through Life’s Hardest Moments with Dianette Wells

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine
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on Tuesdays at two pm Eastern.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Linda creates sacred space for leading female luminaries, empowering authors,
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wisdom and lessons learned, and the personal journey that led
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(00:34):
Inspired conversations to empower you on your path to authentic,
soulful living.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Welcome to Inspired Conversations. I'm your host, mindset elevation coach
Linda Joy, publisher of the beloved Aspire magazine. Can you believe?
Aspire is going to be turning twenty years old in
February and for twenty years we have been given a
free subscription to women around the world. It's part of

(01:04):
my love project to the world. It's a magazine filled
with feminine wisdom from leading visionaries, teachers and guides who
are here to help you elevate every area of your life.
If you don't have your free subscription, go to subscribe
to Aspire dot com. Well, I got to tell you,

(01:26):
my friends, I think we'll all agree that we all
face mountains in life. I know I have, whether it's grief,
self doubt, financial hardship, divorce, you name it. How we
contend with those mountains, those challenges is what makes the difference. Resilience, purpose,

(01:48):
and personal empowerment aren't reserved for the lucky few. We
all have that power within to overcome these challenges, and
we have to the first step. So today I am
so excited I'm holding her book in my hand to
have dnet Wells an elite mountaineer, at venture racer, and

(02:11):
author who embodies the power of passion driven resilience. One
of fewer than one hundred people to conquer the Seventh Summits,
including Everest, Kilimanjiro, and Danali. She's also raised one hundred
and fifty plus miles across desert, spiked across America, and
competed in multiple eco challenges in ultra marathons worldwide, many

(02:36):
of them televised. A mother of three, Donette's journey took
a profound turn in twenty fifteen when her son Johnny,
a record setting adventurer, himself passed away in a wings
suit accident. Channeling grief into grip, Dionette continued pushing her boundaries,

(02:57):
from summoning peaks to writing her memoir, Another Step up
the Mountain, a journey of courage. She's now on a mission,
through her speaking and writing, to inspire others to chase
their own everest, whatever the odds. Dionnette, welcome, my friend,
Thank you, thank you so much for having me. I

(03:18):
have to tell you we were chatting offline and I
just love your spirit. I just love your mission and
your book was so deeply personal. I felt like I
was on the mountain with you. Sometimes write the journey,
the emotions. But let's go backwards a little bit right.
I would love to know question I always ask guests

(03:42):
is what led you to this work that you're doing now?
And I for you, it's not work, it's a mission.
So what led you to mountain climbing and you know,
being an elite mountaineer? When did that journey start? When
did that passion start?

Speaker 4 (04:00):
It wasn't planned by any means. It was something as
simple as driving past the Sierras on my way to
go skiing in Mammoth, which if you live in southern California,
Mammoth is the best place to go skiing, and just
seeing these very sharp, jagged peaks and being intrigued by them,

(04:24):
and then as an adult, you know, getting a group
of you know, crazy fun women together to actually climb
Mount Whitney, and that it was just this inner drive
that I acknowledged and I honored and did it. I
had no idea how it would change my life, but

(04:45):
that one climb changed everything in my life.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
And just have the courage to try something new. So
were you always especially that physical Were you always in
an athletic person? Because you said you so. Was that
part of your life previous to this new journey?

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Not really. I mean I was a cheerleader in high
school and college. But could I run around the block? No.
When I first met my ex husband, you know, he
was a big athlete.

Speaker 5 (05:21):
And he'd want to go on a run and.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
I didn't even have the right shoes and I could
barely run around the block. So yeah, no, I was.
I was not some athlete by any stretch of the imagination.
After having kids, I joined a gym, and you know,
for reasons that weren't healthy, I wanted to be thin
and be that perfect thin Malibu housewife. But no, I

(05:47):
was not an athlete at all. But when you love
something and you realize, oh, this is what I want
to do, then you start doing whatever is necessary, you know,
to make that happen. So because it was, you know,
mountaineering at the time, or hiking and climbing, I just
hiked all the time.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, and I love that. It's like you followed your
passion and then look at the life that unfolded with it. Right,
And I tell my clients, follow your joy.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
It's crazy how you foughtow that one thing that makes
you happy and the universe steps up. And I look
back of how that one climb with a group of
friends changed my entire life.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, and I believe that too. I believe we're always
being divinely led, led by spirit, universe, whatever word you
all may use. You're used to these conversations when you
listen to my show. But the divine is always saying, oh,
I have this vision for you, but I need you
to take the next courageous step and I'll reveal the
next step. And that's what sounds like it happened. You

(06:56):
follow that joy and passion to gather those friends together
to on that first one and look what unfolded sense.
But it also takes courage, doesn't it. You have to
step through fears in the self doubt. Did you experience that? Also?

