Keep Climbing

While I don’t intend to completely do away with the image-only posts, lately I feel compelled to add at least a few words when I post them.

We often hear the phrase “peaks and valleys” when talking about the game of life, and it is a fairly accurate descriptor.

There’s no greater feeling than reaching a goal or milestone in our lives. Be it the birth of a child, a wedding, a fitness goal, a job we’ve always wanted, or seeing our book in print. Everyone has goals and dreams, both big and small. When we reach that height, we feel like we’re soaring with the eagles.

Conversely, there are few worse feelings than when we are toppled off that mountain by a vengeful wind and end up laying broken in a harsh valley. The death of a parent or spouse, the loss of a job, an unexpected illness that totally derails your life, or yet another rejection note from the publisher. The impacts of the falls may vary, but they all bring a degree of pain.

While we tend to focus on the peaks and valleys, there’s another aspect that often escapes us.

The climb.

We remember the mountaintops and the valleys for the ecstasy and agony each brings, but we tend to forget all the progress we made on the climb up. Or we forget to commend ourselves for getting the hell back up and scaling the mountain one more time after that harsh fall.

After all, the climb is where we are forged. It’s where we build the sinews and strength in our fingers to pull ever upwards. Where we learn to ignore the burning pain in our legs and lift them up just one more step. It’s where we build that mental toughness that tells us we absolutely must never give up. When we fall, we must get up.

Enjoy the peaks, my friends, for they are hard-earned.

Weather the valleys, because you are made of the sternest stuff.

But every once in awhile don’t forget to be thankful for the climb. It’s what makes the mountaintops truly beautiful and what makes the valleys just a bit more bearable.