Climb the Mountain

Have you ever climbed a mountain?

I love climbing mountains: ascending upwards, feeling the weight of every step, gravity pushing back against you, challenging you to keep going. Almost every time I climb, it’s like I can feel myself getting stronger with each pace, challenging the mountain right back.

A few weeks ago I was in Antarctica and had the opportunity to climb a few mountains. Beautiful mountains: snow covered, pristine, hardly touched by any human life, and surrounded by nothing but nature’s majesty.

Passengers of the National Geographic Orion climb a mountain in Antarctica.

Some of these mountains were exceptionally steep, others had some flat land, but even on some of the seemingly easiest parts, every so often as I would be climbing, I would slide back a bit, or fall into a pile of deep snow. Each time I fell I had to pull myself up, carefully calculate my next step, or reconfigure my route.

While sometimes internally my ego may have been a little bruised from someone seeing me wipeout, externally it was effortless to laugh at myself and keep pushing up the hill. After all, despite the five seconds that it took me to fall down and get back up, it was nothing compared to the total 30-60 minute journey to the peak.

Sometimes, the newly configured route felt a little counterproductive at first because it wasn’t necessarily the direct path up the hill. But, I always made it up, and often discovered something amazing because of the detour – whether it be a stray penguin waddling along, a rouge albatross feather lying in the snow, or a flawless ovular pebble demonstrating nature’s perfection – all the while remaining completely surrounded by the splendor of the landscape around me.

I know this metaphor is pretty obvious, and rather overdone, but life, in many ways, is like a mountain.

Sometimes the path is flat and clear, and you can see exactly where you are headed. Some parts may be rocky and steep, and may make you lose your footing. Other times the road may seem tempting, but once you start off, you realize that it simply won’t work, and you have to take a few steps backwards before you can continue moving upwards. Sometimes it’s a straight climb to the top. And others… well, we show up to the mountain before we realize we are wearing flip flops rather than hiking boots.

What’s important in every one of those scenarios, however, is that no matter what, no matter how long it takes, we still climb the mountain; because we can’t marvel at the view from the top or see what’s on the other side without the climb.

I want to tell you a story about a man named Jim. This is Jim: 

At first glance, it may seem like good ‘ol Jim either enjoys getting dressed in the dark, or is trying to make some sort of bizarre fashion statement with his sock selection.  

Neither of these are actually the case. This man is Jim Thorpe. He competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, but hours before the competition, someone stole his shoes. Rather than let this misfortune get the best of him, Jim simply fished two shoes that someone had thrown away out from a trashcan. The two shoes that he found were different sizes, so to compensate he wore an extra sock on one of his feet.

Jim Thorpe went on to win two Gold medals for our country in the Olympic games: one for the pentathlon, and one for the decathlon.

Just think for a second about how much emphasis we place upon having the right materials so that we can feel prepared enough to take on the tasks ahead of us. Photographers may stress over not having the perfect lens, writers despair over lacking the most zen workspace, streamers agonize about not having the best PC set-up, the list goes on and on.

Yet here we have Jim, competing on the biggest stage in the world, in front of the largest audience in the world, and not caring at all about what shoes he wore to complete the most important races of his life.

Jim knew that his ability to succeed was within himself, not dependent upon any external circumstances. Jim climbed the mountain, no matter what.

Now I’m going to tell you a story about a woman named Joanne.

Joanne lived a seemingly normal life until she was about 25 when her mother passed away from multiple sclerosis. Determined to move on from her grief and make her mother proud, Joanne moved to another country, fell in love, got married, and had a beautiful baby girl.

Shortly thereafter, Joanne’s husband became exceptionally abusive and she was forced to take her daughter, and leave her home. But, as a single parent with no family other than her newborn child, she struggled to make ends meet, and couldn’t find permanent work no matter how hard she would try.

Joanne went through a deep depression, sometimes contemplating suicide. Rather than give in to this temptation, she instead invested her energy into a passion that she had for writing. After renting out her apartment, and living on welfare alone, she spent the next 5 years of her life attempting to get a book published.

Her book was continuously reworked and edited in attempt to land a publishing deal, but her manuscript was rejected over 12 times. Finally, in 1997, at the age of 32, a publishing house called Bloomsbury purchased the rights to Joanne’s book for $4,000.

That book, which was published under the pen name “J.K. Rowling” went on to be an instant hit, winning the 1997 British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year. That book, or Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, further went on to become a multi-billion dollar franchise with over 400 million books sold across 68 languages, a dedicated 8 films (with another 2 in the expanded universe), a popular website (www.pottermore.com), and franchise rights to every avenue of commercialization that one could imagine, from theme parks, to clothing, to dolls.

Today, Joanne, who never lost hope despite any adversity or challenges she faced, is the richest author who ever lived with an estimated net worth of over $1B. Joanne climbed the mountain, no matter how long it took.

As we aspire to ascend mountains of our own, there will always be setbacks, downfalls, and slippery terrain that can knock us over. This could be anything, from becoming subject to a natural disaster, experiencing the death of a loved one, losing our job, falling ill, suffering from a horrible home or automobile accident, or any one of countless other devastating circumstances.

But, whatever obstacles we may face, we must keep going. Each time we fall, we must pull ourselves up, carefully calculate our next steps, or reconfigure our route.

Don’t wuss out at the first slip, decide the mountain is too tough, and climb back down. When the mountain pushes against you, push back, and throw your weight into it. Forge that grit, build that resiliency. Show the world what you are capable of, but more importantly, show yourself.

Heaven stands atop a mountain in Antarctica with Gentoo penguins in the background.

We must remember, that these setbacks will ultimately become just a singular moment in time out of our total lifetime journey to achieve success and self-fulfillment. And if you find yourself down or on a detour, it’s okay. Take a second and look around, because you never know what you may find out in the world or out about yourself. After all, the world is full of a lot of beauty, but you have to be looking up to see it, not down at the place you fell.

The most important thing is that no matter what, no matter how long it takes, we still climb the mountain; because we can’t marvel at the view from the top or see what’s on the other side without the climb.

And I can tell you this, I’ve climbed a lot of mountains in my life, both literally and figuratively, and the view from the top is always pretty great.

Go crush it.

xoxo,

H