How Areeb Found His Self-confidence Through Trek Leading

"Till the age of 13, I had only read about the mountains in my school books. I used to feel intrigued and amazed while looking at those white-capped mountain peak pictures. I wondered what it would be like seeing them live.

A few months later, I got an opportunity to go to Nainital.

I was a very shy kid back then. So much so that when I got a chance to go to Nepal for a Karate tournament, I didn’t because I was really nervous to explore a new place.

But this time, I pushed myself to go to Nainital.

It was the first time I saw the grand views of the Greater Himalayas. I cannot forget how speechless I was!

Things started to change when I entered college. I was studying Taxation at Bhopal School of Social Sciences.

One day there was an announcement in our college about an adventure camp going to Uttarakhand.

Memories of my trip to Nainital came flooding back. I knew I had to sign up for this!

On one of the days, we had to trek to Sarkunda Devi Temple. It was a 6 km hike.

I was walking last in the group. While trekking, I started getting a lot of thoughts of self-doubt in my head. Without realising, I then started walking very fast and crossed everyone.

When I reached the top, I sat down quietly in a corner from where I could see the Greater Himalayas.

It was a very significant moment of transformation for me. I had tears rolling down my eyes and I promised myself to take charge of my life and live it more meaningfully.

After coming back, I started going on treks more often.

That was the time when I got introduced to the Indiahikes website. I used to take all the information about doing treks from there, then I would go on my own.

During college, I took up a part-time job in a publishing company so that I could earn and save money for treks.

In 2019, during my higher studies, I applied for an internship to work as an Assistant Trek Leader with Indiahikes. It spanned over about 65 days.

After I finished my studies, I was sure I wanted to work at Indiahikes.

Being a Trek Leader at Indiahikes boosted my confidence.

In this role, I get to meet a new team of people every week. I learn from their perspectives, share my thoughts with them and most importantly, lead them on a transformational journey.

I am always yearning to learn something new from every team I lead.

The strongest transformation for me in this journey has to be with the way I communicate. It helped me hone my skills and gave me the confidence to pursue things that I love."

- Areeb Parvez, Outdoor Leader at Indiahikes