Reach your Everest - Andrea Cardona at TEDxGuatemalaCity

Andrea Cardona is the only Guatemanlan woman to have climbed the Everest. She tells us the story of how she managed to accomplish her goal and of how everyone has their own Everest to reach in their lives.

Thank you very much for the invitation.

I'm really proud to be here

and very happy to be sharing
this experience with you

because it's something that all of you
have the potential of doing as well.

It's just a matter of opening up to the possibility

of doing things we've never done,

or things that seem unachievable or too big.

First I will introduce to you,
in general what Mount Everest is,

and afterwards a little of how
step by step I achieved that dream,

not just for me, but also for Guatemala,

and for all people as a reminder

of how dreams can come true.

Narrator: On the rooftop of the world,
between China and Nepal,

there towers the highest summit of the planet:
Mount Everest.

For years, it has been considered
the ultimate challenge for mountain climbers

and a symbol of resistance and human conquest.

For a higher chance of success
and less risk of death in the attempt,

many years of training are required,

an indestructible mental preparation,

and the disposition to challenge
the boundaries of the human body.

An expedition requires countless hours
of work, logistics and resources.

The food for one expedition could feed
a single person for 17 years.

The physical exhaustion can only be balanced

forcing the body to eat and drink,

because at high altitudes
the appetite and the thirst disappear.

Day and night, the cold assails the body,

snatching the precious energy
that is so needed,

challenging the mental strength
and motivation.

As the height increases,
the oxygen decreases,

reducing balance and mental clarity
when they're most needed.

Climbing the Everest requires great
physical abilities and techniques,

bringing the climbers in a situation
where falling is not an option.

And while the grandeur of the Himalayas
offer indescribable views

the smallest error or distraction could be fatal.

Climbers face icy temperatures and strong winds.

The body loses its energy reserves,

while in the blood, the red cells multiply
to compensate for the lack of oxygen,

increasing at the same time the risk
of limb frostbites and heart attacks.

With every step the challenge
becomes harder and harder,

but with great risk also comes great reward,

and this is the Everest.

(Music)

Well, I think the experience seems very far away,

spooky, or I don't know how
you must have seen it,

because everyone perceives
the same things differently.

But what I can say is that 5 years ago

I didn't like mountains, I hadn't
discovered that passion,

I didn't like the cold, and I would have never imagined
that I'd be there some day.

So how does a person from a tropical country
who dislikes the cold,

and has nothing to do with that sport,

achieve something like the Everest?

This leaves us thinking that
our possibilities have no limits

and that we just need to see them through.

So today I've not come to tell you
about the expedition and the dangers,

or how the organization and logistics worked out,
but more than anything,

I'm going to talk about the attitude

that we must adopt when facing our dreams,
the goals we set forth in our lives.

Many people, when I tell them
about the Everest expedition and all the training,

because it was an experience
that had to be taken step by step,

each time with more mountains
and harder peaks,

a lot of time investment, and money.

And they ask me, "but why?"

There were 2 years of training,

then 2 months of expedition,

lots of risks, up to the point of risking one's life,

but, why and with what purpose?

Just to be 20 minutes up on
the highest point of the planet?

To some people
it may not make any sense at all.

But what really mattered in this experience
is what I learned along the way.

Because now I can use it for my other goals
and for everything I set out to do in my life.

Why? Because I had to include
the 4 main areas of our lives:

I had to have physical training, getting
acquainted with the equipment I was to use,

developing resistance,

knowing my body at high altitude
and extreme cold

and, of course, learning how to climb mountains.

The first time I dreamed
of climbing the Everest

was when I was working
as a tour guide,

about the seventh time
I had gone to the base camp,

always watching the Everest
from the base of the mountain.

One day I said, I always come here
and see the Everest from below,

but how would the world look
from the highest peak?

That idea inspired me greatly,

and since then, I started planning

which is what we need to start with,
to begin each one of our projects,

researching if we have any chance of doing it,

and what we need
in order to accomplish it.

From that great and careful planning,
talking with people that had already done it,

searching the internet, reading books, I realized
what I had to do in these 4 areas of my life.

The first one, as I told you,
was physical training.

The second one was mental training.

And mental training comes only with experience.

The first time my hands hurt because of the cold,
I panicked because I thought they'd freeze.

Afterwards, my trainer told me that
I just needed to rub my hands.

The second time that I felt cold,
I already knew what to do.

So, mental training comes from experience,

but we also need motivation

and that motivation comes from the mind, as well.

I had to see myself reaching the top every day

so that I could complete my two years of training.

Each day I closed my eyes, the first thing I woke up with
were those last few steps to the top.

I had to be ready for that moment.

That was very important.

Then, of course,
I had to adjust my entire life, my job.

Suddenly I was no longer working as a
tour guide for cultural groups, for example.

I started working just for adventure groups

so that I could train while working.

At the same time, I was working 6 months a year,
saving for

all that I needed for my training.

I knew that climbing the Everest
was a very expensive expedition,

that I couldn't afford it on my own,
that I'd need sponsors.

But I couldn't ask without showing results.

I didn't just wake up one day and said,
"Well, I wanna climb the Everest".

Instead, I had to say,
"Here's my mountain resume,

this is what I'm doing,
this is my training plan,

this is how I intend to return to the sponsors
the experience or investment."

And, believe me, it wasn't easy.

The obstacles on the way are quite a few.

Finaly, the fourth area of my life,
the spiritual aspect, which is very important.

I knew that 10% of people die in the Everest

and as I trained,
I was reducing that possibility,

but at the same time, I was
aware of that chance of dying.

So I needed to have my purpose
in life very clear.

So why Everest?

Exactly because bringing together
those four areas in my life,

I felt that I'd have the key tools,
necessary to face other goals in my life.

Something that expedition left me with,
while traveling through those places,

is that everyone's perception is different.

To me, Everest could represent
a sport challenge, for example.

For the locals of those places, culturally,
it represents a sacred place.

That's where mother earth goddess lives.

For others, it can be the hinge of their life,
the highest dream and goal.

So it is the same object seen
from different perspectives.

And there I understood that to be able
to work as a team, since all goals are met

solely through the interdependence
between people and things,

I had to learn to respect and
tolerate different points of view.

This also allowed me to understand that
our perception is not only different,

not only the world has a different
reality for each one of us,

but actually, we ourselves change
our perspective throughout life,

and as a consequence, our reality.

Then, this showed me that
if we can change our perception,

we can also change our reality.

Therefore, our limits,
or things we place as limits,

no longer exist.

That means we can really choose
any challenge we want.

The problem is that we don't like it,
we don't want to get out of our comfort zone,

we just like to be around
what's familiar to us.

But if we realize that about our lives,

how we change our perception of people,
of Guatemala, of our family and ourselves,

throughout our lives, we can certainly realize
that we can do that with everything,

and say, "Well, why wouldn't I dare
do something different today?

Why don't I do something different this week
that I've never done before?"

Why don't we give ourselves that chance?

Because today we may not know
how to do things,

we don't have that experience today,

but that doesn't mean
that we cannot develop it,

it doesn't mean we can't learn it.

So I'm inviting you to -- even if you don't know,

define and think what is your Everest.

And go for it!

With planning, step by step, little by little,
with consistency and perseverance,

that's how we achieve all of our dreams.

And not just that,

allow for motivation and purpose
not to remain a personal thing,

but instead, through our experience,
satisfaction and fulfillment of things,

help others along the way understand that we're
all cells in the same body, that is Guatemala,

and if we are the healthy cells,
we'll make Guatemala a better country.

That's all.
Thank you very much for this invitation.

(Applause)