Mountains

Many of you know that I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro earlier this year. 

What you may NOT know is that I found a new hobby and passion as I took on the training for Kili. I truly enjoy the challenge and beauty of climbing mountains. Let me be clear though, I’m not planning to summit Mt. Everest or K2 any time soon (if ever)!

My most recent climb was Mt. Washington. Mt. Washington is the highest peak in the Northeast United States at 6288 feet and my son tells me it is one of the most dangerous “small mountains” in the world (he told me this the day before I was climbing!).

This new found hobby has taught me a few important lessons that I believe pertain to life in general, but specifically to the transition to biotech/pharma:

• TRY – I researched Mt. Washington prior to carpooling with my friend the 3 hour drive to the trailhead, but no amount of research prepares you for exactly what you will experience on the trail. One can sit back and let fear keep us from trying OR we can decide to try despite not knowing everything. This pertains to many things in life and certainly is relevant to deciding to make a career transition. 
• Sometimes it HURTS – on the descent of Mt. Washington a previous right knee injury resulted in my left knee taking the brunt of the rocky decline. The hike down is about 3 hours and the pain continued to increase to the point of obvious limping at the end of the trail. I had no choice but to keep trekking. In transitioning your career, it HURTS. Rejections, lack of responses, and the bruised ego (just like my bruised knee) require you to make a choice to keep going!

“You have to be willing to try and that means you might fail” ~~Reinhold Messner

(Reinhold Messner is the first person to ever summit 

all 14 of the 8,000 meter peaks in the world)

Ready to make a career transition to pharma/biotech… want to explore a way to use your medical training and knowledge in a fulfilling way without nights and weekends call or charting. Watch this webinar on Getting Past the Three Major Hurdles to a Career in the Pharma Industry HERE.