The conventional wisdom behind being mentally strong and confident is to quash all negative thoughts and emotions. Doubt, fear, and discomfort are considered signs of weakness and should be “conquered”. As a professional rock climber and mountain adventurer for the last 22 years, I’m presenting an alternative approach to such feelings. Beating them and/or pretending they don’t exist doesn’t work. Emily Harrington is a professional rock climber, skier, and adventurer who has traveled the world for over 2 decades exploring remote places, climbing some of the most difficult rock faces and summitting, and skiing down the highest peaks in the world. In competition she is a 5x US National Championship and 2x North American Champion. After a decade of success in climbing competitions at the highest level, Emily’s adventurous spirit has led her to blaze new trails in the mountains, notching first female ascents on some of the hardest technical routes around the globe, free climbing big walls, and summitting the world’s tallest peaks. Emily has climbed everything from Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan, a 3200ft granite face and arguably one of the most famous rock faces in the world, as well as summitted Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak This talk was given at a TEDx Lake Tahoe event.