Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Becoming Break Proof with Jennifer Drummond

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Jennifer Drummond, a motivational keynote speaker and world record holder, shares her inspiring journey of overcoming obstacles and achieving her goals. After surviving a life-threatening accident, Jennifer decided to live life to the fullest and pursue her passions. She embarked on a quest to climb the seven second summits, the second highest peaks on each continent. Throughout her climbs, Jennifer learned valuable lessons about resilience, teamwork, and the importance of putting people over peaks. Her book, 'Break Proof', chronicles her experiences and provides tools for readers to apply these lessons to their own lives. In this conversation, Jen Drummond shares her incredible experiences of surviving a car accident, climbing dangerous mountains, and overcoming anthrax. Her mindset and determination are evident as she faces life-threatening situations with resilience and a refusal to give up. Jen's story serves as a reminder that we can overcome any obstacle and achieve our dreams.   Key Moments: Embrace challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning. Surround yourself with a supportive team to help you achieve your goals. Put people and relationships above achievements and success. Stay committed and focused on your journey, even when faced with self-doubt and obstacles. Resilience and a strong mindset are crucial in overcoming life-threatening situations. The support and love of family can provide the motivation to keep fighting. Cherishing the small moments and finding beauty in the world can help maintain perspective during challenging times. Connecting with others and sharing our stories can inspire and motivate others to overcome their own obstacles. Chapters 00:00Introduction and Background 01:03Jennifer's Accident and Awakening 08:24Jennifer's Journey of Climbing Summits 15:03Overcoming Obstacles and Self-Doubt 19:42Putting People Over Peaks 25:47Jennifer's Book 'Break Proof' 27:22Lessons from Climbing Mountains 31:20Completing the Seven Second Summits 33:26Returning to K2 and Overcoming Challenges 35:56Jen's Escape from Pakistan 38:31Facing a 40% Chance of Survival 41:24The Power of Mindset 42:27Connecting with Jen   Purchase the book Break Proof-   https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684814359/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk?nodl=1&dplnkId=d0996fb9-5c4c-4dfe-b5f5-f8e7bd1811d2   Are you an athlete looking to build your brand in order to monetize your name, image and likeness? Join Athlete Narrative today for 10% off each month for the lifetime of your partnership-   https://ambassador.athletenarrative.com/shawn-french-join   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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If you haven't listened to the show yet, please hit pause, follow the show and catch up on all the amazing episodes before you hear this badass entrepreneur, author, and just motivational individual. She is a motivational keynote speaker. She is a world record holder, an author, and a podcast host. Her book is called Breakproof. And this woman here, Jennifer Drummond is breakproof. We're going to get to that. Jen, welcome to show, my friend. Oh, thank you for having me today.

Excited to be here. Dude, I'm super excited. I want to tell the audience how this, you know, relationship came to form. We actually recorded before. And it was back in the day, guys, when I was using Zoom. And it was such an amazing episode. I just didn't feel it had the quality of production and I couldn't do much with it. And now we're using a different platform like we have for a very long.

long time. And so we have the amazing Jennifer back with us. And this is going to be such an impactful story. So I'm grateful to have you back on. Yay. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. So let's walk the audience through. You posted something today that I felt was like your jump off into your story and into owning who you are into all these amazing things that you've accomplished. Why don't you walk everybody through that story of the accident where the paramedics and EMTs thought there was zero possibility that you'd live. Yeah. No, it's fun that we're recording today, right? Because my body is just like five years ago today. Oh, this is the anniversary. Today that we're recording is the anniversary of the actual accident, which is surreal, right? When you have these lines in the sand,

you can think of like, wow, this is what's happened in the last five years of my life. Thank God, things worked out the way that it did. And so December 18, 2018, I was driving to my home in Park City, Utah. And I was paying attention to the side of the road, looking at the reservoir, wondering when it's going to fill up with snow, which it would freeze over, like all the things. My attention got pulled back to the road. And I realized I was coming up hot and a semi pulling a trailer. And so I needed to get over into the left lane.

I went to get over into the left lane and I clip the corner of the trailer of the semi. He must have kind of swung out a little bit too based on how I rolled. I went end over end three times and then started doing some sideways rolls, stopped in the middle of the median and just sat there, right? Like, am I going to get hit again? What's going on? A guy came running towards me yelling, are you okay? Are you okay?

I could hear it, but I wasn't registering that he was talking to me, right? Like it was kind of this background sound. And then he peeled back the windshield that was cracked. And he looked at me and he goes, are you okay? And I looked back at his face. And I thought to myself, I must not be okay based on his facial expression. Are you kidding me? So I closed my eyes and I wiggled my fingers and toes because I was too afraid to look at myself.

