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Alex Staniforth

Adversity Adventurer, Motivational Resilience Speaker, Author and Mental Health Activist

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Embracing the Storms: How to take advantage of life challenges

You are here: Home / Inspiration / Embracing the Storms: How to take advantage of life challenges

March 4, 2022 by AdversityAdventurer 1 Comment

After what felt like storm #306 in the last month alone, many of us probably started to ask: “what next?”

The First World problems of rubbish weather, my email server going down and a delayed train were suddenly paled into insignificance when I checked BBC News and heard of the Ukraine invasion last week. Right when the world had started to get back on its feet… not so fast!

If 2020 and 2021 weren’t challenging enough, 2022 is really spoiling us!

Should we be surprised? One thing we should have grasped in the last two years is that storms will usually come and test us when we least expect or prepare for them.

“Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path”

Paulo Coelho

In the Marine Corps, the ‘Crucible’ is the final test every recruit must go through to become a Marine. The Crucible takes place over 54-hours, including food and sleep deprivation and over 45 miles of marching. It tests every recruit physically, mentally and morally and is the defining experience of recruit training.

Perhaps the pandemic was our own ‘crucible’: a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new.

Taking advantage of adversity doesn’t just happen though. It begins with choosing a growth mindset: reframing setbacks as an opportunity, and asking the right questions.

Think outside the box

Every crisis or disruption brings an opportunity for change and innovation: if nothing changes, then nothing changes. Our busy lives rarely permit the time to think and reflect about what’s important, and so many of us continue in projects, places, roles and relationships that don’t serve us. Being restrained behind four walls suddenly forced us to think beyond the box. This emergency stop could explain the ‘Great Resignation’ phenomenon where record numbers of people changed their jobs during the pandemic.

As an adventurer, I found my own ‘crucible’ in 2015 when my second attempt to climb Mount Everest was thwarted by the Nepal earthquake and avalanches that had trapped us on the mountain for two days. My first attempt in 2014 didn’t fare much better, with another avalanche that tragically killed 16 people.

These experiences could have easily been swept under the rug and dismissed as bad luck. But it’s our choices that give things their meaning. On the walk out of Base Camp, we passed the harrowing sight of villages and livelihoods crumbled to the ground. Yet our friends Tashi and Lakpa had a huge crack down the front of their teahouse, which had otherwise stayed intact.

“Don’t worry!” Lakpa reassured us, “We’ll build a better house!”

Re-define success

For me too, the Everest disaster was an opportunity to build back better. But first I had to re-define my idea of success. For so long, I had taken a goal-focused approach. It was all about reaching the summit: the next milestone. This is how we’re conditioned from our school grades through to adult life, where success is often measured by moving up the career ladder, the car you drive, or the house you live in.

Adopting a growth mindset focuses more on the process – the habits and behaviours acquired towards the outcome, and learning on the way. Rather than being fixated on the outcome which is often outside our control. Instead of asking “why has this happened to me?” it’s asking: “how can I grow from this?”

If I couldn’t climb Everest literally, I decided to cycle it instead, and cycled fourteen times up Great Dun Fell within 24-hours to accumulate the equivalent height – 29,035ft – a feat known as ‘Everesting’.

To raise money for the victims of the earthquake, I also helped to set up a ‘Walk For Nepal’ on the anniversary of the earthquake, with over 100 people climbing Snowdon to raise in excess of £20,000.

Whilst Everest may be the highest, I discovered other adventure challenges could be equally rewarding. 2017 I completed my Climb The UK challenge to cycle, walk, run and kayak over 5,000 miles to all 100 county tops in the UK. For once my goals were entirely dependent on body and mind working together, rather than objective factors such as avalanches, weather and Sherpa strikes. It gave an opportunity to truly appreciate the hidden corners and gems of British home-soil, for others in the wider community to participate and follow the journey. In 2020 I completed my toughest challenge yet to run the National 3 Peaks Challenge – climbing the three highest peaks in the UK and running the entire distance between them, covering over 452 miles or 17 marathons in 9 days 12 hours. Mostly important it was the catalyst for Mind Over Mountains, a charity to restore mental health through time spent in nature, which has continued to support hundreds of people through the pandemic and beyond.

Reasons to be Cheerful

The good news is we don’t have to wait for another pandemic to stop and reflect. Create the time to assess your strengths, weaknesses and what surprised you during the pandemic – what you learnt and what you want to take forwards.

We can’t escape the storms in life. Maybe we shouldn’t even try. Today I ran outside without a headtorch, the sun was shining and the crocuses were in bloom. All reasons to be cheerful. In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, we need to find those glimmers of hope more than ever.