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Not for that climb, only because I had no idea
what I didn't know. And this is this is before
you know the internet as far as we know the
internet now. So it wasn't like I googled how to
climb out Whitney. It was it was kind of crazy.
And the gear list. I remember going to a friend's
house because she had a printer or a typewriter or something,

(07:37):
so I printed out a gear list for all of us,
and looking back, it just seems so, you know, archaic
how this all happened. And I'm sure we had way
too much stuff in our backpacks and did everything wrong,
but it was an adventure and you know, I laughed
like crazy. I saw my amazing friends, you know, go

(08:00):
out of their comfort zones as well, and it, you know,
just this one little thing of let's go have fun
really changed everything. And I think, you know, sometimes we
don't know what we're supposed to be doing. So, like
you said, just what is that one little thing that
makes you happy and now go do more of it.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I truly believe that, especially as aging, it's like,
follow the joy. Life gives you enough of the other stuff.
We have to stay aligned with that. So I love
that you've now, with all the life experiences you've had
in the loss, that you're on a mission, you know,
through appearances like this and writing your book to inspire

(08:44):
others to chase their own everest. And when I read that,
I was like, you know, how many of us have
dreams or maybe we are facing an obstacle and we
have this self talk that says, who am I to
want to climb everest? Who am I to want to
write my first five K? Whatever it may be, whatever
their everest is, what is something that you would share

(09:07):
with someone who is kind of stopping themselves from going
after their everest?

Speaker 4 (09:14):
So whenever that you know, why me, why should I?
Why not? You? Who says? Who's wherever that negative voice
is coming from? Whether it's from your friends, your partner,
you know, who are they to tell you what your
dreams are? You're not on this planet to live for

(09:34):
someone else. I mean, we can take care of our
loved ones and family and friends, but no one is
entitled to dictate our dreams or take them away from us.
So if whatever that goal that you have in life,
no matter how crazy it seems, you know what, why

(09:54):
not you? And what does it hurt to at least
try it. You can always go back to however your
life is now, or you know something else. But if
you don't try, you'll never know. And even if you fail,
you know what's failure. Failure is just learning that, oh
maybe this isn't for us, let me try something else. So, yeah,

(10:16):
you've got to take those negative voices, and you know,
I envision it like rocks in a backpack. Take those
rocks and dump it. And every time you have that
negative voice or thought in your head, just laugh at
it and go do what it is that you feel
inspired to do.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
M I love that, and I think for all of us,
it's calling I call my I used to call mine
the negative Nelly. I'm like, okay, Nelly, get in the
backseat a negative.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
Yeah. I love that word.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah I do. I've always called it that. And then
I apologize to all the Nelli's in my audience who
are listening. It's it's just something that came up, and
I now I'm vision and that when she comes up,
it's just the little girl in me that always heard
that kind of stuff. And she's not doing it to
hold me back. She's doing it because she's part of me.

(11:11):
So I always recognize her and say it's all right,
you're safe. But I'm going to drive. Now. You can
get in the backseat. Because my negative Nelly used to
like to control the path I was taking. So at
least she's heard I love to say, listen to her,
love her, nurture her, and then have I get in

(11:32):
the vackseat. We're going to take our first break and
we'll be back in a moment with dnet Wells. You
can learn more at dnet Wells dot com. While you're there,
I want to invite you to grab a copy of
Another Step Up the Mountain, A Journey of Courage, her
new book, and I got to tell you it will

(11:53):
pull you right in My friends.

