One time I was perusing through Facebook as an overly-plugged-in 24-year old does, and I stumbled upon a picture of a steep road lined by trees. It was pretty basic, unedited, and the quality was average. It wasn’t necessarily the picture that drew me in. It was its caption:
“What does it look like from the bottom of the hill you’re climbing?”
The picture was posted by a woman I deeply admire who was training for the Boston Marathon. For someone who had a rigorous, consistent training schedule, she probably initially posted it with the intention to pose a literal question. But I know her relatively well, and her other intention was most likely to elicit a more meaningful reflection.
It did just that.
Every month for the last two years (since she posted it), I scroll to where that quote is stored in the “notes” section of my phone and write about the hill I’m currently climbing. I read my responses from the months prior, and reflect on what I’ve been through. I’m not always in a better position than I was previously in, but I find hope in knowing that even at the bottom of my steepest hills, I’ve made it to the other side.
During the times I’ve wondered if I’ll ever be on flat land again, I remind myself that what’s on the other side of an upward climb is usually worth every step. It can and will feel impossible to keep going at times, but it would be ludicrous to stop halfway up a mountain knowing that what’s at the summit is sometimes, quite literally, breathtaking.
For instance, I know people who’ve hiked to Mount Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas. It’s about a 14-day trek. You have to hire a guide to lead the way and a sherpa to carry your belongings. You wake up at 5-6am and trek for upwards of eight hours a day. There’s little to no cell service for those two weeks you’re hiking, and you trek through rain, sun, and snow. The guides will periodically monitor your blood-oxygen levels and limit your elevation to less than 200m a day. You have to acclimatize in little villages along the way and sleep in tea houses without heat at night. This is absolutely not a hike for the faint of heart. It is a mental game just as much as it’s a physical one. But the views, they say, the views when you get to base camp are... well, see for yourself.
It must seem like a never-ending adventure when you’re out there amongst nature just trekking all day, but the way you reach any goal or summit is with one step at a time.
So, if you are at the bottom of a hill that looks impossible to climb, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is easy to forget when you’re in the thick of it, but every hill has a top no matter how steep it is. If you find yourself out of breath, fatigued to the max, or just desperate for some stillness, maybe that’s a sign you need to stop and look at what’s around you, at how far you’ve come. It’s usually only when we stop for a second, whether we’re at the bottom of the hill or the top, that we realize just how much beauty is around us.
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