" Before I climbed Everest, I saved up to make an attempt on a peak called Ama Dablam, one of the classic and more technically difficult climbs in the higher Himalayas. For many of the weeks I was there, I climbed alone, plugged into my headphones and utterly absorbed in each step, each grip.

I was in tune with myself. I was in tune with the mountain. It was just the mountain and me.

During those times, I really had the chance to push my own boundaries a little. I found myself probing, being willing to push the risk envelope a bit.

I started to reach a little further for each hold, finely balanced on my crampons, taking a few extra risks - and I made swift, efficient progress. I was exploring my climbing limits and loving it.

When I reached the summit and watched in awe as the distant peak of Everest came into view, ten miles to the north, I knew I had the skills to scale that mountain, too.

William Blake said:

Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street.

He was right. We need time and space and adversity to really get to know ourselves. And you don’t always find that in the grind, when your head is down and you are living someone else’s dreams.

Wherever you are in your life, it is possible to find your own challenge and space. You don’t have to go to the jungle or the Himalayas - it is much more a state of mind than a physical location.

Mountains of the mind are around us all everywhere. And it is when we test ourselves that we begin to know ourselves. "

― Bear Grylls , A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character