Speaker 6 (11:55):
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Speaker 3 (14:10):
Welcome back. You're listening to inspired conversations. I'm your host,
Linda Joy, and with me today is elite mountaineer, adventure
racer and author of Another Step Up the Mountain, Dan
at Wells, and we're going to continue our conversation about
how to face life's toughest emotional mountains with the heart

(14:30):
of a climber. So, Danna, I know it's you've gone
through something that you know, as many of us moms know,
is something that you can't even put words to, and
that's losing a child. And I bring it up today
because it's an important part of your message, it's an

(14:51):
important part of your healing, it's important part of your book.
And so just bring us to that point about your
child and what is what that catalyst has happened since then,
because I think that's really enhanced your mission in life.
So I'll let you lead that conversation wherever you would

(15:13):
like it to go.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Well, we just had the ten year anniversary of his passing,
and normally it would have been a you know, sit
on the couch, drink chardonnay and watch Netflix all day,
and I chose instead to go climb a mountain that
he loved climbing and that I've always loved climbing and

(15:37):
to kind of honor him in a different way. And
if you had told me when he first passed that
you would make it to the ten year mark, I
didn't think that was possible. I couldn't imagine living, you know,
one minute versus ten years without him. But yeah, you know,

(15:59):
it's it's you lose a child. It's not something you
ever get over or get through or get pasted. It
just becomes something you live with. Like if you had
your arm chopped off. It's not something you get over,
but it's something you learned to live with. And yeah,
so I just I try to live a life where

(16:19):
when I do see him again, and I fully believe
I will, that I just want him to say, you know,
good job, mom, way to keep living and you know,
because life here on this planet is meant for the living.
And when we lose people, we think, you know, sometimes
what am I here for? What is the point? But

(16:41):
you know, maybe that's trying to find your purpose and
why we're still here and why can't we be with him?
But you know the bottom line is it's just not
our time. And while we're here, we need to enjoy life.
We need to experience joy and love and happiness. And
you know those aren't things you think that you'll ever
have again when this happens, but you know you have

(17:06):
to fight for it and you have to stay in
the game.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Yeah. I had a friend tell me years ago that
lost your child, probably twenty years ago, and she said
to me, every time I thought I couldn't make it
through another day, I reminded myself that I'm not here.
If I don't stay here, you know, in this body,
on this earth, then all his memories go away too.

(17:32):
So she used that as I will not let me
or others forget. And Johnny was sounds like quite a
he got your spirit. He was a recond sitting adventurer
and that is what took him was one of his

(17:52):
adventures and I just can feel his spirit, like he
must have had a lot of your sass. Huh.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
Of all the family, I would say we were the
most similar. His zest for life and his fearlessness was
absolutely unmatched. And yeah, if you go on YouTube and
put in Johnny Strange, his videos are you know, thrilling

(18:22):
to watch and amazing. And there is a documentary about
him called American Daredevil that's on Peacock and it's also
called on two B it's called Born to Fly Johnny Strange,
which I highly recommend watching his movie. Yeah, he was
an amazingly gifted athlete from a young age and was

(18:46):
always pushing the limits. And yeah, he climbed the seven
Summits by the time he was seventeen. He had big
wave surf and nazaree. There was nothing this kid couldn't do.
And you know, he lived an amazing, amazing life.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Wow, he really did. Look at the legacy he left behind,
that the fact that people can go see and feel
his spirit, his love of nature. It sounds too his
legacy is continuing.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yeah, I am grateful for all the videos he made
because I could just go and see him and hear
his voice and laugh.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
With him and be a part of his experience. Right,
it's like being back with him in the only way
you can at this moment in time, because, like you,
I believe you will be reconnected again. So let's talk
about how extreme challenges, like the loss of a child,

(19:50):
or maybe for someone else it's a divorce or loss
of a job, how extreme challenges can teach us who
we really are. So could you about that for a moment? Sure?

Speaker 4 (20:03):
I think sometimes the universe, you know, maybe we're supposed
to be on a different path, but we're never going
to leave the safety of that nine to five job
because that's what we're in. That's what we're stuck with
in that lane. And sometimes maybe it's the universe who says, oh,
let's take this away from this person and get them

(20:23):
to be on their highest path and what is best
for them. And sometimes it makes us, you know, reach
for things that we never thought about reaching for. Or
you know, when these you look at these people who've
left these amazing corporate jobs and then they go become
a river guide and find such a deeper level of

(20:46):
happiness that they never would have gone for had they
not lost that job, and so sometimes you know, when
something bad is happening, I try now to go, Okay,
why is this happening? Not just oh, you know, being
upset that it's happening, but looking at what is the reason.