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And really we're the ones who know if we're okay or not. So anytime I'm in a situation that's overwhelming or scary or like the story starts running, I close my eyes and I wiggle my fingers and toes. And I'm reminded like, I'm okay. Everything else is like happening outside of me. I'm okay. And that's incredible, Jen. I just want to jump in really quickly, right?

Yeah. For the sake of conversation, like that moment that you decided to not look at that external validation to go inward. Can I feel my fingers? Can I feel my toes? And the fact that you have used that as your jump off point or your trigger point to really distinguish how you truly feel in your life today is remarkable. Because to your point, we all look at others for, am I doing this right? Am I good looking enough?

Is this book good enough? Is my show good enough? How was that keynote speech? Did you like it? When we should know, we do know deep down inside if we've crushed it or if we've fallen short, right? Like, we know that. And I think we're all our own worst critic, right? So at the same time, like, I've delivered speeches and everybody's thrilled and I'm like,

I could tell you 20 things I did backwards. But you know what? Like that's just internally I need to focus. But again, just being able to unplug and plug into ourself is so important. It's so funny. Like you're talking about you can say all the 20 things that you did wrong during a motivational conversation in front of people. I had the opportunity of speaking in front of the middle school kids here at this,

you know, my daughter goes there and my kids are going to be going. My two oldest will be going there is this prep school called Canterbury School of Fort Myers. And they have this lift program. for leadership of tomorrow or whatnot. And Rick Kirshner, who's the headmaster, asked me to speak for this left program for middle school kids. And I'm going to think, okay, cool, there's going to be like 15, 20 kids there.

Like, no big deal. It was like 300 kids, okay? And they're all following in, like little ants. I'm like, oh, my God, what's going on? And that is the most nervous I've ever been to deliver a keynote because they're children. their kids, right? And it's like, I've got to be very careful of my words.

And I absolutely did not like my conversation. I hated it. I thought it was weak and it was lacking power. And for the reasons of like, it just didn't go the way I felt like it was going to go. But nothing but rave raving reviews from the students, the faculty. And I'm like, good Lord, I hate for you guys to see me at my A game. Right. But here's the thing. I don't know. Like, we don't, it never lines up, right? Like, so one of my climbs that I got into was in Russia. It's a technical rock climb. I bought all this gear.

Like, I curated it forever so that I had the perfect gloves and the perfect fit and the perfect socks and all the stuff that all layered just right. I land in Russia. My bags are lost. Like, they cannot find them. And so the guides that I'm with are like, hey, Jen. Like you can't wait for your bags to come in. We either go now or you're not going. I'm like, okay, so what does it look like if we go now? It's like we're going to go to a store and buy our rent gear. I'm like, okay, I guess we'll try that.

It's better than going home right now because I've spent the last 36 hours in airports. And so we do that and nothing fits, right? Like I have a coat that I have to roll up the sleeves. I have a backpack that I have to tie to so it doesn't fall off my shoulders. I have like I'm literally bought little boys underwear because there was either like grandma underwear or this that would fit me better. And everything was this mish, mash or whatever. And the crazy thing is, is we summit. It's not a pretty summit. There's crazy things that happened during the entire pursuit. But the country closes down six months later. Had I not been willing to let it look absolutely

like nothing I thought it would. And to have everything go wrong and still like, okay, well, this is what it's going to look like and we'll try to take one step. This is what it's going to look like we'll try to take another step. We summited. And if I didn't do it, like I would not be able to have this world record right now because the country's still closed. I love this. And let's let's back up a little, right? Because the audience, see, I know what you're talking about. The audience, they don't know what you're talking about. A climb, rock climb summit. Walk everybody through after you recovered through your accident, you started to do some bad ass things with climbing summits, doing things that people every day just aren't doing, Jen.

Right. Right. So, yeah, the accident woke me up to the fact I don't get to choose when I die, but I sure get to choose how I live. And what does living look like? Because up into this point, I was checking boxes and doing the things that I should be doing. And I just wasn't fully alive.

I was surviving, but I wasn't thriving. And I decided, you know what? Like, I'm alive. I could die any day. Like, forget what all of you people think because you're all going to die too. I'm going to start listening to what gets me excited and do more of that. So 2019 was this year of like the bucket list. What do I want to do?

What do I want to experience? What do I want to like try? And things I wanted to accomplish before I died and climb a mountain was on that list. 2020, I was turning 40. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to climb a mountain. for my 40th birthday and launched that next decade into something significant.

I'm told to climb a mountain named Amma de Blom by friends that are big mountaineers. I don't know what Amma the Blom is, but they convinced me that it's a good one. And then they say, you know, every time you go to a movie, Paramount Pitchers uses Amma de Blom in their logo, you can say I climb that mountain.

