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Why Not Girl: Lauren McCabe HerpichI’m delighted to present today’s post from Why Not Girl! Lauren McCabe Herpich. You'll remember her from her introductory post here. After a recent move across the country, she’s settling into life on the west coast and building her business.
She’s also taking advantage of the beautiful Californian weather to get outside. And as it often happens when we get outside, she's gaining insights and shifts in perspective about life, the challenges we face, and our ultimate victories.
I'll turn it over to her:
How Life Is Often Like A Challenging Hike
Since moving from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area in early January, my husband and I have taken full advantage of the absence of snow and the almost constant presence of sunshine. We love the year-round farmers’ markets, the omnipresent bike paths that line our city streets and the number of hiking trails that are just within a few minutes drive from our house.
Recently, when all of our friends and family back in the Midwest and East Coast were digging out their homes, Chris and I decided to dig out our hiking shoes and take to the hills of the East Bay. Now I’ve been hiking before in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Great Falls Park near Washington, D.C. Heck, I would even consider a stroll down Michigan Avenue around Christmas time to be a hike, especially as you make your way around the multitude of holiday shoppers and their shopping bags, but nothing has been like our trip on the Claremont Canyon hiking trail.
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The Claremont TrailThe Claremont Canyon Trail sits within a 208-acre nature preserve that takes you up and around the picturesque hills that watch over Oakland, Berkeley and the East Bay. Within minutes, you ascend .75 miles reaching an altitude that gives you one of the most amazing views of San Francisco, but also that heart-pounding out-of-breath feeling that makes you wonder if you can take even one more step.
The trail is challenging.
Its path does not cut you a break and feels like a constant climb. I consider myself to be pretty athletic and in good shape, but Yikes! This walk had me feeling like all I do is veg out like a couch potato.
But what this hike also had me thinking about was how much this afternoon excursion was a lot like life—in its entirety and in segments (i.e. starting a business, working on a marriage, finding work/life balance).
As we made our way up the hills, I felt like the challenge of the climb was never ending. The steep terrain pushed my calves to the limit and I often found the need to stop and take a breath or ask my husband for a hand to pull me up. Hmmmm… not very different from when I’m in the middle of a week full of deadlines or when I can’t find that receipt I need to file the company’s taxes.
And like many challenges we face, sometimes the hits just keep on coming. Just when we reached the pinnacle of one hill, another one came our way. For a while I was wondering if we’d ever get the descent my glutes were screaming for.
But that leisurely trek down the hills finally came and I felt like I finally had the opportunity to stop and really take a look at the views I so desperately wanted to see in the first place. Seeing the city of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and the sprawling East Bay below was even more worthwhile after feeling the pain, sweat and thirst of the previous three hours.
I’ll admit that while we were on that hike I vowed I would never make that trip again. But the feeling of being able to fight through the climb has made me want to dig out my hiking shoes and go again. I hope my husband is up for the challenge.
About Lauren
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Lauren's life has definitely consisted of a series of adventures, or as she would like to call them: Why Nots! She recently left her digital marketing position at a Fortune 100 company to take the risk of entrepreneurship and start Why Not Girl!, a website empowering women to try new things, live life as an adventure and say Why Not!
Lauren holds a Masters of Integrated Marketing Communication from Northwestern University's Medill School and Bachelors in Journalism and Media Arts from the University of Arizona. A native of New Jersey, Lauren has become quite the nomad living in Tucson, Arizona, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Lauren currently lives in Berkeley, CA with her husband Chris and their beta fish Grappe.
You can connect directly with Lauren via twitter, Facebook or her YouTube channel.
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