Kilimanjaro inspired awe

I have to start with the bragging part, because I just can’t help it. Yes, that picture that you see is me… me and 10 other kickass women who just finished summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania this October 2021.

But I promise this post has a point that goes beyond bragging. But let me brag about this team for just another paragraph before I get to the point. The women in this group came from all walks of life… each one coming into this experience through their own journey, to spend 7 days camping, hiking, climbing, bonding, struggling, laughing, almost-crying, not-showering and ultimately reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro on that October 7th, 2021. On that day, all of us stood at Uhuru Peak, at 19,341 ft (5,895 meters), on top of the largest free standing mountain in the world and the highest point of the African continent.

But why am I choosing to blog about this feat?

Travel has changed my life. No doubt. From the first time I flew on a plane and traveled to another country in 1996, life was never the same. Travel actually changed my life more than once and just about everything major that happened in my life, including my current whereabouts and the language this blog in written in, was somehow affected directly by a time I decided to get on a plane. Maybe I will blog about that too on another day. But I have certainly, more than once experienced that kind of travel that opens your eyes, that changes you, that lingers with you.

Travel is almost always fun, whether it is a visit to Hawaii or Cabo. But this is not the kind of travel that I am referring to in this post. I am referring to the type of travel that reveals life so outside of what you know, that shocks, teaches, changes you.

Since all 11 of us summited that mountain, slowly, each person returned to the United States, and slowly to their lives. Yet, days later, weeks later, we couldn't stop sharing photos, messages, music, stories. It was one week, then 2 weeks, almost 3, and the feeling of excitement wouldn’t dissipate like it happens so easily when we return from just a"regular" vacation.

The group even planned a mini reunion 2 weeks later and EVERYONE showed up. Every single one. It is almost as if each of us needed to relive, talk, see the rest of the team because we were now part of this exclusive club that needed to bond over an experience that perhaps other people in our lives would not even understand. I have traveled to beautiful places and hiked other trails with some of these same women before, but this lingering feeling and bonding felt different than any other.

What made this trip so remarkable? So life changing? So unforgettable? So bonding? Of course there is the beauty of the land, the friendliness of the locals and everything that Tanzania has to offer, and that’s a lot. But what I am looking into, is the possible psychological explanation to this elated feeling this group has been experiencing.

As I processed my own experience and also pondered, observed, and listened to my Kilimanjaro teammates for nearly 3 weeks I happened to come across a colleague’s talk on awe. As he eloquently described the experience of awe and what awe entailed, things started coming together.

Dr. Jonah Paquette, a esteemed colleague of mine, talks about awe in his book Awestruck (2020). In his book, Dr. Paquette defines awe as an experience that overwhelms us when we encounter something so mind-blowing that shakes us to the core. It can come from nature, from experiencing something life changing, from great acts of courage or inspiration. Awe is the feeling that comes when we encounter something so vast or profound, that we struggle to fully comprehend it.

I will try to scratch the surface here. According to research cited by Dr. Paquette in his book, there are two main conditions there are needed to truly create a sense of awe. First, we need to encounter something vast, whether in the physical realm (a sunrise, a mountain) which is know as perceptual vastness, or with an idea (generosity, courage, inspiration, science) which is known as conceptual vastness.

The second component of awe is the experience that transcends our understanding of the world, which forces us to change our assumptions and accommodate new information (Paquette, 2020). We experience this sensation of awe when we encounter something that exceeds our current frame of reference and propels us to adjust our mindset and our view of the world.

Studies on awe have explored how these experiences elict emotional, cognitive and physical changes in our bodies and lives. Experiences of awe can reduce inflammation response in our bodies, activate parts of our brain that experience pleasure and release oxytocin. Experiences of awe can improve our mood, can make us more kind and generous, and can foster a sense of curiosity about the world. Experiencing awe can also reduce our stress, help change our relationship with time and make us less materialisc. It can help boost change and growth in our lives, strength our social bonds and make us more humble and less self-important.

