“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” So says Edmund Hillary, the first man to have reached the summit of Mt. Everest, 29,029 ft. into the heavens.
Last night I decided that I needed to get some more exercise in, after having a torn muscle that has plagued me for the past 2 months. So, yay, yes, I made it to the top. That is not what I want to talk about.
Turns marked the way up the trail. Each turn was a switchback, effectively changing the direction you are walking, yet ascending higher up the mountain with each turn. This makes the hike bearable, and doable, by just about anyone. Each new turn presented a new opportunity, a new possibility. Each new turn led to new and changing terrain, in fact, when you look closely at any mountain trail, it is easy to see that each new step provides a new opportunity and changing terrain.
At that moment, I decided that the word FAILURE does not exist in my vocabulary. For every failure rather is a turn in the road; presenting me with a new direction, a challenge to get back up, to go again, to finish what I started but perhaps from a different approach. To summit the mountains of my life, and ultimately THE mountain of my life, I have but to look to the summit, realize that my way may not be my destined way, the best way for me, and certainly not the only way. At the end, I will look down from the summit, I will look back on my life, and be able to say, "I conquered no such thing as life, but I conquered myself."
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