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How often do we wait to feel confident before doin

How often do we wait to feel confident before doing something?

I seem to work with a lot of people who lack self confidence. The truth is, confidence isn't something we're born with. Waiting for it to appear is like waiting for laughter before telling the joke. It comes from experience, and the only way to build experience is by taking action and showing up, even when you don't feel like it.

I'd feel pretty confident speaking on a stage in front of 500 people, jumping out of a plane, or if I was dumped on a mountain alone in a proper hoolie. But if you threw me in a party or group full of strangers, I'd rather jump into a hedge. Being an introvert with a stammer doesn't help...

Imposter syndrome is normal when you're doing something new. How can you expect to feel confident if you've never done something before?

Competence builds confidence. If you're not willing to put the work in, you can't expect to feel confident stood on the start line.

We can lose it temporarily after a bad experience, negative people, a DNF, redundancy, breakup... The quicker we get back on the wagon, the faster it returns.

What's your first step? Take the leap and let confidence catch up.

#confidence #mindset #skydiving #impostersyndrome #coaching

Anxiety doesn't really go away. I just find new st

Anxiety doesn't really go away. I just find new stuff to catastrophise about...

One way I've found to deal with that is controlling the controllables, as much as possible. We're still human but the quicker we focus on what we CAN do, the more control we feel in that situation and the calmer we become.

Thanks for the chat @king.aleksandra! Great questions which really got me thinking.

#BeyondWithAleksandraKing #anxiety #mentalhealth #mindset #control

Identity Crisis? I'm hearing this a lot recently

Identity Crisis?

I'm hearing this a lot recently from friends and coaching clients. Often it comes from a career change, relationship or major setback. Sometimes it's subconscious after hitting an age milestone or life event.

I experienced it for the first time after my second attempt to climb Everest in 2015, and being caught up in the Nepal earthquake and avalanche which changed my whole world view, at 19. I've spent the last 11 years speaking and writing about it.

Then it was Long Covid when I couldn't train or be an 'athlete' for nearly a year. Then it was turning 30 and more recently stepping away from 'big adventures'.

And every running injury has triggered the same question:

"Sh*t... Who am I now?"

I'm no expert, but what's helped me is throwing myself into other life roles and new projects. If we have all our eggs in one proverbial basket then we're always lost when that one thing changes or is taken away for reasons outside our control.

Language matters too. I'm not just a runner or adventurer. Now I'm just Alex, who runs. We can be many things to many people. Growth comes from adapting and evolving, and the good news is we get to choose.

Get in touch or DM if this resonates and I can help you too!

#growth #dolomites #identitycrisis #coaching

The Dolomites 🇮🇹 Another dent in the bucketlist.

The Dolomites 🇮🇹

Another dent in the bucketlist. What a gem. I've been lucky enough to visit the Himalayas 5 times so the bar was high, but the Dolomites definitely lived up to expectations. Choosing from all the photos was a hard job!

We spent a few nights in Ortisei, one on a clifftop mountain refuge and a few nights in Auronzo. Sadly Airbnb lacks a scratch and sniff feature so we left our last apartment early for a final bonus night in Venice 🙈

The hikes, runs and swims were epic but I'm either still crap at altitude, unfit, or possibly both. Grateful my body held up pretty well apart from fatigue and palpitations, which wasn't surprising with so many early starts.

When you're working through a big setback or transition sometimes you just need space and mountain air to think and process. It did exactly that! Although I probably need another holiday to recover...

#dolomites #travel #italy #hiking #trecime

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is probab

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is probably not for you...

Whilst I can't pursue running goals, I was looking for new ways to challenge myself, get outside my comfort zone, and practice what I preach.

So, I decided to throw myself out of a plane at 14,000ft!

A terrifyingly brilliant experience to see the Lake District at 120mph and see my first brocken spectre. Thanks to my instructor Steve for getting us down in one piece. Total sensory overload. I almost want to do it again.

Music added to hide screaming 😂

#skydiving #freefall #skydivenorthwest #lakedistrict #mindset

A new chapter? It's hard to believe that one year

A new chapter?

It's hard to believe that one year ago today I finished the 446 Challenge in record time. I'll always be grateful for that day, journey and the people who made it happen!

I was at my peak physical fitness and making good progress this year, with a new 5km PB of 16:28 and 5 mile PB of 28:02. But life had other plans. I got ill in March and never fully recovered. The last 3 months I've been stuck with post-viral fatigue (again) and basically my body is allergic to exercise. It could be worse and luckily I can still hike/swim/run a bit but it's not training, it's just for sanity. I'll probably make a comeback but I've scrapped my races to recover and enjoy being outside with no agenda.

Every setback brings an opportunity to adapt and to reinvent ourselves. If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got...

I'm still not sure what Alex 2.0 will look like, but it won't be chasing records, big challenges or competition. Moving forward this page will focus on helping others with their goals through coaching and speaking, finding different challenges, and more real, human connection - none of us are designed to live in a virtual petting zoo...

Please drop me a DM if you're working towards a big goal or going through a big challenge or change right now... or just fancy a swim or coffee IRL 🙏🏻

📸@ianwoodphotography

#throwback #helvellyn #adventure #postviralfatigue #lakedistrict

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Alex would love to hear from you and inspire your team.

Please get in touch and we’ll get back to you within 12 hours.

Alex’s Charity

Mind Over Mountains is a charity restoring mental health naturally through therapeutic outdoor experiences.

Read more and join us at:
www.mindovermountains.org.uk

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