In June, my youngest son and I took an outstanding trip to Iceland. Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect because COVID was essentially under control in Iceland, the weather was wonderful, and I was able to maneuver a full week of vacation. If you haven’t been to Iceland and you have the chance to get there, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a gorgeous country, with incredibly kind people and it’s extremely safe. In the summer, the sun barely sets so you get lots of daytime hours.

My son and I planned the trip to include lots of hiking, a kayaking trip on an iceberg-filled lake, and a glacier climb. All of that sounded good except for the glacier climb. That had me a bit nervous. I walk all the time, but I walk in Illinois. The slightest incline feels like a mountain to my flatlander legs. I’m not a huge fan of heights and walking downhill feels even scarier to me than walking up. But I knew my son wanted to do it, so I agreed.

The day of our scheduled glacier climb was idyllic: sunny skies, moderate temperatures and what appeared to be a very nice glacier climbing guide. As my son and I gathered with our group, I soon realized that I was the oldest person in the group by about twenty years. I also handily outweighed most everyone in the group. Yes, you can assume some body-shaming issues here, but that’s for another blog. To get to the glacier, we had to hike a mile or so and then cross a small bridge and then climb up a dirt-filled mountain. I was exhausted before we even put on our crampons, the things you put over your boots to walk on a glacier.

I’ll also admit that my internal chatter was none too comforting and sounded something like, “You are too old to do this.” “Look at all of these healthy, in-shape young people.” “You are going to make a fool of yourself and embarrass your son.” “What if my son has to carry (or drag) me off of this glacier?” I had barely stepped on the glacier and I was already making this adventure a stressful one. I knew better.

Stop The Negative Self-Talk and Live In The Moment

So, I decided to do what I help others to do…stop the chatter and enjoy the freakin’ moment. I stopped and just looked around. I am standing on a glacier. It’s fantastic. It probably won’t be here by the time my grandchildren are born, so I want to take in every aspect of it. There are mountains all around me, some snow-capped and some not. There are some lovely people in my group who are doing push-ups on a glacier and taking funny pictures of each other. Our guide is filling our water bottles with the water from the glacier and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted in my life.

Confidence and bravery require us to silence our negative self-talk and live in the moment. #confidence #bravery #selftalk #ageism Click To Tweet

And there is my son. My baby. He’s 21 years old and so excited to be walking up a glacier. He’s taking in the moment and enjoying the adventure. He travels higher than I do and does some minor glacier climbing with our guide. He is ecstatic. He wants to do more and I’m so grateful that I have this moment with him and in my life. I try not to cry because that would surely embarrass him, but I’m filled with emotion for the experience.
After we climb down the glacier, mostly slide down the rest of the mountain, cross the tiny bridge, and hike back the mile to our car, I’m exhausted and giddy. I did it. I’m an almost 60-year-old glacier climber. I stopped the nasty chatter and I dove into that moment and it was magnificent. In the car my son said, “Mom, I’m so proud of you. You were older than everyone there and you did it.”

I did it.

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC