Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans, today we have a Special guest called Trevor Stewart.  

Trevor is from Canada and is a very successful real estate agent and also a keynote and motivational speaker. I have him on this show because Trevor has a very inspirational story of fighting against the odds and succeeding in the field that he undertakes. 

He grew up surrounded by domestic violence and experienced a pivotal moment when, as a child, he decided he would live above how he was being raised and accept whatever consequences came with that. That one decision changed everything for him. Choice by his choice and lessened my lesson until one day he felt strong enough to help people living with some of the challenges. He grew up with as a result of these choices, Trevor has experienced a world he never dreamed of.  

He’s climbed major mountains all over the world, including Mount Everest and Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money and awareness for two causes close to his heart. Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and the YWCA. 

He accomplished that despite daunting physical and emotional challenges that seemed determined to thwart him. Trevor’s message is simple. If I can do it, you can do it too. Thanks to a high level of commitment, dogged determination, and perseverance in the face of roadblocks and adversity, Trevor has elevated his life and finally escaped his past. Now he inspires others to answer the call for themselves, and I’m grateful to have him on this show. 

Trevor, are you there? 

I am here.

It’s a complete honor to have you on this show and I’m really excited about this interview.  

So I know that I know that you are a real estate agent and you’ve been a motivational speaker. Can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about yourself, your background, and your story in general? 

It’s a very moving story because when I was born, I was born into a violent family, so I didn’t really feel like I had a chance. And I had been… My parents moved me 26 times by the time I was five years old and… 

26 times?

right. 

So as a child I did not have a chance to really settle and by the time I was nine years old, there was just so much violence in my home. I had decided to sit there one night, I decided, you know, I’ve got to live above this somehow. I got to be able to, you know, I can’t run away, so I’m going to live here, but I’m going to live above it, and I’m going to learn how to be a good citizen and make a life for myself.  

And so it kind of started with a little thing I started called the Happy Surprise Company at nine years old. I went around my community doing anonymous good deeds for people. And I didn’t want them to find out who this was that was doing these things for them, but eventually, they found out, and it became quite a thing, and over the years, especially when I got into real estate, I was really able to give back.

And when I was 44, I finally did open up about how I was raised and what motivated me to become a Big Brother and start climbing for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and why I chose to climb Mount Everest and a bunch of other huge mountains for the YWCA as well. That story just helped elevate lives.  

So, I started my own company called elevatinglives.com and that is phenomenal. That really, really motivated and inspired me as a human to keep doing these things, especially when I see and hear of the change that is happening with the people that hear my talk. 

For one, I go into schools, and I talk to high-risk teens. I talk in schools that are. You know, riddled with gangs and I’m comfortable there. I’m comfortable talking to them and it’s really amazing to see change happening in the audience and in individuals. And not only that but to businesses that have been hit with COVID or maybe they’re being really hit with, like, you know, major losses. They can’t keep their employees. I come in and talk to them and they make a surge for the better. 

And it’s really, really inspiring to see change so fast using metaphors from my climbs and talking about, you know, not giving up. That is so huge because I had the choice to give up, as a kid, right? But I chose to live above it. And so, when people are in hard times, they can also make that choice too. Right? And they never know where that’s going to take them, but it’s definitely not going to take them down if they make a decision to live better, it’s going to take them up. And out of where they’re right now. So personally, spiritually, physically, mentally, you know, all of that. So, it does, it does round out, that’s for sure. 

There are so many questions for me to ask you. I don’t even know where to begin, but I wanted to ask you, like, at what point do you decide that you’re going to climb mountains, including Mount Everest and Kilimanjaro? Like these are like some of the toughest mountains to climb, you know, like, it takes a lot of effort and all of that like. What prompted you to do that? 

Well, it kind of was by accident. It all started with me skating a 50-kilometer skate. It was a marathon race. It all started with that simple decision. It sounds funny. How does a 50-kilometer ice race skate to get you to the top of Mount Everest? But that’s where it started.