(21:06):
Why is this happening for me? And what can I
do with it?

Speaker 5 (21:09):
And what new opportunities is just bringing to me?

Speaker 4 (21:14):
And you know it can help take the hurt and
the pain and the uncertainty of something happening. And you
know it's just reframing it, and you know it can
be really scary.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
But sometimes these things.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Happen, you know, for an unknown, great reason and we
just have to kind of go with it.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh, I've been there, my friends, So I get that.
And I don't know about you, but I can look
back at all those moments in my life that I
didn't think I would even live through or emotionally get through,
like my darkest days, and I can look back now
from where I am and go, oh, I see why
that happened, Because now I can see how it ties

(22:01):
into who I am now or the path that unfolded
for me. And I can see that even in my
darkest times, I was being honed, prepared, some shedding had
to take place so that I could live my truest
light and not the limiting story I was living. So
when I look back, I can see all my different

(22:22):
I guess you could say I don't like calling them
negative experiences. The experiences that challenged me most will say
I really got my biggest sense of self through those experiences.
I want to be who I was today if I
didn't have them, So I kind of look at them

(22:43):
in a different way now. But when you're in the
midst of them, especially with your experience, you think you're
never going to come out the other side. And this show,
my magazine, all my other media brands are all about
believing impossibility even when you can't see the light ahead,
and about climbing. You know, in all the mountain I

(23:06):
mean you've done, there must have been many times on
a mountain or on one of your other adventures that
you couldn't see the path ahead because weather or whatever
it may be. So isn't that like a story about
life too?

Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah? I mean with any adventure, which I think is
why I love adventure so much, is we don't know
what's going to happen next. Any start line, you could
trip and break your leg and your race is over.
So for me, all of these adventures is you know,
the big part of it is just showing up and then,

(23:42):
like life, seeing what happens next. You do everything to
prepare and you know, to give it your best shot,
but ultimately we don't know what's going to happen next,
and that's why you do your best to show up
is as fit and as prepared as you can, and
you know the rest isn't necessarily always up to us,

(24:03):
but it's part of enjoying the journey. I mean, every
day of life is part of the journey. We have
goals that we aim for, and you know, we hope
those goals happen, but it's also what is the journey
to getting there, and you know, enjoying it good or bad.
That's you know, when bad things happen and we're trying

(24:25):
to figure out why, I mean, maybe we don't know
for years and I still I mean, for me, there
will there will never be a positive reason that I
lost my son. I'll never understand the reason. I don't
even care what the reason is. There's there is nothing
positive to it. But I can take this very bad

(24:45):
experience and try to make some positive things come from it.
But you know, there are just some things that will
never be explained or that will be acceptable. But but
I can still make something positive from it. I can
help others, I can try to inspire others.

Speaker 5 (25:09):
But yeah, some things will just never have an explanation.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, you have to find a place of peace with
that right of never not knowing why. I think for
so many of us, we will continue to question things
and it takes away our peace. Sometimes we're not meant
to know the reason why. I've had to come to
peace and a couple circumstances in my life and say, Okay,

(25:34):
we can't change it. Why am I going to give
my life force energy to it? But let's see what
I can do with this life force energy. And look
what you've been doing. Not only are you inspiring others
through your story, but also through Johnny's story, right because
he is part of your story and keeping his legacy
and his spirit and life alive that you turned into

(25:58):
something beautiful and positive. So I guess and see this
ripple effect of the two of you change in the
world right now. So we're going to take our next break, Dnatt,
and we'll be back in a moment, my friends, and
we come back. We're going to dive deep into this
conversation with this beautiful soul, and I invite you to
visit dnett Wells dot com. As always, all links are

(26:20):
in the show notes on whatever platform you're watching, so
the link will be down there. And grab a copy
of her book, Another Step up the Mountain. We'll be
back in a moment, my friends.

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Speaker 3 (28:37):
Thanks for circling up today, you'll listening to inspired conversations.
I'm Linda Joy with me today is elite mountaineer and
author of Another Step up the mountain dnet Wells. So, Dianna,
you talk a lot about like resilience, How has you

(28:57):
see it as a skill? Did you always see that?
Is it something we can all build within ourselves?

