Have you ever pushed so hard through a business challenge that you never stopped to ask if you were even going in the right direction?
A few years ago, I found myself on the side of a frozen mountain in Norway — completely out of my depth, soaked through, and facing a decision I did not see coming. What happened up there completely reframed the way I think about strategy, exhaustion, and what it actually means to build something sustainable.
This is that story. And it’s also the start of something new. Welcome to Season 4 of Bold Women in Business.
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The Hike I Did Not See Coming
I tend to live like I’m invincible. Throw any challenge my way, and I’m most likely going to jump in feet first… even when that’s not always the best idea. So when the opportunity to do an epic, Instagram-worthy hike in Norway came up, I said yes immediately. No questions, no research, no hesitation.
What I didn’t know was that this wasn’t some scenic stroll with a cute view at the end. It was a 17-mile endurance test, including mountain biking, rock scrambling, and via ferrata (a type of climbing). In winter. On a mountain. Doing things I’d never done before. With weather that had absolutely no interest in cooperating.
We started with a full group, and despite the cold, the energy was high. Then, the freezing rain started, which soon turned into a blizzard. And one by one, people started dropping. It felt like something straight out of The Hunger Games, as the group got smaller, and smaller, and smaller.
But I kept going. Of course I did — I’m invincible, after all, aren’t I? (Narrator: She is not).
Clinging to the Mountain With Frozen Fingers
At a certain point, “hiking” stopped being the right word for what we were doing up there. My fingers were frozen solid. My legs were burning. The visibility was almost non-existent. And the only thing keeping me moving was the mantra I kept repeating to myself, over and over: “You can do this. You can do hard things.”
I have a feeling you may know that headspace intimately. You get to this place where you are so deep in the effort that stopping feels like failure, even when every part of you is screaming to reassess. That’s a very specific kind of stubbornness, and in business, we tend to wear it like a badge of honor.
We call it resilience. We call it grit. We post about it. And, don’t get me wrong, sometimes it is those things. But often, it’s just burnout and exhaustion with better branding.
The Hardest Turn
We wound up turning back a quarter of the way up the via ferrata portion of this trek. We didn’t even make it to the halfway point before our guide made the call to turn our group around.
I won’t pretend that felt good in the moment. My ego was raging, and I was overcome with a type of grief — this strange mourning for the summit I had convinced myself I was going to reach. The trek down was uncomfortable in so many more ways than just the weather.
Once we were back in the cozy comfort of our Airbnb, along with our bruised egos and shins, it became so crystal clear to me: turning back was the right call. It was really the only call that would lead to our self-preservation.
That’s the part we don’t like to admit when we’re in the grips of a decision we should clearly turn back on. There’s an ego death that comes with choosing wisdom over willpower. On the other side of it, you realize you made exactly the right move.
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White-Knuckling Your Marketing
Alright, let’s zoom out from the mountain to your business.
So many women I talk to are white-knuckling their marketing right now. They’re exhausted but they can’t get out of their own way because stopping feels like quitting, and quitting feels like failure. They’re posting every day, showing up everywhere, stretching themselves across every platform, running on fumes and calling it hustle.
The question I want you to sit with is this: what if the mountain you’re climbing isn’t even the right mountain?
Because the exhaustion you’re feeling isn’t always a sign to push harder. Sometimes — a lot of times — it’s a signal to stop and reassess the strategy entirely. To ask whether all that effort is pointed in a direction that actually leads somewhere you want to go.
The Thousand Tiny Decisions Trap
One of the biggest energy leaks I see in women-owned businesses is what I call the Thousand Tiny Decisions trap. Social media — especially when you’re trying to wing it every single day — is a relentless drain on your decision-making capacity.
What do I post today? What’s the hook? Which platform? What format? Should I do a reel or a carousel? Is this even relevant right now?
That’s not a content strategy. That’s a daily sprint with no finish line, and it will hollow you out.
The shift that changes everything is moving away from reactive content and into big-picture strategy. When you have a clear content plan that’s built around your actual goals and your natural strengths, you stop bleeding energy on a hundred micro-decisions every morning. Instead, you invest that energy into things that compound over time.
The Long Game Is Real
The whole concept of overnight success is a myth. You already know that, but sometimes you still need to hear it said out loud.
Building a real business with a deeply engaged audience, genuine trust, and sustainable revenue takes time. It takes consistency and showing up for the people who are already paying attention, even when the numbers feel small and the growth feels slow.
A small audience that really trusts you is worth so much more than a massive following that barely registers your name. That trust is what converts, and it’s built on content that feels like something people look forward to, instead of scroll past.
The summit isn’t always what you think it is. Sometimes the real win is building the kind of foundation that lets you come back stronger, smarter, and with a much better plan for the climb.
Ready to Stop White-Knuckling It?
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