And what happened was that 50 kilometers on ice skates are almost unheard of. And the man who had organized this event for years after years had never seen a guy finish the 50-kilometer race in hockey skates, which I did.  

So, he came up to me and he congratulated me, and he gave me this little award for it. And I was like, wow. How did I do that, I was the first, has no one done that? And he goes, yeah, in the history of my organization, you’re the first person. 

So, I got back to the city where I was living at the time. And there was a friend of mine that was sitting on the board for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. And he said, hey, Trev, like, hey, if you can skate 50 kilometers for kids raising money for, — I was raising money helping raise money for funds for building materials for an orphanage in Guatemala. That’s what that skate was all about. — And he said, well, hey, if you could do that for them, can you not climb a mountain for us? 

And I was like, yeah. Well, there are lots of local mountains. I’ll climb a mountain. You guys and after a month of me telling people about it and different realtors, home inspectors, appraisers, people that I’m with, every day, they started giving me, here are 20 bucks. Here are 20 bucks. Here are 20 bucks for the charity. And before long, I had raised, like, 1,200 bucks. And then the Big Brothers phone. And they said come on in and sign a waiver if you don’t even know what mountain you’re climbing yet. And I said you’re right. I don’t want to. Yeah, I’ll be in. 

So I came in. This is funny because I had never been out of the country other than driving in the US, and so North American soil had always been on, but never out of the country. They said, hey, Trev, here’s the mountain, I said. Boy, that’s not around here. What mountain is that? And they’re like, Trev, that’s Kilimanjaro in Africa. I was like. What? OK, well, I Guess I’ve been committed now. 

So that’s how I got into hiking high-altitude mountains. And because I have a crazy fear of heights, I decided to only hike mountains that I could hike and scramble. Instead of climbing straight up because I am terrified of heights. 

So you’re terrified of heights? Let me guess. You’re terrified of heights, and you decide to climb Mount Everest. 

So when I was done all my climbs for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I woke up to a headline in the paper and it said, “Did you know that domestic violence is on the rise? And that 33% of all domestic violence or police calls or domestic violence calls did you know if you’ve been bullied as a child, you’re more likely to be bullied in The workforce”

And I was like what? And then the headline just said. The women’s shelter needs help there. There’s not enough room for all the people that are knocking on the doors, and I was like, oh man this just. Rung home with me.  

So, I was like, what can I do for them that scares the living crap out of me. OK. And that was one of them was heights. I didn’t really like the bitter cold in the elevation, so I thought, well, I’m going to really put myself out there. I’m going to drive down to the YWCA. I’m going to tell them I’m going to climb Everest for them, no matter what it takes. I’ll overcome my fear. I will learn how to climb Ice falls. I’ll learn how to get in all the ice climbing gear. I’ll take lessons and courses. I’ll do whatever and I’ll climb other mountains to qualify. But I’ll do whatever it takes to climb Everest. 

That’s how I got to the top of Mount Everest, the commitment to learn, the commitment to put myself out there totally out of my comfort zone because I don’t like the bitter cold, even though I live in Canada, where it does get minus 50 sometimes. But I don’t like it. I would rather be warm. 

I mean, I’m all the way here in Florida and it’s really warm. And so, I don’t know what minus 50 is like. I wouldn’t survive that. That is insane. 

Oh, you would you, would we have neighbors that are from Nigeria, and they survived, So who are you? You’d survive, too. There are ways like. Yeah, for sure. But it’s terrifying. I’m still not over my fear of heights. But I did train my brain. I trained and trained. And I got over it somewhat. But just. 

I want to ask you how you overcame it, but like I think you mentioned to me at one point that you saved a woman’s life when you were on Mount Everest at the heights. Can you tell the audience a little bit? 

More about that. Yes, I can. Thanks for mentioning that because that’s the actual pinnacle for me, not the summit of Mount Everest, not all the other things. Not all the money I raised for the Charities. But the pinnacle was rescuing this woman and what it was I was standing on the very top of Mount Everest. I was with my guide and my Sherpa, and that’s all that went up there with me. It was just us, us three guys, and the Sherpa was having a really, really, really hard time breathing.  

