Josh Trent’s solo Wellness Force episode recounts an eight-day trip in the Eastern Sierra where, on the Mount Whitney trail at about 12,000 ft, he experienced acute mountain sickness and a near-death episode. He describes deciding at roughly 12:31 a.m. to descend rather than summit, credits listening to his body with saving his life, and reflects on that experience as a metaphor for "climbing your personal mountain": choosing self-care over pride, applying lessons from hardship, and taking small actionable steps toward growth. He also references past near-death experience earlier that year and mentions sponsor changes (Intelliskin → Organifi) as part of professional stresses.
Questions this video answers
Eight days.
About 12,000 ft.
The Mount Whitney trail.
Acute mountain sickness.
About 12:31 a.m.
Chapters
Hey, what's up? It's Josh Trent. This is Wellness Force. This is a special solo cast show. Today it's just me and you. I'm going to talk with you about things that we are both dealing with in life and they really relate to us climbing our own mountain. This past week, eight days, I got to hang out in the Sierra Nevadas with four of my really great men couple from men's group and I wanted to share my experience because I think you can really relate to this. Now this is not necessarily easy for me to share, but I really am feeling the deep calling today and it's about us climbing our own unique individual mountain. I spent eight days in the Eastern Sierras. I originally went out there for nature therapy, you know, hiking, movement, connecting with friends. But I wound up almost dying. And at the time, even though it felt like dying, which I'll talk about here, but it really allowed me to feel this gift of, of the polarizing contrast that all of us are going to die one day. And that's the ultimate truth. We're all going to wherever it is we go, that outer realm, that other dimension, that other place when we leave this existence in our meat suits. And that's what I felt at 12,000ft. This was actually the second time this year I was gifted with a near death experience. First time was from some of the podcasts that I recorded I shared from Rythmia. But this time it happened on the Mount Whitney trail. So it was crazy. It was like a full moon at night. We had hiked up there, I was trying to sleep and I was on the cold gravel in a little small tent in the Mount Whitney trail camp. And all of a sudden I felt my heart pounding fast. And it's 30 degrees outside and I'm in this little bivy sack in this mummy bag and I felt like I couldn't breathe. So I got out of the tent. I tried to calm myself down. After like 45 minutes of walking around, sucking oxygen from a canister from my friend Sean and just trying to calm my nervous system, telling myself positive affirmations, I finally got to accept really what was happening. The truth was I had acute mountain sickness. So I made the call at the middle of the night at 12:31 o', clock, I turned to my friend and I said, it's time to go. And this is where most of us really struggle. It's making the choice when our life is on the line. Eating like our life depends on it, working out like our life depends on it, or in My case, making the decision at 12,000ft with altitude sickness like my life depended on it. And I gave myself permission to just choose to say, you know what? I am going to take care of myself in this moment. I am not going to try to summit this mountain. I am not going to try to have some kind of, like, pin strapped on my shoulder that I made it to the top. I get to give myself permission to go down. So my friend and I put on headlamps. I was hallucinating. I walked down the mountain so I wouldn't die. So I recovered and I slept. And now I get to talk to you, thanks to my decision to listen to my body. This survival brain that we talked about last week with David Zapposzowdi, yes, it does keep us alive. So we get to love it and cherish it, but it's not always directing our most powerful self in this world, in this modern world where we have choice and where we get to express ourselves. And it was this. Honestly, climbing of the mountain. I mean, this was the hardest thing, you know, to choose to climb the mountain, to put myself in this situation where I was six, seven weeks ago blown out my calf muscle and then three weeks ago in the emergency room with hand, foot and mouth disease. Like, this was so real for me to be able to claim my physical self again and say, you know what, universe? I'm back. I'm going to summit the highest mountain in the contiguous United States, and I'm going to do it. Just three weeks after being in the emergency room, well, I met my limit. And I believe that the universe is giving myself and it's giving all of us signs, guideposts from God or higher power, however you want to describe it, we're always getting guideposts as to what's going to be the choice that we can make from a place of love and trust in ourselves and honoring ourselves. But the survival brain, our ego, it has a different story and it's not always aligned with what is best for us. So this week from this solo cast, I just wanted to check in with you to say, I'm so grateful. I'm so, so grateful to be alive, to. To be able to still do this podcast, to connect with you. And I wanna give you a space here to breathe with me. As you know, from the beginning, we've always been on this journey together for the physical and emotional intelligence. So this is the opportunity, if you've been waiting for a sign in your life, to pay attention, like, this is it. This is where from today forward, you get to take a deep inventory of truly what's going on for you now. For me, in the creation process of Wellness Forest and everything that we're doing. My climbing of my mountain, just like your climbing of your mountain has not been easy, there have been many trails that have led me to places of being stressed about finances and worrying, am I going to lose the business or is this podcast going to lose its sponsorship? We had intelliskin for a long time, but intelliskin chose to go a different route. Now we have organifi and all these things where at the bottom of it all, I really just want exactly what you want. I want to have meaningful conversations. I want to direct our social narrative to where I believe the most change can be felt in this world. I want to make a difference in the lives of everyone that tunes into the show. And this podcast has been and always will be a way for me to step into the best version of myself, the one that operates from love, the one that chooses to climb the mountain regardless of fear and actually in the face of fear. Because what I've learned recently and how I think this relates to you and your wellness and the climbing of your mountain this week, starting today, is that we can't necessarily expect things to be easier. What I found, especially from these two near death experiences this week, is that it's not in the easiness of life that we really find our strength. It's when life continues to put lessons in front of us that we realize how strong we truly are. And that's what I'm feeling today. That's why I wanted to jump on and share with you for just this quick moment together. Your day is going to be filled with distraction. It's going to be filled with stress and traffic and bills and responsibilities and all these things and really our job. And I feel like the whole ethos and the crux of wellness, the true intelligence, which if you look at the definition of intelligence, it's our ability to both gather and apply intelligence. Apply the information that we've learned. That's intelligence. The whole point I'm trying to make is that when we're clear about what our mountain is, then all we do is just gather the strength to climb it. And along the way it might feel, sometimes it might feel like we're dying. There might be a mountain that you're climbing in your life and you might actually feel at certain times while you're climbing it that you're going to die. And like, that's okay. I want to give you permission to climb it anyways, you're not going to die. All you get to do is put one step in front of the other, do the next best thing, take that one step in your life today, whether it's choosing one healthy meal, going for one walk, calling one person that you care about, or even having one conversation about shame, because shame can't live in the light. And really the darkness. And the metaphor here is, I was in the dark, trying to figure out, should I go down the mountain? Should I listen to my pride and go up the mountain, even though I felt sick, even though I was hallucinating, the metaphor is, everyone's got their own mountain, and the mountain is going to have some darkness and it's going to have some challenges. But you know what? That's when we feel most alive, isn't it? That's what this world is missing right now. That's what our humanity is missing, is the feeling of being alive. This cubicle, cookie cutter, riding in a car so you can sit when you get home and eat a TV dinner and watch TV so you can be a boob tube that the tube you're watching you says you should be. All of that's bullshit. And I think you know this because that's why you listen to Wellness Force, because you have a passion and a love and a hunger for the truth. And so if anything that you felt from this quick solo cast today hits you the most, I want it to be this. Climb your damn mountain. Whatever that mountain is like, just climb the damn thing. Doesn't matter if it's being a great mom or a great dad or a great pillar in your community or launching your own podcast or taking lessons that you get from a book and then being a powerful human in a day. Just today, promise yourself that you will take the breath even in the face of fear and climb your damn mountain. So if anything, do this one thing today. Write me joshellnessforce on Social wellnessforce everywhere. Let me know what your mountain was. Did you climb your mountain today? Did you choose to climb your mountain and share it with our community? We're going to be having more of these rich conversations, more of these weekly unplugged. This is no edits. I'm not doing anything. I'm just coming straight at you in the moment with what I'm feeling and trusting that I know what I'm feeling and the universal struggles that I'm experiencing, the same ones you are, too, because we're just human beings walking this wellness journey together. So I'll see you soon. And I'm wishing you love and wellness.
