Hiking is my thing these days because it is a source of strength for me. Each step you take moves you in the right direction. You MUST move otherwise you'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere.
I am in a very trying mood right now and I will explain later but this post is not really about hiking or life in general. It's about something inevitable.
So you start off the journey looking forward to finishing it and feeling of achieving something great in the end.
Along the way, you get nice scenery. It's OK scenery but we take whatever we can get, right? This is life, you don't really get to choose all the nice things ALL THE TIME.
In fact, sometimes you meet monkeys. You are scared that they'll grab or bite you but if you don't move, they might and you'll never get past them. So, you move on, one step at a time.
Each lamp post that I go past marks an achievement. At this stage, I've walked past 32 lamp posts. Incredible, I think. I didn't even feel anything yet.
Hoping that you won't meet anymore 'friendly' animals, you move on and on and on....enjoying the scenery, listening to the songs that you've uploaded into your phone or iPhone or whatever. The music keeps you company and before you know it, you've walked past....
....63 lamp posts! How did THAT happen? At this point, I remember, this is where the slope is the most difficult!! It's almost 45 degrees angle and you're straining every leg muscle in there.
The music, I think, it keeps you company. At this point, I got really tired and wanted to sit down for a while! I mean, this steep slope is really killing me! How many more lamp posts do I have to go past before it goes down hill?
Then I pulled out my phone and played a suitable song....Mission Impossible.....techno version!
I feel incredibly pumped up now, I can do this!
And before I know it, I've walked past....
....81 lamp posts! This is where it goes down hill if you want to know.
It's down hill now and I break into a slight jog, completely enjoying the fact that I've come this far.
I think I danced a little along the way because this is the privilege of a work-at-home person. I get to choose the time I go for these hikes. I go when everyone else is working and no one is there to watch me dance to Mariah Carey's 'Obsessed'.
This is where the talk about hiking ends.
Each time I hike, it's tough. Sure, it gets easier and adapt to the monkeys, the snakes (no, no tigers yet although at one point, I thought I heard a roar). You get uphill, you choose a song that gives you the energy to fight quivering muscles.
You get downhill, you choose a song to jiggy with it.
This is the way life should be lived because you kind of don't know when the journey is going end. Why live it cursing everything that you walk past? Why live it wanting so much more than what you already have? You have all that you need and you learn from it.
This post is dedicated to Uncle Bob who just passed away today. As with all news about death, it makes you think a lot of life. And for me, I realize that living is a lot like the hikes that I take, they're marked by achievements (lamp posts) and experiences that you can control how to react to.
You choose to fight the fight by energizing yourself. (Mission Impossible)
You celebrate with a dance when it's over. (Obsessed)
With Uncle Bob's passing, I will live it that way now. No more moping around like life owes me more because life does not owe me anything. It is I who owe it to myself to choose how to react to each given situation that I have to go through.
Along the way, you get nice scenery. It's OK scenery but we take whatever we can get, right? This is life, you don't really get to choose all the nice things ALL THE TIME.
In fact, sometimes you meet monkeys. You are scared that they'll grab or bite you but if you don't move, they might and you'll never get past them. So, you move on, one step at a time.
Each lamp post that I go past marks an achievement. At this stage, I've walked past 32 lamp posts. Incredible, I think. I didn't even feel anything yet.
Hoping that you won't meet anymore 'friendly' animals, you move on and on and on....enjoying the scenery, listening to the songs that you've uploaded into your phone or iPhone or whatever. The music keeps you company and before you know it, you've walked past....
....63 lamp posts! How did THAT happen? At this point, I remember, this is where the slope is the most difficult!! It's almost 45 degrees angle and you're straining every leg muscle in there.
The music, I think, it keeps you company. At this point, I got really tired and wanted to sit down for a while! I mean, this steep slope is really killing me! How many more lamp posts do I have to go past before it goes down hill?
Then I pulled out my phone and played a suitable song....Mission Impossible.....techno version!
I feel incredibly pumped up now, I can do this!
And before I know it, I've walked past....
....81 lamp posts! This is where it goes down hill if you want to know.
It's down hill now and I break into a slight jog, completely enjoying the fact that I've come this far.
I think I danced a little along the way because this is the privilege of a work-at-home person. I get to choose the time I go for these hikes. I go when everyone else is working and no one is there to watch me dance to Mariah Carey's 'Obsessed'.
This is where the talk about hiking ends.
Each time I hike, it's tough. Sure, it gets easier and adapt to the monkeys, the snakes (no, no tigers yet although at one point, I thought I heard a roar). You get uphill, you choose a song that gives you the energy to fight quivering muscles.
You get downhill, you choose a song to jiggy with it.
This is the way life should be lived because you kind of don't know when the journey is going end. Why live it cursing everything that you walk past? Why live it wanting so much more than what you already have? You have all that you need and you learn from it.
This post is dedicated to Uncle Bob who just passed away today. As with all news about death, it makes you think a lot of life. And for me, I realize that living is a lot like the hikes that I take, they're marked by achievements (lamp posts) and experiences that you can control how to react to.
You choose to fight the fight by energizing yourself. (Mission Impossible)
You celebrate with a dance when it's over. (Obsessed)
With Uncle Bob's passing, I will live it that way now. No more moping around like life owes me more because life does not owe me anything. It is I who owe it to myself to choose how to react to each given situation that I have to go through.