<p>In this episode, I’m sharing the real reason I traveled to Tanzania and trekked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro - the roof of Africa.</p><p><br></p><p>This wasn’t a fitness goal. It wasn’t a bucket-list flex. It was a spiritual pilgrimage rooted in a story that began decades ago, back when my identity was water polo and I wore “U.S. youth team” and “junior national team” like a second skin. There was another athlete from Oregon on those teams - Jeff. We trained together, competed internationally together, and even became rivals during high school season. That kind of brotherhood doesn’t disappear.</p><p><br></p><p>After college, Jeff chose to travel. He was offered the chance to summit Kilimanjaro. On the way to the gates, the bus taking the group went over a cliff and everyone died. Jeff never even reached the mountain. When I heard the news, something locked in: one day, I would climb that mountain.</p><p><br></p><p>Life moved forward. Military. Fitness. Building businesses. Years went by. And then, twenty-five years later, while volunteering in hospice with terminally ill patients, one woman - lucid in her final days - looked at me and said, “Jeff came to see me.” Then she delivered the message that hit like lightning: <strong>“It’s time for you to summit the mountain.”</strong> When she said “Kilimanjaro,” I knew the time had arrived.</p><p><br></p><p>So once Tribe Class 003 completed in December 2025, I began planning. In late January I flew to Tanzania, adjusted to the jet lag, and started the trek. And before I tell you anything else, I want to honor the people who made it possible: for <strong>12 clients</strong>, it took <strong>42 porters, guides, chefs, and staff</strong> carrying tents, food, tables, chairs, toilets - building camp, breaking camp, and running past us every single day to set everything up again. Respect. Gratitude. Always.</p><p>Twelve of us began. Three of us reached the summit. One man had to be airlifted out. Another suffered such severe altitude sickness he forgot who he was for 36 hours.</p><p><br></p><p>The mountain was both hard and easy.</p><p><br></p><p>Hard because of environment: exposure to sun, temperature regulation, dehydration risk, dust and shale that make each step slide backward. Easy because of mind: I didn’t train for this trek. I bought my boots days before leaving. No altitude acclimation. No prep hikes. What I did have was commitment. Single-mindedness. <strong>There was no story in my mind where I didn’t summit.</strong></p><p><br></p><p>While others distracted themselves with constant talking and data - filling space to escape discomfort - I returned to one thing: attention. I repeated a mantra thousands of times.</p><p><br></p><p>That mantra became my mind’s projection: love, compassion, selflessness - instead of pain, suffering, and resistance.</p><p><br></p><p>And this is the lesson I’m offering you:</p><p><br></p><p>Your life is like a dream. The mind projects the images, but <strong>consciousness guides the dream through attention.</strong> Put your attention on fear, and you live a nightmare. Put your attention on presence, and you live in peace.</p><p><br></p><p>Commitment is not attachment to an outcome.</p><p><br></p><p>Commitment is devotion to the <strong>moment that leads to the outcome.</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Every outcome is a succession of moments.</p><p><br></p><p>Every summit is a succession of steps.</p><p><br></p><p>So take one step at a time - fully - without distraction.</p><p><br></p><p>There is only the Self.</p>