So, we were worried about him, and all of a sudden, he looked at us at the top and said we got to go. We got to go. So just as we’re heading down over the top. And we’re on the rope and I’m looking back up at him to make sure he’s OK. I looked down, I’m holding on to the rope and I look down and I see just a glove wave. Like it seemed like a weird thing to do, but it was way, way down. Was about 1000 feet below us. 

And I said to my Sherpa, I said, hey, stop a bit, I said. I think I saw a glove wave down there and he goes no one’s, just waving hi. And I said, I don’t know, that’s not really, I don’t think that’s really on the trail, but can we just wait for another second? And then we saw it again, he says. Oh yeah, I see. But he was having a really hard time breathing.  

So, he was our concern at this point and so we were coming down the rope and we were getting them going and We were the first ones to the top. So, what happened was we had to then detach from the line, let other people go, and then reattach as we were going down, there’s only one line, so it took us a while, but once the bodies spaced out more, we got more, faster and faster than we could hear her screaming. 

And it was the same scream that stood my hair on end as a child. It was the same…. My mom screamed that same scream, and I was like, wow, I said, come on, guys, we got to really go here cause and they said, well, you know, our sherpas are, you know, most important right now because he’s having a hard time. And I said Well , I think we can do both. Let’s just go.

We hurried down that rope and we found that she had been. This is really hard to say because it paints a sort of bad picture of some humans. But these two guides tied up this one lady just by putting the rope around and round and round her arm, and then they put a carabiner over top of it. And they threw her over a Cliff, and she was dangling like this. She was dangling with one arm. And then she would kick off the cliff, and then she’d lean way out and wave. And that’s what I saw. Was the wave?

And so we were up on where the rope was. She was dangling over the Cliff, and we went this way… We’re supposed to go this way. And there she was down there. So, I said to my guy, you know what, let’s get to the rescue. And he said, man. He said we aren’t supposed to rescue people above 25,000 feet if we’ve already got someone in trouble. And I said well you guys can go to your thing. I’m going to rescue her. And they said no. We’ll help. We’ll do what we can to help. 

I tried scooting along the Cliff beside her, but I wasn’t tied down, so I had to come back up. It was just way too steep. And then we just literally pulled her up.  

So, all three of us just started pulling on that rope and we pulled her up that Cliff. And she said that she had been there for about 30 minutes. And the storm was coming in and there was a major storm coming in, so she was just screaming and screaming and crying and sobbing. When we got her on our line with us and we got her safe, she could walk. But she had a lot of pain in her arm as the blood started coming back into her fingers and stuff every time her foot went down, she would scream. But what happened was she spoke English, but at the time she did not. And because she was in shock. Right. So, it took me 3 years to find her afterward on Facebook.  

So, I found her, and I inboxed her and I asked her if she was the woman I rescued on Everest and it was a beautiful reunion and a lot of tears and just a lot of questions. You know, I just said how did you do what happened after you got home and all those, all the things that I wanted to ask her. 

But so, from where we found her, she was above Camp 3 on the north side, which is our last camp before the summit. And she was out of sight from the actual peak itself. You had to be certain. Spot to see her. 

And so, my guide said to her in a broken dialect, he said. Tell us which tent you’re in Camp 3 because those men will be the. In that tent because there were others in this group that were ahead of her that they would have to be waiting for.  

So, she pointed out the tent. And that’s when I unleashed myself from the rope I went over, and I hauled them out of their tent and I had words with these men. I said I’ll report you to the Tibetan Mountain police when we get down to base camp. We’re going to make sure that your licenses are taken away. You’ll never, ever climb again or guide you may climb, but never guide. And so, and they were just when they saw her with us, they literally freaked right out. 

Did have did. They have weapons and all of that. 

They did not. No, they did not. But the Tibetan Mountain police, they do disguise themselves as climbers and they will climb on the mountain just to make sure everything’s good. But none of them were there at the time.  