Wow, that's perfect. That's cool. I go to movies out of high. I'll say, like that'll be fun. So I'm training for that. COVID happens. So I'm not climbing any mountain anywhere. And one of my kids is struggling with this math homework from homeschool.

So I'm like, buddy, we do hard things. You've got this. And he looks at me and he goes, mom, if we do hard things, why are you climbing a mountain called I'm a dumb blonde instead of a real mountain like Mount Everest? And it took me a minute. I'm a da Blom, honey, not I'm a dumb blonde. Okay. Thank you. Cute.

Not quite accurate. You're going back to public school. I know. I'm like, I can't wait till these schools go in session again. Are you kidding me right now? You go on. So he and I looked at Everest when he was done with his homework and then he went to bed. And then I'm like, you know what?

If Everest is the hardest thing in the whole world to this guy, I'm going to climb it. And I'm going to show him that whatever our Everest is, we can sum it. So I call a coach because that's what you do and he haven't done something before, right? Someone who's done this, been there can give me advice. I call a coach. and I'm kind of hoping he's going to tell me, no, you don't want to do that. And instead he's like, yeah, I could totally get you ready. You'll be good.

Yeah, you're an athlete. Let's go. Let's go. He's like, buy this book about becoming an uphill athlete. I'm like, okay. So I'm like, all right, I'm climbing Everest. I buy this book. This book has a story in it about a lady who got a Guinness World Record in the Alps.

And I'm having one of those like crappy homeschool days where no one likes me. and I don't even like myself and I'm wondering why I'm doing all this. And I'm talking to my coach and I'm kind of half joking. I'm like, I could have done that. I can suffer. I would have got a Guinness World Record.

My kids would think I'm cool because that's how they learned how to read. And this homeschooling thing would be behind us. And my coach is like, I'll think of something. I'm like, okay, whatever. And we like went on with life. And then a few weeks later, my coach calls me. He's like, Jen, I have the perfect world record for you.

I'm like, okay. He's like, I think you should be the first woman to climb the seven second summits. I think that sounds like a tongue twister. He's like, no, no, let me explain this. And I'm like, okay, please, because you're going to need to. He's like the seven. Sounds like a Fleetwood Mac song.

I mean, it doesn't even make sense. Like your tongue gets stuck saying it. So he's like, Jen, the seven second summits are the second highest point on each of the seven continents. And they're harder than the first seven. That's why it's only been done by one male. So you would be the first female to do it. And he goes, think about it.

Seven continents, seven mountains, seven children sounds like a jackpot. Dude. And I got one of those whole body yeses. And it made zero sense. I didn't camp. I didn't know how to do it. I mean, it climbed one mountain. And I'm like, but there was something about it that said yes.

And so I figured, yes, let's try it and see what happens. And that started the quest. This is so remarkable, Jen. I'm loving it because, you know, the seven second summits, seven continents, seven children, for those of you don't know, this unbelievable woman has seven kids. And when you start to feel something whole body like you said, where it doesn't make sense, but you just know you're going to do it, right? Like, that's all you need.

That's all the drive and discipline that is created in that one moment because it is a feeling of like, shit, this is my purpose. I have to do it now, right? Like it's, I'm breakproof. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Break proof came about from we break. Right? Like the car broke me. It broke my trance. It broke my routine. It broke my rhythm. I have mountains that I had to turn around on that broke my confidence. And that break, we have proof.

We have proof of what's working. What's not working. Now we know what we need to get up that mountain so that we can continue to climb it next time with more knowledge and strong. and better. And when you're on a mountain, and you go back to base camp in the break and try to figure things out. When you're in business, you go back to the boardroom. When you're at home, you take a little time out in your bedroom, you're like, okay, how do I parent this? What do I do? How do I be intentional? And so the book is titled Break Proof because it's in the break that we

get to explore the proof and figure out the best way forward. And that's how we build resilience and achieve our goals. It's so cool because like the whole climbing of mountains is a beautiful metaphor for life. I mean, it is the most gorgeous metaphor that we could possibly do, right? You know, we're talking about Mount Everest in the seven second summits. Everybody has a second summit in their life right now that they're dealing with. Everybody has a Mount Everest. I have them. You have them. Right. In every single level we go up, that mountain gets bigger and bigger. It's like that third and fourth summit probably doesn't exist in real life. But in our development, it's like once you get one thing, the difficulties and the obstacles get even more and more

