Climb any mountain...
Good morning.
Sam typing here on this lovely Wednesday!
Following from Ash's email on Saturday, how many of you made your 5-point list? Thanks to those of you who shared with us. We are so proud of you!
I managed to jot mine down during some quiet reflection time in Scotland. One of the points on my list was that I am proud of myself for saying "yes" more... opening myself up to new experiences and broadening my comfort zone.
After giving up the booze, I felt the need to do more with my life and so made my own list of things to achieve before I turned 30. One of my goals was to (separately) climb the three peaks (The three peaks are each of the tallest mountains in Wales, England, and Scotlan)
After 2 years sober I climbed the second mountain - which happens to be the tallest point in the whole of the UK - Ben Nevis. I recall it was a struggle but a massive achievement at the time. There was a group of us and I know I was trailing behind most of the time, but still got through and reached the 1345m peak for the first time.
This weekend I said "yes" to conquering Ben Nevis for the 2nd time, with a different group of friends. these are friends that I used to work with, but I don't meet with as often as I would like.
The mountain itself was still a challenge but I found this time that I was always in the lead and in fact two out of the ight of us decided to break away to get to the top and back down again while the rain was holding off. We were so lucky with the weather and actually got a bit of a view from the top... so much better than the one 7 years ago!
I'm so proud of myself for being physically fit enough to have been able to do this again with relative ease. I'm so proud of my mental head space to agree to take this trip with a set of friends who are't in my immediate friendship circle. I am also super proud of all of us for getting to the top at whatever pace was necessary. We all finished and climbed the tallest point in the UK in one of the most beautiful places in the world! (in my opinion!)
During the hike I made a point of stopping periodically to admire the view... because the journey is just as important as the end goal. Ben Nevis, in particular, has many zig-zag pathways, so you can easily see the path you have walked along, which made me note what a good metaphor for life our hike was... Whenever you feel as though you are struggling, look back at how far you have come with PRIDE – you may be surprised with how amazing the view already is!
Have a great week!
Sam & Ashley