So, it was very, very, very tense, very, very tense. And then you’ll, I think I sent you an e-mail with Nalimov’s response to my elevating lives Facebook page, thanking me for, you know, standing up for her, especially to her abusers on the mountain and what a difference that made to her knowing that somebody cared enough to go out of their way to do this. And the danger of rescuing somebody at that elevation is the air is so thin, the oxygen is so low. And your heart’s pounding already. Just being there. It’s your whole body being ripped apart inside just to survive. And what happened is you, there’s a base camp. They say, hey if you’re above 25,000 feet, you can’t exert any more energy than your own.  

And so, you sign a waiver saying if you are in need of rescue above 25,000 feet, then you are signing a waiver saying that you’re OK to die and in your body to remain there.  

So their guides reminded me of that. And I said it’s OK. We’re, I’m still, I will still do this. I have to. 

So that is really brave of you. That is one of the most courageous, brave stories. I’ve heard actually. 

Well, thank you. It’s it didn’t seem to be much at the time, but you know it, it’s something I think about every single day I think of, you know, human kindness and being kind to people no matter where we are on this planet. You know, you don’t think of it on Everest, but it does happen. When there are humans, there will be, there will be issues at times. So, I’m just trying to elevate my life. That’s it, right? 

There there’s some. Really bad people out there, but there are also people like you as well. You know, there’s goodness and evil side by side, so. 

Wow, that’s crazy. There’s a lot better than people are hearing about, and I just wish everyone had a chance to tell their story and to shed their light because this world is riddled with bad news, especially right now, right? 

I know the media always focuses on the bad news, but you know, there’s stories like this that are literally unreported. They don’t really talk about this as much. 

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. 

But Trevor, there’s one question I wanted to ask, you know, like what? When you’re climbing these mountains, what? About what made you overcome your fear that you know most people cannot overcome their fears. This is one of the extremes because I think if we know the secret sauce, we can apply that to anything, including entrepreneurship and business. What makes you what is that force inside of you that allows you to overcome the fear and like to make yourself do it? 

Wow, that is one powerful question I’ve ever been asked before, but what comes to my mind is I had to do it in little baby steps. I had to do a little bit better every day. I think just you know, I trained sometimes with my eyes closed or blindfolded and I would imagine myself in precarious situations at that time while I was training, and it would just help to calm me down. And I think just by me being very, very, very well trained by the time I went to Mount Everest. I had that confidence. 

So, I think for anyone with a different fear, maybe it’s a fear of drowning or it’s a fear of failure, or it’s whatever your fear is it’s so real like fear is gripping, it’s paralyzing. So, in order to get beyond that, you can’t just sit there and say one day, O.K., my fear is gone without actually doing anything about it. 

So, with myself, it was always baby steps, little by little. As I said before, I would just hike mountains that I felt safe on. Then I got into scrambling and then I would go. OK, I’ll look down. OK, I got to sit down here for a second, but at least I looked down and I got my equilibrium, and I got over my fear. And then I would go again. And then at the bottom, I’d look back… Wow, why did that happen? Right.  

So, I think looking back at a little achievement and really celebrating that really tricks your brain. Do you follow? Do you follow me? Because that’s kind of crazy to think that way, but you have to trick your brain. And for myself. Now I can walk out on a 30-story balcony and look straight down. Whereas before I would, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I would get all queasy and weak-kneed and shaky. And yeah, almost passed out. So little baby steps. 

So, like you’re saying you have to do small incremental steps, and you gotta keep going and you got to trick your brain. So, like a lot of people, they try to do everything at once. Like they are trying to overcome their fear. In one go. So what you’re saying is actually really interesting, don’t do it in one go. You got to break it down. 

different segments and steps and celebrate. Because you’re alive. Maybe you did a little bit better when you face that fear then you did last time and really tell yourself you’re. OK. And go. Wow, I’m actually. I’m actually getting there. I’m getting there. I’m getting there. So honestly, it’s just about. About that being 1% better than you were yesterday. 