and harder and harder, right? The higher you go, the more you ascend up that summit. And I just love the metaphor because we're all trying to, we're all trying to achieve something, right? We're all looking for something in our lives. Let me ask you a question. I want you to walk the audience through because this is the oh no moment, right? The oh no moment you're in it. It's your first climb. I think a lot of us when we start doing things that scare us, like climbing the mountain or writing the book, doing the speech, creating the podcast. We all have this moment like, oh, crap, what did I do? Now I have to do it. I'm committed to this. So can you walk the audience through your mindset and how you, you know, turned into this woman that just wasn't going to take

no from a mountain and keep going? Because this is symbolic, right? Like, everybody, is dealing with this. They have to put their feet in front of them every single day to get up the mountain that they're trying to climb. Yeah. You know, I think I change from I have to do this to I get to do this. So I think that's a big piece. I also, you know, I didn't summit every mountain the first attempt. Two of them took two attempts. The environment wasn't safe enough to continue. and my bigger goal is to come home alive. So I had to respect to the environment and be like, okay, nature wins. I learned a lot.

I'll come back and do it another time when it's safer. But it's just always plugging into that bigger purpose of what's my story, why am I here? Before the accident, I was a person that would take on pursuits that I could win. Always. Because I felt so good winning or so good building that momentum or so good on. top. After the accident, I realized, man, there's a whole bunch of life that I'm going to be terrible at. That's actually okay because it's still fun to experience it and try it and learn from it. And so I took on this pursuit of like, I want to do this, but with a mindset of curiosity instead of

competition. I think it's really cool because you mentioned something and I want the audience to really understand this because there's a lot of people on social media now talking about you need to push through these barriers and, you know, these obstacles in our minds are fictitional. They're not real. It's just your limiting beliefs. The ability for you to be like, okay, the conditions aren't good right now. You know, I have seven children at home. I need to get home alive and I'll tackle this later. That's not a failure. That is information. That's starting from experience now, right? But can you walk people through that, you know, that determination that you were just going to try and do it again later? Because I think a lot of people have this ridiculous opinion now that if they

retreat at any point in time that they're worthless and they'll never amount to anything. And I don't think that's true. Yeah. So I'm going to have two stories on that. So the first story is when I went to Everest, I thought you went from base camp to the top and then came back down and it just took forever. When I got to Everest, I realized they have these things called acclimatization rotations. And I'm like, okay. And so what you do is you climb up the mountains, either Camp two, three, camp one, two, or three. Wherever your body hits failure. Okay.

So for me, it was almost to Camp three. My body was like, we're done. And at that point, you try to eat lunch. And then you head all the way back down to Base Camp. And that point of failure triggers in your body at Base Camp. a physiological change. So now your body produces more red blood cells so you can go higher up the mountain. Think of it if you're in the gym. You're going to hit a point of failure that breaks down the muscle so it can build back stronger. So when you're climbing your metaphorical mountain,

you're going to hit failure. Like you have to. You're acclimatizing. You're adjusting. You're changing. You're shifting. And those shifts happen at points of failure. that's part of the journey. And so knowing that term, right, like, oh, having that term, I'm acclimatizing, gives you permission to be where you are and understand like, okay, I'm going to head back to base camp, have the change happen, and head back up the mountain and I'll go higher. The next scenario that I keep on speed dial is I climbed K2. K2 is one of the deadliest mountains in the world.

I went in 2021, did not. have success, had an actual horrible experience. A team I to mine died in an avalanche. Like one of those things you read about, you don't expect it to happen that close to yourself. And it did. And so when I was on- One of my teammates died in an avalanche. Damn. Hard, hard experience. And I had a choice. Like another team went past me and they said, Jen, we're going up. Do you want to? join us or are you going to go down with your team and i thought for a second yeah i mean there's a

second there's a sliver of me that wants to join you if i'm being 100% honest but i can't join you my teammate just died like i need to go down there and take care of my team this mountain will always be here so i go down i do that thing i fly home my kids come home from camp a couple days later because we thought i'd be gone longer and one of my sons walks in the front door and he's like bob did you summit think he's celebrating my summit i said no i didn't but i had success my kid looks at me like what do you mean he said honey who we show up as people is way more important than anything we'll ever achieve and i had an opportunity to show up as somebody i'm proud of and while i didn't have the mountain i had success because i put people over peaks and your entire life you're going to be

positioned with those kind of questions people over peaks people over peaks and i hope your person always puts people. And my kid's like, okay, you know, like he's a teenager. So maybe it's hitting. Maybe it's not. I have to go back to K2, right? Like I not only, I mean, it's part of my quest. I won't have the world record if I don't go back.

