Don’t make Everest the greatest thing you ever do. – Unknown
March’s theme in The Reflective Circle membership, has been my favorite so far—a wake-up call that shook me to my core. It all started with one powerful question: If today was your forever? And then, the undeniable truth that followed: Every single day, someone your age is dying.
If those two statements don’t light a fire under your feet, what will?
The truth is, today’s harvest is just a reflection of who you are. If you don’t change, if you don’t grow, if you don’t push past your mental limits, then next year, on this very day—April 4th, 2026—you’ll be living the same uninspiring life. Time doesn’t wait. Your forever is built in the choices you make today.
So let’s close this theme with the story of someone who refused to accept limitations. Someone who chose to live his forever with no barriers.
Erik Weihenmayer: The Man Who Summited Everest Without Sight
Erik Weihenmayer is the first and only blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth.
By the age of 14, retinoschisis had taken his vision, but Erik refused to let blindness sideline him. Instead, he fought—first on the wrestling mat, representing his home state of Connecticut in the National Junior Freestyle Wrestling Championship. Then, as a rock climber, where he developed a natural ability to scan the rock with his hands and feet, feeling for the next hold.
After graduating with a double major from Boston College, he became a middle school teacher and wrestling coach. But his true journey began atop Denali, North America’s highest peak, where he realized that mountains were more than just a physical challenge—they were a way of life.
Shortly after going blind, Erik came across a Braille newsletter about a group taking blind kids rock climbing. He thought, Who would be crazy enough to take a blind kid rock climbing? And then, Why not?
So, he signed up.
It was messy. It was hard. But it awakened something in him—a hunger for adventure, for problem-solving, for breaking past the invisible walls that life had tried to place around him.
That hunger led him to the top of Everest.
The descent was just as treacherous as the climb. Carefully, Erik and his team navigated deep crevasses and the deadly Khumbu Icefall. When they finally reached the base, his expedition leader turned to him and said something that would shape the rest of his life:
“Don’t make Everest the greatest thing you ever do.”
Those words took root in his soul. And for the past 16 years, he has lived up to that challenge—
- Climbing the tallest peak on every continent.
- Kayaking the Grand Canyon.
- Authoring three books.
- Founding No Barriers, a nonprofit dedicated to helping others break through the obstacles in their own lives.
What’s Your Everest?
Erik’s story is proof that limitations are only as real as we allow them to be. If he can summit the highest peak on Earth without sight, what’s stopping you from summiting the highest peaks of your own life?
What are the invisible barriers you’ve accepted as truth? Where have you settled? And most importantly—
So, if today was your forever, would it be a life you endure on repeat, or a life you cannot wait to wake up to every single day? Would it be a cycle of monotony, or a reality so rich and fulfilling that you are excited to live it over and over again?
While I write this, Erik is waking up every day and choosing to live without barriers, pushing beyond limits, and scripting a life worth reliving.
How about you? What choices are you making today to turn your forever into the greatest story ever told—your story, the one you write on your own terms?
With all my heart,
Salima