No, I totally agree with you. Like, I think there’s a term for it called incremental radiation. Where like you do a little bit. There’s this book. That I read is called a compounding effect. And they exactly tell. What you’re talking about with regards to doing anything you want when you have to be consistent and you have to be disciplined, you got to consistently go there and then that’s how actual change occurs. So, I think you actually did a form of compounding effect, but you didn’t. I don’t think you realize it, yeah. 

Yeah, that’s right. So that’s exactly right. I read the book also years ago and it was very effective. 

Right now, in America. And like all across the world, there’s a lot of domestic violence happening, right? So what would you tell somebody that just came out of domestic violence and like, they want to succeed in life and they want to have great aspirations, but they think that it’s a clutch and then their past is going to affect their future? 

Wow. Well, that’s a good question too, just for the audience’s sake. The domestic violence that I had growing up as a child, had me gripped in terror and fear as a child growing up. Just really quick, just so the audience can understand my level of abuse is … I wrestled the loaded gun out of my father’s hands. He was aiming it out, my mother saying that he was going to kill her. 

And my mother, she had tried many times to commit suicide. I think it was four times and all with overdosing on drugs, which we as children found, rescued her, and took her to the hospital. We were underage to drive. We drove her there like it was it. This is the thing that we grew up with and my own brother tried hanging himself and I climbed the rope and cut it off above his head and fell down with him and took it off his neck. 

So, there was a lot of abuse in my home, and I would go to school, and I was too afraid to invite kids home after school. I would run home from school at lunch to check on my mother to see if she was OK. These are the things that I grew up with and I thought. That there is no hope for me. But when I made a decision to live above it, I thought that the first step is to make a decision that you can be better, that you can do better. 

I didn’t deserve to grow up like that. And my brother didn’t deserve to grow up. Like that and. Abuse is cyclical, so my parents obviously had a lot of abuse when they were growing up and they just didn’t break that chain. They didn’t have the strength or the desire to do it.  

When people are coming out and have got away from domestic violence, your life can really just be getting going and the strength that you have to go forward and to put your mind and heart, and soul into something that you love. You can do it because you are the most powerful survivor on the planet, and you can do it because that’s what I kept telling myself on Everest, wow, you know what… And this is, this is for real and I want to tell the audience really slowly. I said to myself just about every single day. Everest is way easier to climb. Then surviving one day in my home growing up. 

And I kept telling myself that over and over again, and that just fueled my fire. It fueled me to just take another step and go a little bit closer to the top and I think. You know that message would be for those that are just, you know, maybe they’re even in domestic violence and they’ve tried to flee. I tried to flee. I tried running away. I tried all Kinds of things. Once you’re out of that grip and that terror, then just don’t blame yourself. Look for help. Get the right help. Get the right therapy. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. 

Trevor, I mean, I know like there’s like, so many people that survived domestic abuse that has, like, lasting trauma. How would you advise somebody that survived that to, like get out of that cycle in their head and like, move on to a to like to succeed in whatever they’re doing? 

I see you’re good at asking questions. Those are powerful questions. I want to be able to answer that as powerful as that question is. I honestly think that it’s still the baby steps. You can’t decide one day that you’re 100% perfect and that you’re going to go out there, you’re going to get the best career and you’re going to make $1,000,000 a year. 

You feel like that because you’re now liberated from domestic violence. But it’s also wrecked you, as a human, right? A part of you is wrecked. You have to rebuild yourself. You have to get a platform, get free counseling, get counseling, get a therapist, get a good friend that you can lean on someone that’s not going to hurt you or take you for a ride. Honestly, I need to feel like you matter in this world. 

And that’s The thing when you’re abused. I know I didn’t feel like I mattered. I live my life like I didn’t care if I died that day. I didn’t care. Here’s just real quick. My substitute teacher in grade three said. Trevor, what do you want to be by the time you’re 20? And I looked at her and I said, I have no idea. I never even thought of that. I probably won’t be alive by the time I’m 20. 