It all made sense to me. As we experience this sense of vastness we put into question what we know, rearrange our perspective and remember how small we really are in the big picture of things... it seems natural that our bodies and lives would change.

Let me now tie this psychological phenomenon to this trip. Everything about this trip, if broken down, is awe inspiring. First, 11 women flew across the world, different routes, to find themselves in the heart of Tanzania. Everything about this is already awe inspiring and we haven't even began talking about this very tall mountain. Getting there took determination, planning, training, research, logistics, the miracle of aviation, and I am not even including a deep reflection on the lives and strength of each of us and how we all found ourselves in this point and time of our lives as our paths crossed. That on itself is awe inspiring if we stop to think about it.

But now talking about this mountain, hiking for 7 days revealed us so small, so insignificant, so minuscule in the vastness of a mountain that appeared endless. There was definitely the feeling of being so far from everything, and so impossibly high that there was no turning back even if we wanted or needed it. A river or waterfall that appeared beautiful lush and big, hours later, was just a dot in the background as we would reach higher and higher ground. There was also a feeling that we were always at the complete mercy of the elements, whether it was sun, wind, rain or just plain cold, and the hope that we had enough items and layers to manage the elements that were so much more powerful than us.

There were beautiful night skys, the distance from anything, the lack of technology, being mostly disconnected from communication and living without comforts we come to see as trivial such as running water or a bathroom.

Throughout the days, as we walked pole pole (slowly as they say in Swahili), we were constantly in the state of amusement watching the resilience, strength and positive attitude of each one of our porters that carried a heavy load walking past us on the trails making the trek look easy. Everything about them was awe inspiring. There was also the connected feeling of depending on these human beings. The people who carried our camping gear, who cooked and guided us were our literal lifeline during those days. We wouldn't even know what direction to walk if they weren't there to guide us. These feelings of connectedness, of dependence and gratitude were present both while we hiked but also after.

I would say there was also unquestionable awe for our own bodies, and what our bodies did when we thought we couldn't do it anymore. Each of us was tested both physically and mentally and our limits stretched. I am willing to bet that each of us is pretty proud of what our bodies endured and accomplished.

Beyond the mountain, I would be remiss if I didn't point out other obvious experiences such as finding ourselves overwhelmed by change. By a different culture, language, music, a different way of life, by seeing animals that live in our psyche since we were little kids, in their natural habitat, minding their business. We were also confronted by discomfort, by inconveniences that aren't common in our every day American lives, by economic hardship, by a different concept of time, by smells, by sounds, by Tanzanian people's every day resilience and warmth. The type of experience that overwhelms you while you are in it, but leaves you changed once you catch your breath.

Our time in Tanzania was definitely filled with awe, awe in the ordinary and extraordinary. Awe from courage, inspiration and gratitude and a big capital Awe in resilience, all around.

While I can’t pretend to understand what each of my teammates experienced that has caused lingering effects on each of them, it has been fascinating to put some of our shared experiences into scientific psychological terms. I hope that understanding the concept of awe and having it illustrated by this story may help you understand your own awe experiences, savor them and even seek them.

The other piece of good news is that you don’t need to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to have an awe experience. Although there is no denying that there is an immense sense of awe that come from monumental experiences such as this, there is awe in so many of the experiences we already live on a regular basis and sometimes we forget to notice.

The first thing we need in order to experience more awe in our lives is to slow down and notice. We spend much of our lives on autopilot and easily gloss over the almost miraculous phenomena of each day. It can be gazing at the night sky, experiencing the changes of season, listening to a majestic piece of music, marveling at incredible man-made skyscrapers, watching someone extremely talented, witnessing the birth of a child, the sprout of a seed, a sunset. It is all around us, daily, all we need to do is notice.

Recommended Read: Awestruck by Dr. Jonah Paquette - How Embracing Wonder Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Connected, 2020.