And so now I know what I'm going into, right? So it's like, oh, I don't know. And all those things. I'm like, nope, I'm going back. This is what I said I was going to do. There's got to be meaning to this. Everything happens for a reason. And three weeks before it's time to,

go back, I get a phone call. And the phone call is like, hey, Jen, there's this person that's been training. They don't have the assets to make it up the mountain. Can you help? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can help. Like, sounds good. I'm like, okay, well, maybe this is one of the reasons why I didn't sum it. I go back to K2 in 2022, July 22nd, I become the third American female to stand on top of its peak. And 30 minutes later, the first Pakistani female stands on top of her country's prize peak. and declares to the world that women like her belong in those kind of environments. I have twin daughters. They look at me and they're like, okay, if my mom is in this thing, like, I know it's okay.

I can't help but think if my twin daughters were Muslim and saw somebody that looks like them on top of one of those peaks, what that means generationally. And so I think a lot of us sometimes quit or we stop or we think failure and we're done because we're thinking too small. The story's bigger than us. You had to have the failure or the setback or the obstacle or whatever because the universe is using you for more. So get back out there, do the thing and make it happen because you only know your sliver of what's going on. I promise you something more is happening.

This is, I had like goosebumps multiple times when you're giving that story, you know, mainly the one, you know, people over peaks. you know, I think that's obviously commendable. I'm not surprised about your decision, right? I'm not surprised at all. I would not see you, I would never see you move up that mountain without your teammate, especially in that moment, right? Doesn't, yeah, it doesn't even compute to me. The other thing is, you know, the climatization. I'm thinking of my journey in my brand, a podcast host as a coach and, you know, an entrepreneur. And all these times I'm getting further up the mountain and I'm getting tired. I'm hitting failure and I've got to come all the way back down. And then I come all the way back up and I'm able to go further.

It's really funny because as you know, when you're a coach, I mean, you have an amazing financial advisor business. You built that from ground floor all the way up, very successful. Your personal brand has taken some time, right? It's one of those things that's probably the hardest thing to do, right? And I'm looking at it and it's funny because it's so important. applicable. I'm having this conversation with my wife yesterday last night or the day before I can't remember what all the days run together. And she goes, okay, so business wise, how do you feel you're doing

right now? I was like, oh man, I'm failing big time. I'm failing. This is how much we have recurring revenue coming in. And at the end of, you know, Monday, I could have another three, another three grand. She was, wait a second. So on Monday evening, you're going to find out if you have a six-figure recurring revenue stream for your business. I said, yes. She was, how in the hell can you say you're failing? You're not doing well. I was like, well, here's my goal. And she's like, Sean, last year, nobody would buy from you. And so I want everybody to really dive into that because when people get into the space like we're in, they think just because they see people doing it and then coaches get on there and lie to them and tell them they can make,

you know, six figures in 90 days. Um, which is. isn't true. Okay. You know, there is a process of going up the mountain hitting that failure and having to come all the way back down to regroup, right? And then going back up. So I love that analogy. And I feel now I can really relate and I have this visual now because of what you said. Once I hit that next failure, I'm like, okay, I'm just, I'm at this camp and I'm going to sit here for a little bit. I'm going to have a glass of water. I'm going to have some lunch. And I'm going to let those red blood cells regenerate so I can go higher next time. That's, it's beautiful, beautifully said.

Thank you. Absolutely. So walk everybody through. Let's talk about your book. You know, that came out in January. Yes. All right. Came out in January.

Or it is coming out in January. Yeah, it's coming out January 9. This January. Okay. So I'm assuming we can do pre-orders and all that kind of good stuff. Yeah. Let's talk about that. Yeah.

So I'm halfway through this pursuit. I go out to lunch with a friend. to mine. And my friend's like asking questions about the climbs. And he's, he's like, these stories are riveting. Like, what? I'm like, I know it's been just this crazy journey. Like, who would have thought? He's like, you need to write a book. He goes, because the lessons that you're learning apply to our everyday lives and our business lives. But there's so much more entertaining to read in this environment. And because you're in these life or death situations, it makes them crystal clear. And so it gets rid of the gray. And so I'm like, oh, okay, perfect. If that

that's going to help people. So I wrote this book, taking the reader on the journey with me. And then at each particular climb, I kind of highlight a thing that I learned about that climb, give them tools to apply it to their life. And then we go to the next mountain. And it's been so much fun because we've sent the book to a handful of people to get reader reviews in the beginning and just make sure we're on the right path. And it's, you know, it's exciting. People are loving it. It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Because as you're speaking, I'm thinking of, of you going up this mountain, snow, and, you know, it's terrible, terrible conditions. And in those moments where you think, I just learned something about myself.