Wow. 

And she said “what?”  

So, she gave me a little note paper and it said I want you to take this home. I want you to write ten goals that you either want to have achieved or want to have under your belt, by the time you’re 20. And I said, well, this is impossible because my mind doesn’t even go there as a nine-year-old living under severe abuse. You don’t think 20 is way too far? 20 is like 90. 

I brought it home and my mom said, “Well, you got some work to do, so, you know, take some time. So, it took me all summer to write ten goals down and one of them was to be had. That was my goal, to be happy and I just wanted to be happy when I was 20.

I just thought if I make it there, I just want to be happy and I want to be a police officer or an ambulance attendant or a fireman. I put all the things in there. Cared for or rescued people and. It’s really amazing because of the time. I was 18. I was a paid ambulance attendant. I have been a volunteer fireman since I was 15 and I had forgotten about those goals. And on my 20th birthday, on my birthday card were the goals that I had written, and I gave them back to my teacher. But my teacher ended up giving them to my mother.  

So that’s how I got a copy of it. So now I use that in my presentations and out of those 10 things, only eight of them. I have not done it yet. So, it’s very powerful to set goals and make them fun. Make them simple like you just want to be happy and that’s a goal that will start you in the right direction. 

Well, Trevor, one of the reasons I was so interested in having you on the show is because right now all throughout the world, so many people are going through hardships, right, especially a lot of it stems from financial hardship. But like from there? It stems from family troubles and just likes not only that, like national level as well. 

What is the one important lesson you could tell somebody who’s going through a hopeless struggle? Where it’s like complete darkness. In their life, and like they don’t see the end, they don’t see the end of the tunnel. What advice would you give to that person to keep going on and go to the other side? 

Yeah, I’ve been there. I really have. I’ve been there in that dark, dark time and. You know, don’t give up. Like I honestly. That seems really lame to say. Don’t give up because that’s a motivational quote. But seriously, when you’re in that moment of extreme darkness where all you can think about is your life is over, or you need to end your life. Or you need to harm somebody or harm yourself. Just breathe. Just close your eyes and believe in yourself because there is a way out of that. There’s a way out and there’s a whole different life out there especially. When I was super uneducated and after I left home, I got, I went and got a GED and I got that opened up my world so that I could become a real estate agent.  

And who would ever think as a kid, being raised in sometimes all we lived in was a shed with plywood? Floors because we were only there for four or. Five days and then they would move me again. That little kid hopping from one little place to the other. Could become so successful in real estate later on. There is a way, and I did not see that in that dark, dark time, but it’s that that little, that little decision I made to live above what was happening to me, live above and try to become something better.  

So I would give that message to anyone in that really dark spot right now to try to become someone better or get help somehow. 

The error I completely agree with you, and I would also like to add that you know dark times don’t last, they’re impermanent and they’re temporary. Eventually, their light will come on the other side. It’s like you might think that it’s going on forever and it’s like last a while, but eventually, it will pass. I go to times where like, I feel like kind of like sad or depressed. And I tell myself that all of this is impermanent and eventually it will Pass.

And I just go into myself and know that for me, like personally Trevor, it’s having faith in God like I know there’s like a lot of agnostics and if it’s out there. But for me, faith and knowing that God is there with me, gives me a huge source of strength, because God is there with you in your good times. And your bad times. 

I would like to add I’ve had this conversation with others, but there’s this thing called … Sometimes you need to have pain in your life. In order to grow and reach the next level, sometimes you understand yourself, and your ability to feel compassion for others comes from a lot of times the pain and suffering because if you take a look at it like what happened to you is horrific. 

But because of that, you were able to help others who are probably going through domestic abuse themselves like you have compassion. Maybe God puts it into our lives to suffer a little bit so that we can help others and realize that we’re all part of one source. 

Oh, absolutely. That is very well said. I agree with you 100% because it creates within us, especially myself. I have, I can feel people that are going through abuse, I can feel their pain too.  

