A few weeks ago I went to Yosemite National Park in California. One of the days we were there my son and I climbed the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls. It was 1,000 feet climb in 1.6 miles --very steep. After climbing and resting, and climbing and resting, I was quite dismayed to see a stretch ahead of decline. Although it would be refreshing to go downhill for a bit and catch my breath, I had worked very hard to get to where I was, and I knew any amount of downhill I went would have to be re-climbed in the next section as well as additional feet. I was okay with walking on level ground, but didn't want to lose the ground I had gained. Over the course of the rest of the climb there were several areas where we went downhill. Each time it was a nice change, but we had to re-climb it in the next section. We finally did reach the stunning Vernal falls, and it was truly worth all the hard work to get there.
I have been mulling over how life is like hiking. There are varying degrees of uphill climbing and pushing toward what we want in life followed by times of decline. We work hard to get to a certain point, but then we sometimes end up going downhill for a bit although we don't want to and don't intent to. For example, we enjoy a period of good health, and then get sick and have to re-build our stamina. Or we have steady success on a weight loss goal.....until the holidays come, and we must start again. Or we are going along working and growing emotionally when something bad happens that sends us into a temporary tailspin. Eventually we get our bearings back, regain our lost ground and we keep going......
and the point is to keep going. The reward we are pushing toward is definitely worth it.
I guess we cannot always climb steadily upward in life without stopping or occasionally going downhill, or at least most of us can't. We should expect to have an occasional period of decline here and there. It's just part of life. No need to beat ourselves up over it. Just get rested and keep going!
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