We conquered a mountain.
Discovering Your True Potential by Overcoming the Mountains You Fear
What Is Your Mountain?
Yesterday, my dear friend of 32 years, Laura Yevchak, and I hiked the Old Rag Mountain Loop in Shenandoah National Park. It was my first vacation of 2026, and I could not think of a better way to spend it: outside, challenged, humbled, and in the company of someone who has known me through nearly every version of myself.
Laura and I have been friends since fourth grade at Purchase Line Elementary School. Our friendship deepened in high school through hours spent at track practices, races, musicals, and everything in between. Over the years, no matter where life has taken us, we have found creative ways to stay connected—often through adventures that push us a little outside our comfort zones.
Old Rag had been on Laura's bucket list for quite some time, so when she asked if I would help her check it off this year, my answer was an easy "yes."
Then, about a month ago, I actually started researching the hike.
That is when I realized Old Rag is a bucket-list hike for a reason. It is rated "strenuous" on AllTrails, includes a notorious rock scramble, and has a reputation for being both physically and mentally demanding.
That is when some doubts began to creep in.
I have always considered myself active, but I also had hip surgery a year and a half ago to address an old running injury. Suddenly, this hike felt much bigger than I had expected. Could I do it? Would my body hold up? Was I underestimating the challenge?
As I tend to do when something scares me, I went into research mode. I watched videos. I read trail reviews. I compared it to other hikes I had completed in the past. I prepared carefully.
I was still nervous, but I felt ready.
And then we did it!
What surprised me most was not that Old Rag was challenging; it was that it was challenging in the best possible way. It felt like an adult jungle gym—demanding, fun, technical, and energizing. More than once, I found myself thinking, I built this up to be much harder and scarier than it actually was.
And isn't that true of so many things?
- A career transition.
- A new role.
- A physical challenge.
- A personal goal we keep postponing because we are not sure we are ready.
Often, the mountain becomes larger in our minds than it is in reality. When we finally take the first step, prepare, show up, and keep moving forward, we discover something important:
We are more capable than we thought.
So my question is this:
What is your mountain? What scares you?
My lesson from Old Rag is simple: educate yourself, prepare well, bring the right people with you, and go do the thing you have been putting off.
You may discover that your true potential is not limited by the mountain in front of you, but by the boundaries you have placed around yourself.
And once you start climbing, you may find that those boundaries were never as permanent as they seemed.