And so, when I’m talking at a conference with high-risk adults and or high-risk children and teenagers. After I’m done. They will just come running towards me and they will tell me things that they’ve told nobody else yet. If you’ve been in a situation where, say, domestic violence and you come out of it. Your aura exudes safety to people because they know that you’ve been there and they can feel it, and they trust you.  

I just had a conference and I spoke, and a 17-year-old boy came running up to me and he had tears in his eyes, and he stood about 10 feet in front of me and his bottom lip was just quivering. And I said you don’t have to say anything, I got it. You like just what do you need right now? Do you need to tell me something or just need a hug? And he’s like oh I could just use a hug. And it was just. It was just a hug. And he cried and cried and cried. And then I motioned for a counselor to come over. And I said, this man obviously has a story and he’s about to tell me something right now that he’s never told anybody else. I can just feel it.  

And so he told me that he was abandoned by his parents. In their own home. They wouldn’t look at him, they wouldn’t talk to him. They never acknowledged him. He was like a ghost in the home. And because he didn’t do exactly what they wanted him to do. And he may have stood up for himself, but he was abandoned by his family. How heartbreaking is that for a young child and he was able to tell me that and the counselor was there, and then they are just… They looked at each other and the counselor said, I’ve been counseling you. For years and you’ve never told me this.  

So, when you could be that channel for somebody to come out and because they feel… Because there’s that element of trust. They know that you’ve been there and walked that walk. You’re not just talking about a walk, you’ve walked that walk. 

You know, Trevor, I agree. And I think one thing I would like to add is that if like for our audience as well like a kind word or just like kindness and just like a little bit of compassion like in your everyday life, you never know whom you’ll impact and who’s going to be impacted it, could as save a life and make all the difference in the world.

I would like to add that as well. Trevor, there’s so much to ask you. But now the hour is winding up and I wanted to know like, can you tell me and the audience a little bit more about your Elevating Lives company? 

Yes, definitely elevatinglives.com. You can easily find me there and my blogs are there. I have stories on there. My public speaking is on there, so I am for hire. I go all over, and I speak to schools. I speak at conferences, I’ll keynote conferences all over and that’s where you can find me at Elevating Lives, and it’s really, really exciting to have that website there because people are coming across it just randomly and messaging me. And so, I never know where I’m going to get a message or a call from. 

OK, that’s awesome Trevor. So, like it’s like you’re basically like you were there speaking and it’s about you going to events and all that, right? 

That’s exactly right. Yes. And I do all my climbs for charities. I was able to raise 43,000 for the YWCA. Oh, I think it was 37 or 36,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Just a lot of awareness, that’s what it’s all about. 

Can you tell the audience a little more about these charities? And what do they like? The Big Brothers and the YMCA? 

A lot of people ask me, why did you choose those charities and Big Brothers and Big Sisters was the first one I chose to do my hiking for. And that’s because as a child, I really, really, really wanted a Big Brother that I could just hang out with and trust and spend some quality time with that person without any other things going on as you know. 

And so, when I learned that Big Brothers and Big Sisters needed Big Brothers and Big Sisters to sign up, there were 88 children on the waiting list. I signed up right away. I was like, wow. And I said, who’s the longest child on the waiting list? And they’re like, well, this boy was he’s been on for. Almost 2 1/2 years. Waiting for Big Brother and I said that’s the one. I don’t care who he is. Nothing I’ll take. I’ll take that one off the waiting list. An absolutely gorgeous bond happened. We are still very close friends.  

He’s now 26 and it’s just amazing. Like I’ve been at his sister’s weddings. It’s really just part of the family, so I picked him up once or twice a week for two hours and we just hung out. We did, we went exploring. We go for milkshakes, we go for burgers, we go riding around in my car in a really fancy, kind of a high-speed car at the time. So go rip around with him a little bit just so he loved that and things like that. Like I just hung out with him, and it was just being normal and being, you know, being understanding and he didn’t talk a lot.  

