Peaks and valleys, they abound
Finish one, another round
Always climbing, never stops
Climb again to reach the top
Tired, sore and feeling lost
Is the climbing worth the cost?
Staring up, a peak so high
Don’t think you’ll ever touch the sky
But still you try, God only knows
Pelted by the freezing snows
The constant struggle, sinews scream
At altitude, float in a dream
Another peak, you’re there at last
The victory is fleeting fast
For as you look, another peak
You’re feeling tired, feeling weak
Feeling weary to the bone
But still you climb, it’s all you’ve known
© The Beginning At Last
What I am going to say here is far from a revelation to anyone. I guess it’s more of a reminder; to myself or anyone else who needs it.
Life is nothing but one big series of mountains to climb.
One after another, they come. You reach the top of one, and then you descend back into another godforsaken valley, only to see the base of yet another mountain to climb.
To be fair, sometimes they are just hills. But sometimes even an excess of hills can wear you out. There’s been a lot of hills and mountains in front of me lately. A variety of people, places and things have seen to that.
And I’m not going to lie, lately I have been really tired of climbing.
Physically and mentally, I have felt pretty worn out. I still do.
It’s funny the things that sometimes pull us out of a stupor.
Standing over and around a 400 lb., 300 degree piece of metal has a way of giving you a bit of perspective. You slip up and it could fall and kill you. Or seriously break the shit out of you at best. Or, you get lax while you’re working on it, and you could end up with the mother of all burns.
But hazardous situations like that can give you just enough pause to realize that as bad as your days might be, they can definitely get a ton worse.
Hard labor also has a way of waking you up and bringing out the better in you. It speaks to something primal within us, and most importantly, it can make us feel useful.
And that is a huge part of my problem lately. For multiple reasons, I have felt kind of useless.
The whys don’t matter and I prefer to keep them mostly to myself. I’m a loner by nature, and as much as I might try to deny or change that, I am what I am. And I’m tired of saying otherwise. It’s a part of me, and I shouldn’t reject that.
Anyhow, whatever. That’s irrelevant bullshit.
I am sore as all hell as I type this, but strangely enough, I feel good and I feel accomplished.
The climbing today, and probably beyond, is going to be very slow going. Hell, I might even fall backwards down the mountain and land on my ass a few times. “Probably will” is more accurate.
But, against my better judgement, I am going to continue climbing. I’m just stupid like that.
Peace, all. 🤘
The Beginning At Last 
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