I just learned another thing about myself. And then when you climb that mountain, you know, your other challenges in your life get easier, right? So walk the audience through that because how did these lessons that you learned on these mountains, climbing up to these summits, help you in your business, your motivational speaking business and everything that you're doing. Yeah. You know, I think one big lesson for me that's a constant is big mountains, take big teams. I think we set these big goals and think we're going to do it all by ourselves.

You don't climb Everest by yourself, okay? You have the amount of support that goes into me getting to the top of Everest is actually humbling, but I have to be honest. I bet. Right. And so all of us sitting here listening today, we have big goals. We're starting January, like right now. and we know what like this big thing is for the year.

When you get tired, would you want to quit? When you want to start negotiating with yourself and saying like, I was kidding. Like I was like drinking Kool-Aid then. Yeah, just messing with you. Yeah,

when you start negotiating, that doesn't mean like do it. That's a cue to your body that you're taking on too much. And so you need to find somebody to help Sherpa you to the summit or to take a break or to like sit there and say like, okay, who else can help me get to the top of this mountain that makes it more enjoyable and fun because you'll get to the top. But will you get to the top where you like enjoyed the journey?

Because here's something to share. I was on the top of Everest for 10 minutes. I trained 1,238 hours to be on the top of Everest for 10 minutes. If I didn't enjoy those 1,238 hours, that's a big sacrifice for 10 minutes. Dude, for sure. How does one train for that, those thousand hours? What are you doing? Like everything. I mean, I have kids, so I have to balance. And my training doesn't look like the picture perfect training that you'd read in a training book. When my son had a soccer game, I'd be the mom at the practice or the game with a 12 inch step in a backpack full of water bottles.

And while he was playing for the hour and a half, I'm just doing stepups. Would it be better in the mountain? Yes, but is it better than sitting on the chair watching the game? 100%. So you're just doing these little micro things that help you get these big things accomplished. See, that's clarity. And I want you guys to really look at that. So instead of finding reasons why you cannot, find the solutions to why you can, even if it's something that you don't feel is as effective as the full on climbing up a mountain, you sitting there at your kid's soccer game and doing that for an hour and a half,

that plays into things. Okay, that's showing the universe that you were committed, right? You have intention and you're clear and you're strategic about what you're going to do. That is a healthy obsession. I think a lot of times, you know, when individuals are chasing something special like climbing a mountain or doing something special in their life, they aren't fully committing, you know, 24-7, 365. In order to do things that you did, You had to commit that often. I mean, you're, you're, you were looking like that crazy person stepping up on a step at a soccer game. Yeah.

I mean, but also you're showing your kids like, mom ain't messing around. Mom is not messing around. That is, you are their role model, right, at that point. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my kids are watching everything I'm doing. And so if I can't teach them what's involved to make something happen, who is. Mm-hmm.

And when you set an Everest like goal, it's a lifestyle. Yeah. Do you ever watch the movie and say, I did that, yell in the movie there. I did that. I climbed that, climb that, y'all. I would. It's awesome. No, I love it. I mean, it's, you know, these things are not easy, right? I mean, it's, you have a lot of individuals accomplishing amazing goals,

but I mean, to go on seven different continents and climb every single mountain, you know, that, or summit, that's just insanity. Have you, do you, what is, what is the one that, don't you have two left or do you have, how many do you have done? They're all done. They're all done. I finished June 1st of this year. Okay. Yeah. I thought that you had, but then you had mentioned earlier in the show like it wasn't open yet, but I'm like, wait a second. I think you did complete it. So how'd you feel? Yeah, you know, like bittersweet. Yeah. I think you feel all the emotions at once, which is why it's like described as awe. Yeah, I remember being like, I can't believe this is done because I can remember when I thought there's like no way, but we'll see what happens.

And then I remember going into the last climb thinking, wow, this could be it. Like I won't see. And every climb I was very intentional about like, I'm not going to see these views again or this world from this perspective again. So I was very intentional about like taking it all in and taking the photos and enjoying the pursuit. But when it was done, I was sad.

I bet. Yeah, that gave me so much purpose and focus and just like feedback. I can imagine. I can imagine sitting there, right? Because when I accomplish goals, like I get happy for a second and then I move on, right? I'm like, okay, well, that's over. I go, shoot, now I've got to do something even cooler. Like, what's left, right?

Where am I going to go now? And, but I can imagine sitting there at that peak and just being like, this is amazing. I can't believe I did this. I'm like, uh-oh. Like, how do I top this? Right? I mean, it's just a new journey. You know, and you're doing it.