Speaker 5 (29:05):
I mean, I think we all have it in us.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
I mean, I know we do, or half of us
wouldn't live as long as we do. I you know,
I had a very unpleasant childhood.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
And just something there was something in.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Me that mentally fought back and just I would always
tell myself, just make it till you're eighteen. Just make
it till you're eighteen. You can get out of this.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
And you know, the minute.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
I was eighteen, I was still in high school, I
moved out of my house, and you know, I just
felt that nothing will hold me back from this point forward.
And so even as a kid, I had resilience, as
you know a lot of kids do, and that just
kind of carried over into adulthood. I mean it's not

(29:54):
always I'm not always.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
As strong as I wish I was.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
I mean, I don't know who is, but yeah, it's
just it's in all of us. I don't think it's
something we have to learn. I think it's just sticking
up for yourself. It's honoring who you are and in
the hardest of times, just you know, keeping moving forward

(30:19):
and keeping you know, keeping your head held high and
not giving into whatever it is that's trying to bring
you down.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
And I think that's important. And I remember reading in
your book you have had two beautiful girls, correct, I do, yeah,
And they must have played an important part in your
healing and desire to stay here when you were in
your deepest pain at losing Johnny. Because sometimes it becomes
so I've lost loved once, never a child, so I

(30:52):
can't even imagine but that feeling of not wanting to
be here anymore, but then looking at the girls, going
but I need to stay. Is it? It's like that
inner tongue of war, isn't it?

Speaker 4 (31:04):
You know it is. And you know, if I were
to give up, what does that tell my girls that
they didn't matter, that the only one who mattered was
their brother, you know? And I think it helps that
I know that I will see him again and I
will have my time with him again. But in the meantime,

(31:27):
I have two beautiful, living children who matter just as
much to me as Johnny did.

Speaker 5 (31:33):
And you know I would never.

Speaker 4 (31:35):
Call it quits on them because they matter too.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, it's a beautiful way of looking at it, in
so insightful. So how would you say that we can
rewrite our story? Because I as a mindset Elevation coach,
one of the things that I see a lot is
we carry around this inner script that we let run
our lives right and we think it's a truth. And

(32:06):
how did you rewrite your story? How do you suggest
or guide others to rewrite that inner narrative that is
keeping them from living in their dreams for climbing everest,
you know their everest.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
You know every day that you wake up is a
new day to write a new script. What was that
line in Gone with the Wind where you know, one
of the final scenes where she says, oh, Tomorrow's another
day something like that. But I saw that when I
was a kid, and I think about that so much that, Yeah,

(32:46):
whatever happened yesterday, that's in the past. What can I
do today to make today good and tomorrow better? And
you know, again that negative Nelly voice just turn her
into I don't know, positive Penny or something. But you know,
stay with the positive, even even when you're in your

(33:09):
lowest and everything feels negative, just you know, tell Nellie
to yeah, not only get in the backseat, but get
out of the car entirely. Really, every day is a
new day and you just got to go for it.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
I love that because it's exactly that is. If we
give up, will never know what we could have done,
whether it's a job or relationship, whatever it is, there
our deepest dreams are. I believe it's right there. And
what I've discovered in my own life is every time
I was about to quit, I can see now that

(33:49):
if I had what I wanted was right on the
other side of that quitting, everything came because I pushed through,
which is resilience, right, And like you, I had a
childhood from hell, so I can relate my friend. So
one of the things too is I'm really curious, because
when you're up on that mount and you've got the elements,

(34:09):
you have everything, including negative Nelly with you, how the
heck did you create such mental and emotional fortitude, Because
that is some of the most the things you're doing
is some of the most challenging experiences the human body,
in human psyche can do. Was that something you just

(34:30):
learned and kept honing as these experiences happened or do
you think you had that innate essence within you always?

