Today is a very big day for three special people. Two years ago today, Spencer West and his two best friends, David and Alex made it to summit of Mount Kilamanjaro. It was a moment that inspired me and thousands of people to realize that we all can Redefine Possible.
The whole idea of the “Redefine Possible” was to show that challenges and obstacles are real and sometimes seem so big that we want to say “I can’t”. Spencer climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro ON HIS HANDS. Spencer showed us all that “There is no can’t. No won’t. Only How.”
I met Spencer when I went to my first We Day in Waterloo in 2012. I was invited to come the rehearsals and I got to interview speakers and performers for my blog. One of those interviews was with Spencer. I remember being so nervous. I had read his book, Standing Tall, I had been so inspired by Redefine Your Possible and had followed his journey to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The moment I met him though, all my nervousness went away and we sat and talked about what mattered to us. I asked Spencer “who inspires You”. His answer? “You do, Hannah. Students like you. Who work so hard everyday to bring the world a message of hope and bring the idea that we not powerless to make change. It doesn’t matter how old we are or where we come from.” That is just one of the things that makes Spencer so special. He really does care and he really does see what we all are working to achieve. So, while we are all inspired by Spencer, we inspire him too.
Spencer’s motto, No Can’t, No Won’t, Only How is such an inspiration and I live by it. I watched as Spencer made it to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with his two best friends – David and Alex. Along the way up the mountain, each of them had moments where they thought, “ I cannot make it. I can’t go any higher.” It was harder than they had ever imagined. Along the journey, Spencer’s hands were hurting because he had been walking on them so much, so David and Alex carried him on his back. As they climbed higher, David and Alex both began to get sick from the altitude changes and Spencer talks about this moment often. As his support system fell to their knees, he says it is the only time in his life that he wished that he had legs so that he could carry his best friends. Instead he encouragement his friends through words and told them, “This journey started with the three of us, and it is going to end with the three of us.” As each one of them faced obstacles, they encouraged each other to keep going. They leaned on each other. They helped each other.
This is a key learning for any change-maker. This is such an important piece of advice to me – you don’t need to do it alone. Find your community. Seek support. Do it together with your friends. He climbed Mount Kilamanjaro and walked from Edmonton to Calgary with his friends and it made it more fun, but also more meaningful. I am so proud and honoured to be one of the friends that was with Spencer on his recent adventure – The We Create Change Tour. We just came home from our 10 week tour across Canada and Spencer became like a big brother to me. We played games on our tour bus, danced backstage and laughed a lot. What he did for David and Alex, he did for me too – he supported me and encouraged me everyday.
I’m not sure how you congratulate someone on an anniversary of something so awesome. But to David, Alex and Spencer, I hope that you are celebrating together tonight.
To end this post, here is a video of Spencer speaking at We Day and talking about what Redefine Possible means to him.
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