WHAT MY 3 YEAR OLD DAUGTHER TAUGHT ME ABOUT SLOWING DOWN

On 29th May 1953, Tenzing Norgay became one of the first two people to reach the Summit of Mount Everest; alongside him was Sir Edmund Hillary. 

Late Mr. Tenzing Norgay’s son, Mr. Jamling Tenzing Norgay followed his father’s footsteps and climbed Mt. Everest in 1996, an experience well documented in the 1998 IMAX film, Everest. Later in 2002, he along with Peter Hillary, son of Edmund Hillary commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first Mt. Everest ascend by climbing the majestic mountain side by side.

I was lucky to have Mr. Jamling onboard to lead an expedition to Mount Sandakphu (3636 m) in March 2021. I had planned this under my brand, Travel with Meraqee in collaboration with Winners & Achievers. 

We had two of the greatest mountaineers leading our way; Mr. Jamling Tenzing Norgay himself and Mr. Satyarup Siddhanta, a Guinness Book of World Records holder for being the youngest climber in the world to climb both 7 Summits and 7 Volcanic Summits of the world.

Unlike originally planned, this expedition soon took the shape of a family trek. In the end, we had 9 adults and 9 children joining for the challenging climb, some known and some unknown. During our course of deliberations, I and my wife thought that we should give both our daughters a chance too. At the time, my youngest, Avyana was less than 4 years old (3 years, 11 months and 10 days, to be precise) and was jubilant to be part of an adventure, not quite aware of the challenges of the five day trek.

As parents, it was a big call for us to expose the kids to such testing conditions this early. But deep down I was convinced that things would work out just fine; like some magical hand was guiding my decision. Plus, we had the best of support systems in our guides, the Sherpas and a backup of horses, cars etc. We had enough disposable help at any point.

But then I had never trekked with my daughters. I had to make sure that all of us stayed together at all time. Progressing through the days of the trek, the body starts throwing up warning signals. This would definitely put them all under a lot of pressure. 

The last two days were the most challenging; this was when I was trekking next to my daughter alongside Mr. Jamling Tenzing Norgay. During this time, a couple of things I observed left a deep impact on me. They have become some of my best learnings from the trek, and from my daughter. I feel these would be of great help and insight to many of you reading this too. 

I was Avyana’s strength, and she was mine. I really wanted her to finish this. But I wasn’t quite prepared for the way she would accomplish this.

Because such treks are highly taxing on the body, you plan to go through each day slowly. You have to rest your body after covering a certain distance and the pattern continues throughout each day’s trek. It cannot be rushed. Whenever we rested, I noticed Avyana find a spot for herself and start playing with everything she found in the surroundings. While I saw most among us using the gaps to groan over their pains and tending to their aches, Avyana would quickly pick up a twig, a few pellets and start working up shapes in the mud. She would be so involved in these invented games that she wouldn’t even bother to rest her body. She would be drawing circles, trying to break twigs, playing with me, and then when someone said – “Let’s Start”, she would immediately pick herself up.

I told her a lot of stories during the time. Each time we sat down, she looked forward to more stories. I noticed that it was so easy for her to switch on and off.

When she was trekking, she was completely aware of the tough incline and put her best effort in, but as soon as we took a break, she would totally forget all the pains of the trek, and switch to something more cheerful; it was as if she was starting a whole new life, at the switch of a button - stories, games, you name it.

There were many times she would get exhausted and tell me “Papa I want to stop”, but soon she would find her energies back. I found that each time that she stopped, she gave herself the space to detach from the troubles of the moment, transporting to some new zone, and thereby changed the narrative of the story. 

When we are fixated on a problem, or we find ourselves in a situation we don’t have any control or clarity on, it helps to switch our focus to something new

;maybe read a book or indulge in some sport, reach out to a friend who you haven’t met in years or just sit with yourself, write a new narrative. And when you come back to the old challenge, we will have more vigour to deal with it, and maybe even a brand new solution. But if you are stuck with one pain, without switching out of it, it will drain your energies and push you into stress and depression. And it was my little one, Avyana who taught me that! 

When you choose to slow down in your journey, things become so much more beautiful. I was observing every step my daughters, Aveka and Avyana were taking. And yet, I was able to enjoy each moment of the trek. We used to see the mountains, different species of birds and every bit of magic surrounding us, but only because we had slowed down in our journey.

And only because I slowed down, I could observe the beautiful lessons my 3-year-old girl was leaving out for me. Her ability to time travel and switch between worlds was simply eye opening.

Thanks Avyana, for this wonderful lesson on Slowing Down!