"The mountain you're climbing is huge and formidable, but so is your ability to climb it. You don't need to enjoy it, you just need to tackle it. Complain if it makes the job easier. Blow off steam. You think mountain climbers get to the top of Everest on inspirational quotes? No way. They're grunting, and crying, and cursing like freakin' pirates. That just doesn't sell a lot of posters." (I don't know the author to credit)
I mostly just like the ending. Because shit is hard. And so many times we see people accomplishing things and we compare ourselves thinking we could never do that because they make it look so easy. What we usually don't see is how difficult the journey can be.
Bringing me to yesterday, when I went on my first real bike ride of the summer, from Springhill to Heather's Beach (yay me!). And while did, the whole 'you think mountain climbers make it to the top of Mount Everest on inspirational quotes?' part kept running through my head. I kept reminding myself that it's okay to scream and grunt when it hurts because sometimes that's the only way to get through it (although for Mt. Everest, being rich enough to have someone carry most of the equipment and be a guide also helps). I mean, cycling meant to be fun and whatnot, and there were fun moments of coasting along, but there were also a lot of struggles up hills that were smaller than I'd like to admit.
It was a hard ride for me, even with a tailwind, and I took a lot of breaks. And I almost called Isaiah to come pick me up, about six times. And my lungs hated me. And I couldn't really feel my legs at a certain point. But I kept telling myself to make it another twenty minutes. Or just around the next bend. Or make it to the next telephone pole. And I did. Somehow.
And the exhilaration of arriving at the beach and reaching my goal was worth all the pain. It almost made me forget how hard it was. The water was so nice when I ran in as soon as I got there. And so cold an hour later when I waded in again.
I guess the point of all this is that I just wanted to remind everyone that there is more to the pictures we see, on facebook and twitter, of people doing amazing things. We make assumptions that it must've been so easy for them and because it would be a struggle for us, we could never do it so there is no point in trying. But we don't know what people actually go through. People tend not to share the pictures of them crying on the side of the road because everything hurts. Or when they throw up a little bit because their lungs are displeased. They share the picture of the deer they saw or the view from the top of the hill so we think the journey must've all been amazing views and deer everywhere (I didn't actually get a pic of the deer).
We have to remember that sometimes it's a struggle and everything hurts but that doesn't mean it's not worth it in the end.
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| Let me just sit here for a minute or two. |
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| Almost there! |
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| This face screams happiness. |
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| Made it! Yay!! |
1 comment:
Your account of this journey you've been on for so long has always been brutally frank and for that we've all had such insight as to how trying (and sometimes rewarding) the process can be. We all can now picture you full of tubes and probes and drugs and frustration and relief. Don't stop - anything less would be out of character.
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