Climbing Hills

This whole “starting a business” thing has been more humbling than I expected.

The other day, I was trying to explain to my friend Jill what it’s felt like, and the only way I could describe it was this: every day, I wake up and climb a hill. I get to the top, pause for a moment, and then somehow find myself back at the bottom of another one.

And because of that, it doesn’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. It doesn’t feel like standing on a mountain peak, thinking I made it. It feels more like I’m constantly starting over, again and again, never quite arriving.

But recently, I paused and looked back, and something shifted.

I realised that while I might not be standing on a mountain, I’ve crossed a surprising number of hills, ones that not so long ago felt completely out of reach. Things that once seemed complicated or overwhelming have become things I just… do.

None of them felt particularly big at the time, but somehow, without really noticing, they’ve moved me forward.

Progress doesn’t always feel like progress when you’re in it. It can feel messy and uncertain, like you’re piecing things together as you go. But when you zoom out, you realise that momentum has been building all along, hill by hill.

It reminded me of how it felt the first time I slept under the stars on the Pacific Crest Trail, lying in the dark, wondering how on earth I’d made it there. The truth is, I’d gotten there through a series of small decisions that didn’t seem like much at the time.

Until, eventually, they were.

That’s why I’ve created Under the Stars. A space where those small shifts can happen, where something that feels just beyond your comfort zone becomes something you just do.

Confidence isn’t built by reaching the top of a peak. It’s built from all the hills you climbed to get there.