Your Mountain Is Waiting - Melanie's Story

                                                           Resolve says, "I will."
                                      The man says, "I will climb that mountain.
                   They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, to rocky and too difficult.
                                             But it's my mountain. I will climb it.
                  You will see me soon waving from the top or dead on the side from trying."
                                                                - Jim Rohn

Melanie Michealchuk conquered her mountain!!!
Her mountain was Kilimanjaro. A dormant volcano in Tanzania. It's the highest mountain in Africa with a summit about 4900 meters or 16,000 ft. from it's base.
On July 11 of this year, Melanie reached the summit.

So who is Melanie and why did she want to conquer this mountain?
I first me Melanie at a Conroe Chamber networking breakfast in Conroe, TX, in December of last year. Melanie is a fitness/health coach working for Curves both in Conroe, TX and Huntsville, TX. And since I am a Life Coach and work a lot with the health and wellbeing of people Melanie, and I connected right away.

We later met for coffee and in February I headed up to see Melanie at Curves in Conroe and I had a BioAge test done. If you don't know what it is, here is a BLOG about the one Melanie did on me.
http://karinglannstam.blogspot.com/2019/02/your-body-is-reflection-of-your.html

While Melanie and I got to know each a little more she shared with me about a dream that she had had since her early twenties. She wanted to hike up to the summit of Kilimanjaro. In her twenties she had read some article about a woman setting a big goal and climbing this mountain and it struck a chord with Melanie and she could never really get it out of her head. But as for many of us the dreams that we have in our early life, sometimes gets to be put on the backburner because we get a career going, get married, have kids. Life happens and we push that goal away and say to ourselves that someday I will do that.

Melanie and her husband are both Canadians, from Edmonton and they have two children, both boys. In 2005 they moved to The US because of a transfer that her husband got. He is working in the oil business.

Melanie tried some different jobs here in the Houston area. She has been in the printing business. She taught water aerobics, taught pre-school and she told me that she dabbled in real estate for a while but didn't feel like any of those jobs was something that did fit her.

At this time challenges were also happening in her marriage. She and her husband Dan, were drifting apart and this pushed Melanie into depression and she gained 60 pounds during a 6 year period. She told me that she was self-soothing instead of dealing with her relationship problems with her husband. Neither Melanie nor he husband wanted to address the disconnection they were experiencing in their marriage.

Then something happened. Her husband started a course with Landmark Worldwide. This company is a personal and professional growth, training and development company, focusing on people achieving success, fulfillment and greatness.

After her husband finished the course Melanie saw big changes in him and she decided to check it out herself. So she too joined Landmark Worldwide for a long weekend workshop. After completing this course Melanie noticed great growth in herself and she decided that she wanted to work with empowering and inspiring other people. Both Melanie and her husband took charge of their lives. They decided that they needed to change and they both took action to do so and today they are having an amazing marriage again and Melanie has lost all the weight that she gained.

In December of 2017 an ad for Curves showed up on Melanie's radar and she got an interview with them and at that interview she was offered the job. She is still with Curves and she loves her job. On a daily base she gets to help people taking their life to a new level. Becoming healthier and stronger and more empowered.

Last year this dream of hiking up to the summit of Kilimanjaro was surfacing again for Melanie and she made a decision that it was time to accomplishing this goal that she had been thinking about for over 25 years.

She knew what she wanted. And she had a very strong why she wanted to do it. Having a strong reason for wanting something will allow you to get through obstacles, setbacks and distraction on the road to reaching your goal.

Melanie created a game-plan and set a deadline of one year to accomplish this goal. Then she took action on a daily base. She had to prepare physically by hiking, biking, running and swimming. She also had to save money, because it would take money to accomplish that dream. She had to find a company and a guide that she could hire to assist her in reaching the summit. She also had to prepare mentally and emotionally, because our mind is going to tell us on a daily base that we can't accomplish our goals.

Melanie worked hard on herself and her goal and I am so excited that she accomplished her dream on July 11, when she stood waving at the top of her mountain.

Did she have obstacles on her way to reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro? Of course she did. Many of them. Originally she was going to do this trip with 2 other friends, but they backed out and she had to go at it alone. A wall of doubt got the best of her a couple of days before it was time to leave and on her way to the airport here in Houston she almost turned around. She didn't have the right shots and had to get some at the last minute. They lost her luggage with her hiking shoes and her backpack, but she got it back. Yes, it's never going to be easy but I know she forgot all about her obstacles and setbacks when she stood at the summit waving at the world.

Melanie did not do it alone. She had many people that helped her accomplish her dream. She credits Landmark Worldwide and Curves for a lot of her success.

She had an amazing guide by the name of Elly Anase with Kili Dreamers, here is their link
https://www.kilidreamers.com/?fbclid=IwAR0jK-zvT3QqvR3R3DlkIS6UUTWvbB9-I_6xAfmg0rl7U_6Jq8tZk1dEnVs

and she could not have done it without his expertise, help and encouragement.
And of course her whole family and friends were also cheering her on to reach the summit

Amazing job Melanie!!! You did it!!!

What Is Your Mountain?

                                      Written by Karin Glannstam - Life Coach & Author
                                                            www.karinglannstam.com