So, he just let him be and didn’t force him to be anything he didn’t want to be. It just ended up where we spent more and more time together. He came just like my son, really. So that was its a beautiful bond. And so, in order to get to be a big bro. Here you have to fill out some forms. You have to do a background check on your child welfare check and a police criminal record check and then you just got to get accepted at the Big Brothers Big Sisters District where whatever district you’re in. And then yeah, you. Can go in and they put some matches, some little matches in front of you that they might think matches you, but they don’t put photos they just say a boy, he’s 12, or here’s one that’s 10. Here’s one that’s six. And we think one of these three would be perfect for you. Which one do you think would be perfect?

You read about their story and how long they’ve been in the program and then you make a decision and then they contact the mother or and then you agree to meet and it’s really, really fun.  

That I would highly recommend it was life-changing for me. My life really changed when I became a Big Brother, for sure. In 2014, when I woke up to those headlines in the paper that domestic violence was on the rise. I said WHAT! With social media? How is this possible? I was living in a bubble. I just thought that you know, with social media and access to people reporting things, it was getting better. But no, in 2014 it was horrible, and it’s only gotten worse.  

So. That’s why I went whipping down to the YWCA because there the article in the paper said that more women and children were trying to flee domestic violence. But there was no room for them there. They were at fault and I was like. What would have happened if me and my mom and my brother had got away for good, and we had got all the way to the doors and there was no room for us? I just thought, how is this? How can my mind stop there? I was like, I can’t even imagine trying to go back to that.

So that’s when I drove down. I said I have to make a difference. I made a difference for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I’ll create lots of awareness for you. And I think the bigger the mountain, the better this time. If I can tackle my fears, I’m going to do Everest. And so, the YWCA supplied their supply. They have a lot of programs when you knock on their door.  

So, what I learned after the fact was none of those children or women were turned away. They were housed in different communities. They were given counseling until they had more room to open up than they could. Bring them in too. The actual shelter, so there are tons of. Resources through the YWCA that I didn’t even know existed.  

And so that and it’s not just for this is this is really crazy. You’re going to hardly believe this. But when I was climbing Everest, men from around the world started knocking on the YWCA door, saying, why is this guy climbing for the women’s shelter, we need help too. 

So, they started helping men as a side thing because they’re coming so much now to the YWCA, to their resources, so they’re helping them outside of the shelter. They’re helping them in ways that counseling therapy, and housing in different ways. So, they’re for men, or they’re listening that that’s also a resource for you and that that, I guess all started because of the efforts of Everest. 

That is awesome, Trevor. I’m really glad that you’re supporting these causes you’re a really good human being and the world can use more of you, people like yourself. And so, Trevor, is there any other project that you’re working on other than this that you’d like the audience to get a glimpse of it? 

Oh well, I am actually thankful for you asking. I am writing a book. Called Live Above It and it’s going to be a snippet of my life, but mostly Everest and the rescue on Everest. And so, it’s mostly written, and it could potentially go into the movies. So, we’re pretty excited about that. 

That is awesome, Trevor. So. Trevor, how can our audience get to know more about your connection with you and the work that you’re doing? 

Oh man, I would just say did they just e-mail me? That would be the best way to get in my inbox and then I’ll respond right away. That would be the best and I would say bookings@elevatinglives.com would be. 

OK, that is. Yeah, I really. I really, really appreciate that you took the time to come on this podcast and tell your story and the lessons you’ve learned. I am really inspired by what you’ve told me, and, in the future, I would definitely want you back at a later time on the show. 

Well, thank you very much and I’m honored to be on this podcast with you and thank you for looking me up. And it’s been a pleasure. 

Like, you’re making a huge difference whether you know it or not. Like just people, like listening to this, they will, they’ll be inspired, and you know, as they will go through the hardships, and they will tackle it eventually, you know. 

Yay, that’s what it’s about right there. Right. It takes teamwork. 

And I want to conclude this show by telling my fellow extraordinary Americans that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within each and every one of us. It’s our duty to awaken and unleash it, no matter what adversities come our way. Until next time. Bye for now.