#StretchYourself
As you know, we like to tag all our photos, posts (basically everything that has a Gym+Coffee logo) with the hashtag - #StretchYourself. It is a a call to action for our community. A gentle push to go a little bit further. In the past two years we have seen the power of that one little directive.
With Hoodies in the Wild we have been blown away by the inspiration. We get tagged in dozens of photos each week with people stretching themselves that little bit. Heading off on some awesome adventures both at home and abroad. Sometimes we even get to chat with them and hear their stories.
We felt so guilty at getting to keep all of this inspiration to ourselves that we decided to feature the people behind the snaps. Already we’ve seen the magic of stretching yourself with Suzanne in the Bali Balance and how exciting life can be if you seek out a little adventure.
Recently one of our Midnight Navy Hoodies made it to Mount Kilimanjaro on the back of friend of G+C - Jasmin. We caught up with her to find out what brought her to Tanzania all on her own.
“Well I had decided to change my job and wanted to finish the chapter of my previous job with an adventure/challenge. I wanted to get away and properly start a new life chapter when I got back. Mt Kilimanjaro seemed the perfect solution for it.”
How Did It Go?
“Great! I enjoyed every single bit of it. Well maybe apart from a tough summit day”.
This summit day was in fact a seven hour hike from 4600 metres up to 5895 metres. To top it all off, it was in the middle of the night, with a healthy dose of altitude sickness thrown in.
The climb definitely took its toll on Jasmin but according to her, it was all part of the adventure.
“I’d never been so high up a mountain before. At the time I remember thinking that I’ve never wanted something to be finished so much in my life. It was a real adventure. I was way out of my comfort zone and challenged throughout the whole trip".
Have you done anything like this in the past and how did Mount Kilimanjaro compare?
“I would have gone through mentally challenging moments before but nothing this extreme. There have definitely been a few challenges that I thought were tough at the time. Looking back at them now, with the Mount Kilimanjaro climb done, everything else feels like a piece of cake.”
And the hardest part..
“Mornings with only INSTANT coffee!”
Sounds pretty bleak.
We were very inspired by Jasmin’s adventure. We love the idea of bookending a chapter of your life with a physical challenge. There is something really symbolic about it. To make it all the more impressive, she headed over there completely on her own with only the Sherpas to guide her. We almost feel guilty for making excuses about anything ever.
One of the reasons Jasmin’s adventure struck a chord was that it seemed like the ultimate way to #StretchYourself. We asked Jasmin if that was part of her reasoning for heading to the mountains.
“Yes, I love to challenge myself and set myself goals. It is an important part of life. It keeps me motivated and it makes me stronger. I want to find out what my limits are both physically and mentally and how far I can push them. I am continuously looking out for things I have never tried before.”
Listening to Jasmin’s story we couldn’t help but feel 90% inspired and 10% guilty at not pushing ourselves more. Of course, just to make ourselves feel a little bit more ashamed of our laziness, we asked Jasmin the obvious question...
Any more big challenges on the horizon?
“Well, yeah. I have signed up for an Ultramarathon next April.”
That’s it, we are officially back in training, it’s time to stretch ourselves.
Thanks for the little kick we needed Jasmin. I hope her story has inspired everyone as much as it has us.