You know, you've, you've wrote your own book that's coming out in January and it's just going to help people, you know, apply these principles that you learn on these mountains of their life. And they're, you know, I'm going to throw up the air quotes, their Mount Everest or their K-2. I do want to back up to K-2, all right? When you went back to that. right to climb it again and you know and and and that woman came up 30 minutes after that Pakistani woman that's amazing story but any point when you're going up that mountain did you have those flashbacks of thinking of the worst case scenario happening again no because like

the interesting thing about K2 2022 for me is that I was deathly ill and we didn't know I was deathly ill until I got back to the United States so when I I hiked in, it's a 60-ish mile hike into base camp. And you have to set up camps every day, tear them down, hike some more, do it again. And it takes about a week because you're acclimatizing and gaining altitude and all that kind of stuff too. And on my way in, I got sick, Jardia, which is kind of expected at some level. So I have diarrhea or whatever.

And I go on an antibiotic and I get better. But I get sick again. And the thing is, is like, when we were going in, we have animals that are carrying our gear in and all this kind of stuff. And I'm the person who's always checking on the animals. Are you guys okay? Like, do you have water? You have food?

Whatever. Well, one day, one of those donkeys sneezed on me, like slimed. I'm like, oh, God, so gross though. I'm like, I cannot believe this just happened. I'm the human that cares about you and he sneezed on me with slime, you jerk. And so then I got sick again. So we thought, oh, maybe it's just bad water again. So I go on this medication again.

It cuts it back. I'm like healthy for two days. And then I kind of get sick again. and I mean, it's time to climb K2. I've lost 30 pounds. Like I am like sick. And we cannot grow. No, it was like three weeks, three weeks time.

You lose so much weight naturally because your altitudes, your body's harder to work all the time. And to stay warm and everything. But yeah, no, I lost, I mean, by the time I got home. So maybe at the time of climbing, I lost like 15 or 20. I have no idea. By the time I got back to the United States and went to the hospital. Anyway, so I'm sick. And the guide is like, hey, listen, Jen, we're going to go up.

It's the weather window right now. I don't think you should go. You're ill. I was like, oh, cute. I'm not coming back to this country again. It hates me as we've seen. And so I'm getting done with this climb and we're over this process. He's like, okay, fine.

So I think because I was so ill, I didn't really, my brain wasn't allowed to go play that game. Right? My brain was like, you just need, like, focus, stay healthy. And I climbed K2. I like you have this blah, blah, blah, blah. I get back down to base camp. I use my satellite phone to call home to like celebrate my news. And I have a voicemail on my sat phone.

And it's from Yosemite National Park. One of the guides has called me and said, oh, your sons don't like camp. And they've checked themselves out. What? And so I call camp. I'm like, hi, this is Jen. I'm in Pakistan climbing K2, one of the deadliest mountains in the world. my sons are fine.

You keep them there. I'll be there soon. And she's like, well, they're actually at the age where if they don't want to be here, we don't force them to be here because it affects everybody's experience. So right now, they're assigned to a guide

and themselves until somebody gets here. And it's like $1,000 a day. Like these little SOBs. So I like leave all my gear. I'm like, okay, I'm going to double down and get out of here. So I got out of, I did like that 60 mile trek out in like 35 hours or 36 hours.

get to the airport, fly home, get my kids. I'm throwing up water still. I thought once I got back into the United States, I'd be feeling better. I go to the hospital and they're running test. And they're like, were you in a third world country? Yes, were you by farm animals? No, I was climbing to mountain. Like, I'm being all boastful.

I'm like, oh, wait, no, I was by a farmlander. A donkey sneezed on me. A donkey slimed me. And he's like, okay, we need to run a different test. So they ran a different test. We found out that I got anthrax because animals can care. anthrax in third world countries. If you had a healthy immune system, that bacteria is not strong enough to take you out. So your body would fight it off. But because I had been on an antibiotic,

I had no good or bad bacteria. So that bad bacteria got in. The antibiotics I was on was cutting it back, but I wasn't on it long enough. So then it would grow back. And so I kept going like this, and he's like, Jen, I'm letting you know right now. You have a 40% chance of living. like this is how bad this infection is. Dude, you almost died again? I know. And I'm like sitting there thinking, I'm like, okay, the only thing that would have brought me home at the pace that I came home was my monkeys quitting camp. Right?

Because your kids, you're like, okay, I got to go take care of my kids. Anything else. I would have been like, I'm coming back in a week. Don't worry about it. I don't think I would have made it a week. Like I was throwing up water on the airplane home thinking, okay, this is getting bad. I don't know what to do here. So yeah, it was crazy.

Dude, that's insane. I know. It's also funny that you call your kids monkeys. My wife and I call our kids monkeys too. Nice. Hey monkey. Hey monkey. That's funny.

