“Once you surpass this perceived limit that you thought you had, there’s this very liberating feeling. It opens up your mind and makes you wonder what your true potential really is.” – Emily Harrington
For the El Capitan regular and Everest summitter, gritty, difficult experiences are the Emily Harrington way. But these gritty, difficult experiences are far from blind endeavors.
“It’s all about accepting the risk,” Emily Harrington says, “and understanding it, and analyzing whether or not it’s worth it before you put yourself in that position.”
There was one risk Emily absolutely could not accept — the risk of not being able to enjoy her life and “good, amazing successes and all the other beauty in the world.” And that was a risk she almost accepted in pursuing a law degree following her graduation from undergrad. She sees nothing wrong in a law degree, and contrarily respects those who make that decision for themselves, but she, herself, could not imagine the necessary fulfillment or satisfaction in this textbook pursuit.
Instead of making the decision to take the LSAT, Emily continued along the familiar course of climbing. But therein lay an unforeseen opportunity to surpass these perceived limits that had defined her adolescent relationship with her life-long pursuit: her passion for climbing evolved from a sport she loved to practice to truly becoming her identity. And that evolution was only furthered when she encountered objective risk in the less controllable environments of goals such as Everest.
Today, she embraces that initial discomfort that stands at the foreground of new personal territories and adventures. In in those gritty, difficult experiences, Emily Harrington finds liberation.