Speaker 4 (34:40):
Well, I don't allow negative Nelly on a mountain with me,
or in a race or any athletic thing I'm doing.
There's just no room for her. But also, when I'm
doing these things, I'm having a really good time. So
for me, it's just, you know, I'm having fun. So

(35:01):
why would I think negatively? If I thought, oh, I
can't do this, I wouldn't have paid to do it.
You know, I have really good gear. I mean gear
is no matter what you're doing, have the right stuff
because it can make things easier. I was people always say, oh,

(35:21):
you must have been freezing on Everest. It's like now,
it's actually pretty warm. I had a great down suit.
So yeah, for me those things, I don't look at
it as resilience to climb a mountain or do any
of this stuff. It's I'm having a good time, so yeah,
I don't look at it there. It's physically hard one

(35:42):
hundred percent, you know, especially during an adventure race when
you're awake on our forty and you're hallucinating and you
just are wondering what about doing? But but then I
remind myself, I paid to be here. I'm with really fun,
great people, and I'm having even if I'm in a
lot of pain, I chose to be there and I'm

(36:04):
actually having a good time. So I think the resilience
part for me just comes in the day to day life.
But yeah, when I'm doing sports, I'm having the time
of my life and that's my happy place, So you know,
if I'm trying to think. There was a part in
Eco Challenge Fiji, which is available on Amazon Prime, that

(36:28):
the last race in Fiji, and you can see just
how insane adventure racing is. But it was in the
middle of the night, it's raining, it's freezing, We're going
up through this river and there's this massive boulder with
just a rope hanging down and I'm looking at this thing.
My teammates are spread out along this river, two guys

(36:51):
in front of me, one guy behind me, so I'm
not with an earshot of any of my teammates, and
I thought, how am I going to get up that rope?
And I for a second, I just thought, is this
where I quit? How do I do this? And somehow
I just went up to that rope and just started
pulling myself up it. I can't just describe how or

(37:12):
why I was able to do that. But you know,
instead of just quitting, you just try. You can quit
at any time, but why not keep trying and go
as long and as far and as hard as you can?

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Oh my god, yeah, exactly. It's put it this way.
I would rather something you said at the beginning of
the show about failure right to me. I used to
I thought I had a fear of failure. I actually
I had a favorite success in my younger years. Right,
I've been an entrepreneur for thirty four years now. For me,
failure is feedback, right, So if when I switched that,

(37:53):
I realize I can't really feel at anything. I feel
I fail if I don't try. Does that make sense?
I can't feel at the doing because at least I
showed up and tried, and all that the experience will
teach me is Okay, maybe how you did it this
time didn't work, because that's the feedback right from the experience.

(38:16):
So what could you do different? Where I feel in
my younger years, I would have the experience, it wouldn't
go the way I want. I would look at it
as a failure and go, oh, that's not meant for me,
and I would shut down all possibility. Does that speak
to you.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
Too a little bit? Like so during I don't know
if it was COVID or what was going on, but
I was feeling stagnant, so I signed up for it,
and I kids, you not a knitting course, so oh
that would be something good to keep my hands busy.
And I was awful at it. And then the teacher said, well,

(38:52):
let's do a private one on one to see if
we can, you know, get you better at this, and
maybe ten minutes ince she just said, know, I don't
think this is in your wheelhouse and I said, oh,
thank goodness, because I really am not enjoying this, but
at least I tried. And now I know I'm not
a knitter and that's okay because there are other things
I'm good at that I enjoy.

Speaker 9 (39:15):
So yeah, it's I love that story because as you
talk about your elite mountaineering and I'm like, okay, that's
not for me, Like it's a knowing.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
That's that's why I like so admire you because of
I don't want to say how much you push yourself
because I can feel the joy in what you do,
Like I can feel this as a true passion for you.
To others, it may be like, how is she doing
this right? What is she crazy? But I can feel

(39:46):
the joy and passion.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
I mean, it's it's so true, and I can see
it in my face when when you have to pose
for pictures and they're telling you, oh, smile, and I
just I'm so bad at that. I'm not good at
the smile on command. But then I look at pictures
of myself when I'm outside, especially you know, climbing or
riding my bike or something, and the smile on my

(40:10):
face is so big. It's like, oh, there it is.
It's because I am feeling such joy. And you know,
even when I did Whitney on October first, that was
the seventeenth time that I've climbed that mountain. It was
my fifteenth summit, and you know, I'm fifty nine years
old and I was having the time of my life.

(40:33):
And I didn't say, oh, well, you're older now, maybe
you shouldn't be doing these things. It was, you know,
one of the other women on this climb and I
We're going to go back again next year and see
how fast we can do it and how we can
do it better. So I never try to stop learning.
I never try to stop improving on the things I love.
And forget the age thing. I mean, I don't even

(40:56):
allow that to enter into my thinking. It's as long
as I'm having fun, I'm going to keep doing these things.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Mmm. That's a message for all of us, my friends.
We're going to take our final break, Dnett and we'll
be back for our last segment. And everyone, please, I
want you to grab a copy of Another Step Up
the Mountain. The forward was written by Mac Burnett. Many
of you know him as the Emmy awarding television producer
and the former chairman of MGM. And you've got to

(41:27):
get this book, my friends. Go to Dnettwells dot com.
We'll be back in a moment.

Speaker 6 (41:34):
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Speaker 10 (42:46):
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Speaker 3 (43:51):
Welcome back you listen to inspired conversations. We I am
with dnt Wells, elite mountaineer, adventure racer, an author who
embodies the power of passion driven resilience. One of the
things I love to ask authors who joined me, Danna,
is what is one thing that you hope women take

(44:14):
away when they read your book?

Speaker 4 (44:18):
That anything is possible? What it is, no matter how
crazy it sounds, that literally anything and everything is possible.
And you know, certain situations where we feel that there's
no way out, there are probably ten ways out and
you just got to go with one, and you know,

(44:41):
just anything in life that you want, just go for it.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
M beautiful message, my friend, and for me, I think
when someone reads the intimacy of your story because it
was so well written. Like I said earlier, I really
felt like and some of the experiences I was with
you on the mountain, I could feel the emotions as
you talked about your daughters, all of it. I think

(45:09):
it's also and I haven't even got through the whole
thing yet. It reminds us that listen, life is full
of ups and downs, right, things that we can't explain away.
But it doesn't have to take our joy. It doesn't
have to take our in a piece. What would you

(45:31):
say to that, like, because hearing you now, speaking to
you now, you still have joy. You still maybe you
didn't for a while. I don't want to speak for you,
but do you feel like you can experience life fully
even in the midst of the loss of your son?

Speaker 4 (45:50):
Wow, I have not been asked that before. That is
an incredible question. So in all honesty, I will say that,
you know, the sparkle definitely was taken off the world
for me, and it's kind of a you know, it's

(46:14):
kind of a flat sparkle at this point. And I
will never forget the first time I was like, felt
just pure joy after he died, and then the immediate
guilt I felt. It was in a restaurant in Tuloom.
My oldest daughter got me to go down there for
Thanksgiving just so we would, you know, do something different.

(46:35):
She had a bunch of friends with her, who, thank God,
she has very funny, kind, beautiful friends. And we were
in a restaurant and the entire restaurant, the waiters were
doing kind of a conga line and swinging their napkins.
The entire restaurant was celebrating, and I just remember feeling

(46:56):
like so happy and so like, wow, this is an
amazing and then overcome with such guilt of how dare
I be having a good time right now when you know,
like Johnny's not here and oh my, And then I
was so conflicted of wait a second, I'm you know,
so my first first Thanksgiving without my son, I'm like,

(47:19):
how can I be having joy right now? So, yeah,
it's it was hard at first. I experience the most
joy now when I'm outside, whether it's you know, paddling
with this dragon boat team I'm on, which you know,
thank God for my dragon boat team, great fun, amazing

(47:41):
people who kick my ass three times a week. So
that type of joy I feel it when I'm when
I'm doing what I love, which is sports. I feel
him when I am doing sports and and in that elevated,
high vibrational space of joy and happiness. So yeah, it's

(48:06):
a hard thing to live with or you feel guilty
for being happy. But we are meant to live joyous,
happy lives and they want that for us, and we
should want that for us.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Yeah, I've come to believe that myself too. It's like
they would want us to be happy because that love
crosses all boundaries. What I also heard in through what
you just shared is the joy comes when you're out
in nature and it's almost like he's there with you, right,
because that gave him the joy in this lifetime too, right,

(48:42):
the action adventure. So it must feel like, all right,
come on, you come on with me on Everest or
whatever your next challenge. Do you ever have that conversation
with him and go, come on, let's go do this.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
I don't even have to ask. I just feel he's
there because I always whenever I'm doing this stuff, I
get amazing signs from him, so I know that he's there.
I'm insane signs, some of which I write about in
the book. So yeah, I know he's there, and you know,

(49:17):
I absolutely want to go back to Everest. I wanted
to be there for my sixtieth birthday this year, but
I have a big graduation for one of my kids,
so I will be doing that instead. But yeah, I
hope to go back in twenty seven and I know
that if I do, Johnny will be right there as always.