But dude, my God, you're like a cat. They're like nine lives. So what was that like that moment? Because dude, like I can imagine sitting there in that hospital, listening to that doctor. And it's like you have a 40% chance of living and you have seven children. children. What thoughts go through your head at that point? I'm like, I'm not dying. I did just Clyde K2 to come here and die from some donkey sneeze. So come up with a better story than that.

That's badass, dude. That's badass. When he said that, though, did you feel like, oh, no? Or like, yeah, dude, you clearly don't know me. Yeah, I was like, okay, whatever. Give me the damn medicine. Let's go. Like, I, that, I mean, the closest I've been to dying was the car accident, for sure. So this was like, no, this doesn't feel like dying. This feels like dying. This feels like death, but it doesn't, I'm not dead. Dude, it's so important because, like, your mindset is so tough, right? A lot of people would hear that news, like, oh, my God, I can't die. I have my kids.

And they would go through that, that moment of accepting the fact that they're probably not going to live. That response to your brain and your body is a huge deal at that point in time. To be able to go back out and say, yeah, dude, you don't know me. Give me the medicine. I'm fine. like that tells your whole system tells everything about you like jin you ain't you ain't gonna die you ain't gonna die you know like but but i but i really but i truly believe in that right like like

i sit here all the time and i think like you know that moment that moment of truth like i don't want something that i do on a daily basis to contribute to my downfall because of my children so always tell myself like when I'm when I feel like I'm getting sick you ain't getting sick yeah I don't want to hear that so I was in Pittsburgh they texted you right I was like hey we got to move this thing um and Wednesday I felt tired I felt hung over and I didn't drink on Tuesday I just I wasn't drinking I just felt like okay what's going on with my body and I woke up Thursday still in that like haze like that just hungover feeling and I'm like I think I'm getting sick I go come to think of it the dude that was here earlier they had to send him home because he had COVID and he was at my table

I probably have COVID guess what I ended up getting COVID COVID COVID COVID you have many times my kids have had COVID and I've been around and my wife's like hey be careful I'm like I can get in this shit I'm not getting it but like that moment where you have that lack of sleep my nutrition's off I'm not moving my body as much. I'm stuck in a hotel in a room. And then, boom, the moment you accept that defeat, your body's like, okay, cool, let it, let it take over. And I ended up and I was, I was really sick until probably three days ago. Wow.

It hit me that. It hit me for a whole, for a good week. I've never, I, the other one time I had it and it was just like, okay, I'm just tired. Yeah. But this time, it, it owned. me, but I let it. I let it, you know. So kudos to you for, you know, being told it you're probably not going to live. And you're like, yeah, dude, you don't know me. It's amazing. But no, it's good. I mean, listen, I mean, I think that's one of the things, too, because we're parents. And I think

the biggest gift we can give our kids is the sense of security. And I can just imagine how secure your kids feel in your presence because of everything you've accomplished, the odds you've overcome with the car accident and then getting sneezed on by a donkey and getting anthraxed. I mean, it's funny, but it's not. It's like, like really you can't make this stuff up. Like you can't make this stuff up. I'm like, dude, like don't go back there ever again. Yeah, God Almighty. So what else is going on? We're going to land the plane here in a little bit. But like, what else do you have going on? I want my audience to be able to connect with you. You know, I'll put your your book link in the show notes so they can they can go and pre-order that but you know talk to us a little bit more

how they can be involved with you and see what you're doing on a daily basis and learn from you yeah yeah so you can check out my website gen drummond dot com which you'll have my social channels that you can reach out please say hello and connect um i do have this fun thing so if you text the word everest to the number 33 seven seven seven so those three sevens um you'll get a video of the Milky Way going over Everest Space Camp. And I keep this on my phone. Anytime that I'm feeling overwhelmed or exhausted or just feel like, I watch that video and I remind myself like, okay, really?

Like, we are so insignificant. This is like crazy. Like how magical this world is. Get out of your head and start living. And so I'm going to share that with all of you if you text the word Averis to 33-7-77. I'm going to do it as soon as I get off of, All right, perfect. This is awesome. Well, Janae, listen, once again, I appreciate you so much.

And, you know, you've given a ton of value to the audience today. And just hearing your story, I know is going to be the jump off for a lot of people's lives to understand that, hey, whatever adversities and obstacles are facing right now, it's okay. It's okay to be where you're at. Be humble, but also move in spite of it and attack your life and attack your dreams. And don't be thrown off by the acclimatization. How do I say it? Acclimatization. Acclimatizing. Acclimatizing. I'll get it, y'all, acclimatizing. So, Jen, thank you again so much. And it's been a pleasure. And I can't wait to see more from you and see what other crazy things that you do with these mountains and foreign countries and fun stuff. So much love.

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