Musings from the mountains!

So I have been walking uphill for  7 hours a day for the last week and a half..which is a terrible way of saying that I have been on a beautiful trek to the Annapurna Base camp in the Himalayas!

It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life; the mountains have always been my favourite part of nature and being so close to them everyday, having them stand there watching over me huff and puff and make my way up them gradually was such a fantastic quiet reassurance.

As I made the uphill climb all my mental and physical faculties were being used to actually put one foot in front of another and take one breath after another. But once we were coming down it got easier physically and hence my mind began to wander and I began to see the similarities between life and being on a high altitude trek in the mountains.

That is when I started thinking and came up with these 10 things that I had learnt on the trek that were equally true for life:


1) It is ultimately YOUR journey:

I undertook the trek with a soul sister and it was lovely to have her to celebrate the small victories with a ginger lemon and a cookie but for most of the day, it was me, my bag and the trail! I suspect it's the same in life; we have our partners our families and friends to share our triumphs and failures but in the end we have to walk the path we have chosen alone!

2) Appreciate the small things:

When you are on an epic journey with a grand destination it is easy to not see the butterflies, the wild flowers, the lady bugs, the bees who cross your path every day! But they make it better, easier and make you smile when it feels like you can't climb up that mammoth flight of stairs!

     
3) Choose carefully what loads you want to carry: 
Once it's on your back it is so much harder to drop the load during the journey. So choose really carefully what you absolutely need and try to be frugal in your need for comforts!

4) Enjoy the rest:

Sleep, rest, rejuvenation are key to giving you the sustenance to keep going on the long haul! Tuck into bed, shut out your brain and let your battery recharge. It's a life saver like no other!

5) It's alright to ask for help:

For someone like me asking for help, saying 'I can't do this' is hard, but it's alrght to do it! To say, I have an excruciating pain in my knee, and can't do this alone, could you please help me.

Asking for help is a sign of strength, of the fact that you are ready to go the distance.

6) Going up is an option but coming down is not: 

You can choose the heights you want to climb to but once you are there it's inevitable that you have to make your way down. Whether you do it gracefully while you still have the vigour or are forced to by your mind/body, come down you must!

7) Have a goal in mind but each day only think of the next step:

As clearly as you must know where you want to be in the long run, each day it is about taking that next step strongly, surely and with the conviction that it is alright to not see the big picture sometimes!

8) Learn from experience: 

As you walk those hard paths you will meet a few experienced souls. Chat with them awhile, imbibe what you can from their experience and learn to negotiate those ascents in a more calm and collected way!

9) Don't wish too hard for the hard things to end: Every trial, every test of your patience and perseverance is making you stronger. It's transforming you into the person you had hoped to become. Allow it to happen; live the hard days with the knowledge that they too are good for you!

10) Don't be too fixed on the reward for your efforts: Seven years ago I saw a video of the sunrise at the Annapurna Base camp and since then I have wanted to see that gorgeous sight and all along as I made the climb up to the base camp all I thought about was this stunning sunrise at the base camp! As luck would have it we had a thunderstorm the one morning I was there and I didn't get that view that I craved! As I descended, dejected I turned around and looked back and found a totally gorgeous snow covered mountain whose peak was hidden in the clouds but was jaw dropping nonetheless. So enjoy the journey and the rewards will automatically be yours, perhaps not exactly the way in which you imagined it!