Book excerpt: Nature has taught me more about life than I ever thought possible. I found that how we deal with the mountains we climb is how we deal with life itself. We face our fears, adjust our mindset, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. One of the most important lessons I learned is that we all climb mountains. Every. Single. Day. I thought I was just hiking mountains. What I was really doing was learning valuable lessons that I could equate directly to life. Hiking thousands of miles over perhaps hundreds of mountains all over the United States teaches you a lot. With that said, you don't have to be a hiker to enjoy any of these revelations. I'll frame each lesson with a hiking story from the past, but the takeaways are just as important to anyone as they would be to a hiker. In other words, these are not hiker exclusive lessons. These 9 are the most powerful that I've taken from the hikes, the trials, the tribulations, the celebrations, the failures, and the accomplishments. - Do it scared. - The Destination is the journey. - Be grateful and be mindful. - Your attitude determines your altitude. - Find your tribe. - Hike your own hike. - Expect the best. Plan for the worst. - Life is filled with sacrifices. - Keep moving forward. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started to assemble and sort through many of the lessons I had learned. Most we just take for granted. It isn't until we contemplate what we've learned that we can digest and assemble it properly. To climb a mountain is to learn about life. It's all about continually moving forward.