Speaker 5 (49:41):
You know, with me, and.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
Yeah, just doing things that make me happy, which I
know when those things happen, when those moments happened for me,
I know he's there and he gives me enough signs
that it's not even a question and it's and it's again,
we need to be open into those signs when they're
presenting us, because a lot of times we, you know,

(50:05):
maybe we don't believe in that stuff, which is fine.
Everyone has to go with whatever is best for them.
But if you're open and paying attention to the signs,
they're there and you will see them.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
Oh my god, most definitely. I live. My last book
that I published was called Divine synchronicities, and it has
had a bunch of women's stories. I live my life
watching for signs from the other side, you know, from
those I love that i've lost. But also I believe
that whatever your source of love is, divine, Universe, God,

(50:40):
whatever it may be, is always trying to get us
out of a head and say, are you present right now?
Because I'm robbing this sign in front of You're trying
to get you to steer to the right. And I
have fun looking from the family picks on me. I'm
like one one one you love and eleven and numbers
are big for me. Feathers yep, oh, but sometimes too.

(51:03):
I'll never forget. Dana lost a good friend, probably Dana's
my honey. He and Jeff were really good friends. And
I've been with Dana thirty two years, so i'd say
about twenty eight years ago. Jeff, it's a crazy story.
We were coming back from cross country. I never drive

(51:24):
at night, but Dana was exhausted. We were on that
last run home after a you know, a four week
cross country trip. I'm like, I'll drive so we can
get home. Shouldn't have been driving in the middle of
the night, and I fell asleep at the whale. The
two of them were way in the back and someone
grabbed my shoulder. Now, Dana and Nikki, my daughter, were

(51:47):
in the back, back like the back of a truck
when we had a two row seats. So someone grabbed
my shoulder, shouted my name. I over corrected the vehicle.
I don't know how I didn't flip it. And I
kept looking at my shoulder, like, who the hell did that?
Because nobody's in the cab of the truck with me.
They're in the sleep area. And I remember going, this

(52:10):
is crazy, and Diannette, of course, Dana and Nikki are like, hello, over,
what the heck did you do? We got home and
we hit the answering machine, and again I kept feeling
this hand, this powerful hand, still on my shoulder. I
could feel the energy of it. Eleven hours later and
we hit the answer machine and it said Jeff died

(52:30):
unexpectedly last night, and that we're before I almost went
off the road. Now here's the story. He was a blacksmith.
He used to love taking his big, giant hands. His
thumbs were the size of two of my fingers. He
used to love putting it on my face because he
could cover my whole face. That handprint I knew without

(52:51):
a doubt was Jeff saving us. To this day, I
know it and even Dana knew it. So I believe
this signs all around us. My friend. I believe Johnny's
with you all the time as well as with your girls.
And I am so grateful for this conversation, for the
that you took your story and turned it into a book.

(53:12):
Your story needs to be heard. Your story of resilience, grief,
everything you've gone through, you give us hope. You're going
to empower and inspire people to believe in possibility even
when life brings us to your our niece. So thank
you for having the coverage story the book and share

(53:32):
your story. It's truly inspiring. DNA.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
Thank you so much. I appreciate that and I.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
Want to invite everyone please visit DNA at dnat Wells
dot com again. The links are in the show notes.
Grab a copy of Another Step Up the Mountain, A
Journey of Courage. I got to tell you, my friends,
it will inspire you to believe in possibility until next time,
my friends, choose love, Choose joy, choose how happiness. Blessings everyone,

(54:03):
Thanks for.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Listening to Inspired Conversations with publisher Linda Joy. Join our
Sacred Space every Tuesday at two pm Eastern and meet
leading female visionaries, empowering authors, heart centered female entrepreneurs, coaches,
and healers. Inspired Conversations with Linda Joy is a soulful

(54:24):
venue where guests share the obstacles they've overcome, along with
wisdom and lessons learned on their personal journey that led
them to the transformational work they do in the world.
Inspired Conversations to empower you on your path to authentic
and soulful living.

Speaker 4 (55:04):
The b

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