The storms will never last forever – but we can create something that will.

Category iconInspiration,  Motivation Tag iconalex adversity,  embracing the storms,  resilience,  storms will pass

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  1. nackte frauen says:
    July 10, 2022 at 5:02 pm

    nackte frauen

    Embracing the Storms: How to take advantage of life challenges – Alex Staniforth

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Climbing mountains and the mind.
Charity Founder @mindomountains
🌎 The Lake District #GetOutside
Athlete @inov_8 @ordnancesurvey @ellisbrigham

Alex Staniforth - Adventurer
Back where it all began. Running with my old man! Back where it all began. Running with my old man!

Last March I got my Parkrun PB at Keswick and this weekend got my slowest at Fell Foot.

The plan was to keep my heart rate under 145bpm to avoid another crash of fatigue, which meant walking most of the hills. It took the discipline of Yoda not to set off chasing people like the good old days, especially when my dad overtook me in the first km. 

I hated exercise as a kid. On holiday in France my stepmum bribed me with €2 to run a mile with him. That was a lot of money back then... I hated every minute but dad inspired me to enter a 10km race for charity, and the rest is history. Dad came to watch every race since, as I happily claimed the family record at every distance from 5km to marathon, whilst he retired to become a Parkrun tourist. 

Never thought he'd beat me again, but never forget where you started.
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#LongCovid #TheComeback #MatchingJackets #parkrun #loveparkrun #fellfootpark
#LakeDistrict #lakedistrictuk #runninginspiration #Fellfoot #windermere #parkruntourist #fatherson
Much-needed adventure inspiration from @mrmarkbeau Much-needed adventure inspiration from @mrmarkbeaumont on his Faster tour at Rheged last weekend. 

Mark is the fastest person to cycle around the world in 80 days (that's 240 miles a day... for perspective) amongst many other records. He's been a huge personal inspiration and kindly endorsed my 2nd book.

So much resonated, but a few favourite takeaways: 

- Trust the process, the bigger picture will always take care of itself. 

- Remove the faff. His team had to ensure he was on the bike by 4am, not 4:05am. That would have added an entire day to his record.

- Mark had 40 people working on his world record. He knew that if he failed, the whole team failed. 

- Good times won't last forever, but that means the bad ones won't either... 

Thanks Mark. Grab his books, talks and films if you're needing some adventure inspiration! 

#faster #worldcycle #ultracycling #markbeaumont #inspiration #80days #mindset #cyclingheroes #rheged #ultracyclist 
@speakersfromtheedge
214/214 Wainwrights complete! Somehow it's taken 214/214 Wainwrights complete! 

Somehow it's taken 12 years, 8 months and 25 days since my first summit, Souther Fell, aged 14 (swipe for evidence). For those who don't know, the Wainwrights are a list of 214 summits created by legendary writer Alfred Wainwright. There was no better hill to finish than the aptly named 'Great Cockup', with a great crowd of friends.

The record is 5 days 12 hrs 14 mins... If only we hadn't stopped for a sandwich 😂 

Meanwhile @thehodfather666 is currently climbing all 214 with a 4 stone hod of house bricks, to raise money for @mindomountains.

However fast you go, there's something strangely addictive about this collection of fells. It's been a fun project to explore the Lakes and maybe one day I'll start again to see how fast I can get around... 

📸@danobeaumont

#GreatCockup #Wainwrights #LakeDistrict #Hillwalking  #GetOutside #Lakes #peakbagging #wainwrightswalks
A big welcome to the first CEO of @mindomountains, A big welcome to the first CEO of @mindomountains, Ian Sansbury! 

When Chris and I founded the charity in 2020 we never imagined how big it would become. From the flagship event with @adventureuncovered to delivering 27 events last year, supporting 300+ people with their mental health, including the NHS, Police and Ambulance Service.

Leadership is about creating a vision, and building a great team to achieve it - like our wonderful trustees, team and 50+ freelance staff who continually go above and beyond. 

It’s also knowing your strengths and weaknesses, when ironically it's compromised my own mental health sometimes too. As the charity grows I'm not the right person to take it where it needs to be, so it can reach everyone who needs our help.

Feeling like a proud parent sending their kids off to start school, with less crying, but I'm super excited to see the charity grow and support even more people with Ian’s expertise. 

I’ll remain heavily involved as a trustee (and Chief Interference Officer) to support the team, tell the story and raise money through daft adventures… 

Thanks to everyone who's been part of the first chapter. Onwards!

#NewChapter #MyBaby  #MentalHealthCharity #MindOverMountains
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