Last week I hosted 10 clients in a retreat here at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. The location is spectacular and the set of many western movies through the years.
It takes a long time to get here, and usually that includes connecting flights. And once you get to Albuquerque, it’s a two hour drive to the accommodations which are as rustic as the scenery is rugged.
I know, I make it sound so appealing right?
After all, my book title is Empowered by Discomfort so my clients know what they are getting themselves into in these types of retreats. And while here, we do deep work. Because you don’t go through all the effort to get here to simply dilly dally. We do workshops, healings and hiking.
The hiking is at altitude (6,500 feet) and sometimes with steep inclines to reach 7,000 feet above sea level. The drops can be challenging to some people. It’s nothing they can’t handle but I understand the hesitation.
I wanted to paint this backdrop so you can understand the story of my client C.
She is a mom and it was the first time EVER she left her young children to do something for herself. She arrived with still puffy eyes from crying, but she was there to prove something to herself. She just wasn’t sure what that was.
We went on the Chimney Rock hike and C was hesitant as she told me she was afraid of heights. She didn’t make a big deal of her fear, but she felt it and she was quiet as we began to head up.
After about 45 minutes of going uphill, we arrive at a Mesa overlooking the Abiqui Reservoir. I get a bit of vertigo, must admit.
When we got up there, C had an enormous smile on her face and told me “I don’t think I am afraid of heights after all!” and then proceeded to climb to this outlook spot on the rocks. She is the one in this picture. Mind you, I did not go to where she went to sit and contemplate.
On the way down C was chatty, with a pep in her step. The typeof pep you get when you are feeling like a badass. And that evening, as we closed the retreat, she said something along these lines:
“I was nervous about the hike but I went, and when I got there I realized I wasn’t afraid of heights. But as I leave this place, I am stopping the sentence sooner. I am not afraid.”
I.Kid. You. Not.
This shy mom who had never left her children, declared to herself and to anyone who would listen that she had changed. That she was no longer afraid.
That is how discomfort interplays with unchained confidence. Discomfort and challenges create empowerment. And when you know that, when you can feel that confidence in your bones – you don’t need anyone else’s approval.
No one will be able to tell C that she is not brave, strong, or bold. In fact it won’t matter what anyone says because she had a visceral embodied experience of owning her badassery.
She got home and started a new job with confidence. With unchained confidence.
And if you want to learn the process to that unchained confidence, I can show it to you in 15 minutes…
Go here to watch the masterclass where I show you how.
👋 Hi, I’m Cristina and I help teams and professionals become Empowered by Discomfort so they can face challenges with confidence.
Resonate with what I am saying? Then shoot me an email cristina@cristinamramirez.com and ask me about how I can help you and/or your team. 🙌