Finding Your Summit

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. That has never been more true than when Sparsh Shah looked into his parents’ eyes and told them not to worry or give up on him. He was told he was going to die, but knew he was meant to do something amazing in this world. Sparsh was born with 30 to 40 fractures. He has a medical condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, an incurable genetic-borne disorder which causes a person’s bones to be extremely fragile. He’s had over 130 plus fractures in all of his fourteen years of life. Sparsh's bones may be breaking but his spirit isn’t. Combining Indian classical music with rap has been his motivation to keep going. Sparsh shares how he merged the two cultures and how it has been an amazing journey so far.

Glenn Derby was an NFL football player who had all the money and popularity before everything around him crashed down. Glenn was battling with alcohol and medication, and struggled with finding purpose and happiness. His alcohol addiction started at the young age of thirteen, influenced by his parents being party coordinators at the time. He got dependent on pain medication when he was taking them to relieve pain from football injuries. When he finally admitted his dependency problem, he started getting treatment where he met a guy who asked him if he wanted to coach a football camp. He’s earning way less than his football stint paycheck but he’s now helping kids and is the happiest he’s ever been in his whole entire life. Glenn realized that finding purpose and meaning helped break every cycle of addiction in his life. He shares that once you find your purpose, it's so much easier to not have that desire or need to have drugs and alcohol.

Most men think they are the toughest person in the world, until a life threatening sickness takes over their life and body. After getting kicked out of his own Hollywood Studio and winning the legal battle that lasted for four years, Lee Tomlinson was diagnosed with stage three throat cancer. He was never a quitter, but the trials of battling cancer had him contemplating taking his own life to ease the burden of his suffering family. But perseverance paid off. Now Lee is able to share his story of obstacles and celebrations and how he was able to conquer his fear and jump out of a plane at 13,000 ft.

Pirie Jones Grossman looks like she has it all together. She’s a successful personal coach and works on helping people make their lives better. Unbeknownst to many, she had to overcome a fair amount of trials and soul searching. At 39, she couldn’t have kids, she got divorced from a well-known Hollywood director, and suffered an emotional breakdown. Being in the movie and film business, her identity revolved around projecting herself on camera and obsessing about the perfect body, the perfect face, and the perfect hair. Over the years, she put on layers of inauthenticity until she lost her identity. Pirie talks about rising from the ashes, facing her true self, taking back the throne to her life, and helping others do the same through soul-centered life coaching.

Pete Turner, American War Hero, talks about his experiences during his tour of duty in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He specialized in going into conflict zones out into the towns and finding people that will provide valuable and classified information. Pete had had to reinvent himself a couple of times to stay focused and continue to function as he throws himself in the middle of war-torn areas, as well as with his re-immersion back home and coming to terms with life issues. Surviving that period of his life has helped him to figure out and value what matters most.

Overcoming a lot of struggles in life will lead to finding greatness and great happiness. But a lot of us still ask, “How do I get there?” Happiness Coach, Betsy Pake’s answer to moving forward is to stop getting caught in the parts of our lives that have no light or joy. Betsy lived a great life because she had an awesome mom. When she lost her light and joy to a car accident, she went through the motions of living almost mechanically. She shares her stories of going from “What am I doing here?” to “There is something more for me.”

Climbing mountains is an incredible feat that takes incredible people with incredible goals. Ed Viesturs is one of these people who has climbed fourteen 8,000 meter peaks. It took him 18 years to get to all those summits and 21 attempts. From all these climbs he learned a lot of things from guys who were above him, and these guys learned from guys above them. One of these life lesson essential to reaching impossible goals is tempering ambition. It’s an 8,000 meter climb, but when you get to the 5,000 mark you need to think where motivation has taken you so far. At this point you should ask if it’s okay to turn around and try again when it’s safer. Ed shares his wisdom and experiences as a Mount Rainier guide who breaks down goals to keep moving and get to the top.

There is no expiration date to do the great things we can do in our lives. The first step is to have a goal and work hard to achieve that goal. Mike Vowels has been hitting all his goals since he was nineteen, driving a Porsche 914 after winning one ski tournament after another. But it was clear to him that he would not be an acrobat skier forever, so when it was his time to step away he graciously did so. But skiing was part of his life, even when he hit a tree in 1985 that got him paralyzed the waist down. He didn’t throw in the towel and instead started inspiring people with his life’s journey, until one day these people that he inspired returned the favor and inspired him to go back to the hill and ski once more. Mike shares his skier’s journey and his return to paradise.

Football will always have bigger, stronger and faster guys. But this didn’t bother Steve Largent who is 5’ 11.5”, he had a job to do for his team and he did it. The only thing that was on his mind when he went out to a game was that he could catch everything that was thrown at him. But like most players of the sport, Steve experienced the bitterness of being cut from a team. But this wasn’t a setback to him, rather another opportunity to be better. Now Steve is an NFL Hall of Famer with a proud 14-year career. He shares stories of his beginnings and the people in his village that helped get to where he is now.

The judges of America’s Got Talent could have never known that a beautiful voice could come from a young lady who couldn’t hear. Born with connective tissue disorder that affected joints and ligaments, Mandy Harvey got sick a lot of times and then finally lost her ability to hear. She describes the experience as falling down to a dark well and staying at the bottom for a long time, until she made the decision to start climbing up the walls. She wanted to do more in her life other than just give up. Mandy shares her audition song “Try”to show how a deaf singer was able to conquer the hearts of America.