This last weekend I felt pushed to challenge myself physically and boy did I. Not all intentionally either. I had a full weekend planned. On Saturday I had a time set to run the course for the 5k for Gould Farm, a path I refer to as Mt Everest. If you are looking for a challenging course, this is your best bet in Berkshire County. If you don't want to walk/run it, I will gladly accept support for the organization. I did it last year as my first 5k, so you can too!
Saturday evening I met with friends to see Josh Groban in concert. Trust me, go if you can. It was so good and filled the well of energy. Sunday I said to Donna, hey, I'm going to go for a hike with Tank, do you want to go. Silly woman that she is, she said yes. Donna is crazily up for most anything I suggest including being the administrative awesomeness behind my business.
So, we take a trail she has done, albeit, years ago and one I had never done. We did fantastic for the first mile that was steep but certainly manageable. Then we decided to head back to the car as really, we had done a tough course the day before. Yeah, that's where the fun comes in. We lost the trail markers. We did end up in someone's back yard but this gal didn't want to trespass. Again, Donna was up for backtracking. I don't know, but I am thinking someone should check her mental status about agreeing with me so often. This should confirm it...we decided to just cut across the forest to meet up with the original trail. Now, we are intelligent women, you would think one of us would say, nah, let's go back the way we came and see where we messed up. But, we didn't. Tank didn't say anything either.
Nope, we went the hard way. Sound familiar in your own life? Do you take the long way around? Do you create the mountain out of the proverbial mole hill? We did. We ended up climbing down, then up, then straight up in the air. The dog literally jumped vertically on some of the places. It was impressive and terrifying. Not only to us, but to the gentleman who was smart enough to stay on the trail when he saw two crazy ladies coming up the side of the mountain with a barking dog. His face was priceless. We did make it to the trail and calmly walked out of the trial head. We figured that after that process, Gould was nothing. ha! It's all about perspective.
The next day I had off and decided a bike ride would be great. The weather was perfect and I hadn't been all week. I went to the trail because texting drivers scare me. I won't lie, the first few miles HURT. Holy hip flexors. Climbing had used muscles I've used in the gym but not in life and boy were they letting me know I was using them. As usual, after some use it got easier. So easy that at mile nine I thought, this is easy I can keep going, even knowing I had to peddle the whole way back. I was going to do the whole trail. Why not? I climbed a mountain yesterday. A small one, but I did it. Imagine my surprise that when I got to mile eleven and turned around (bless the people who volunteer on a holiday to have a visitor center and their bathrooms open!) to realize mile nine was so easy because it was DOWN HILL! So if you are going back, you have to go UP HILL! What is wrong with my head is what I was asking myself at the time. "Why do you have to push the envelope? Why take the hard way Vicki? I'll be damned if I am pushing this bike up a hill. I am riding it. Then some part of my head said, stop fighting Vic, just enjoy the ride. No testing, no timing, no competition, just ride and enjoy it." So I did.
It got easier. I joked with the people on the trail about where did these hills come from? Could I get a lift up to the top? The more I smiled at others, the easier it got. Drop the resistance and time passes pretty quickly. Pretty soon I was at mile 21.9. Somewhere is that extra tenth of a mile and it's ok, I'll find it another day. I did six miles more than I ever had and I learned to let go somewhere along mile thirteen. I found ease in the process and an enjoyment of accomplishment. (And numb buns, but that is a post for another day.)
I don't tell you this to say look at me and what I did. I am telling you because today I met with someone that showed me that mountains and challenges come in different packages. I had met him before and had certainly been aware of his process but didn't realize the level of courage his mountain was taking him through. He is experiencing the diagnosis of cancer and is the epitome of strength. I felt compelled to help in some way and he was silly enough to be willing to have an energy session with me. During this session I came to realize that he was giving me the gift of a lifetime. He was showing me what we really are here for. We are here to love our crazy families. We are here to squeeze as much joy out of this life as we can and we are here to show those mountains and miles, when we take them bit by bit, it is all manageable and even surmountable.
He would say he is just doing what he has to do, I am sure. This is his mountain and he is smart enough to stay on a trail that is marked. We all have mountains and challenges. Each person has their perception of what is difficult. We can't ever really know what someone is climbing unless we are willing to ask and offer assistance. In offering, we are given a gift of awareness that perhaps our mountains aren't all that high but rather we are making them seem that way. I realize it is all relative, after all, I chose my mountains this weekend, but they seem much smaller now. I'm proud of my climb and humbled by the guy who trusted me to run some energy through his system to perhaps give him a power pack over the next hump.
Look at what you consider a challenge in your life and see if you aren't able to lessen the perception of the climb. Take it one step at a time. Look for markers and if there aren't any, forge a path. Just don't scare the guy on the trail!
See you on the trail!
Vicki
0 comments:
Post a Comment