Todays episode is a truly inspiring conversation about conquering seemingly impossible physical challenges no matter how hold you are.  

My guest is Dierdre Wolownick,  a accomplished musician, linguist,  inspirational speaker and author,  who also happens to the be mother of Alex Honold, featured  in the documentary Free Solo for his death defying rock climbing without using ropes. Dierdre started running marathons at 55, started rock climbing at 58 and at the age of 66 conquered the 3,000-foot-high rock face, El Capitan, in Yosemite National park. Not only did she accomplish this incredible feat she did it in record time.

Dierdre and I chat about her climbing journey and what it takes mentality and physically to accomplish such an incredible physical challenge. We discuss the role of courage, not being afraid to learn, how to manage the unknown an so much more.  What I loved bout this conversation is that the tips and strategies that Dierdre shares are so relevant and applicable to just about any ‘out of your comfort zone’ pursuit.

I don’t see scaling rock faces anywhere in my near future but I walked away from this conversation with so many great insights and lessons that I will be applying to many things in my own life.   I hope you enjoy this conversation as much I did.

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Dierdre Wolonick is a professor of languages and has taught five foreign languages on three continents for 44 years. Her writing in books & magazines world-wide has won awards, and her independent publishing company produced several award-winners and international best sellers.  

As a musician all her life, Dierdre founded and conducted the West Sacramento Community Orchestra, and plays in many community orchestras and smaller ensembles on flute, clarinet or piano / keyboard.  She just returned from a 3-country speaking tour in Europe, and in later 2023, the documentary about her life, “Climbing Into Life,” will be available at film festivals across the country.

Blog/Web page: dierdrew.us.      

Instagram: dierdre_wolownick_honnold

FB: dierdre wolownick-honnold

Documentary:  https://www.facebook.com/climbingintolife/

https://www.instagram.com/climbing_into_life/