So I decided to go to the top of a mountain today. It is not far away and I can see it from my kitchen window. Since I moved here in November last year, I have had my eyes on this top, and as a new guy in town – it feels like I will never be accepted by the tribe if I don’t conquer this mountain.
So here is a view from outside my house. And I am going all the way to the top.
Ok, the picture does not reflect the insane size of this mountain. It is 715 meters high (That is like a quadbillion feet, you should really convert to meters, it is so much easier) – according to local guides it is supposed to take one hour and thirty minutes to walk to the top.
So I started walking, thinking about my motivation, walking up this steep mountain for 90 minutes. I can run for two hours, but this is different, I need crawl and climb short passages and the steps are high, resulting in heavy load on my knees. But today I am sure that I shall too be a mountain king.
So I packed my backpack with my camera, coffee, apples, water and the newspaper, and started walking. Walking to the mountain took 5 minutes. This was the easy part…
Nature is nice, the birds are singing and I had a good pace. I was sweating like crazy and realized that running on a treadmill is so different from walking uphill.
So I have been walking for 40 minutes up this trail.
I know… hot right!?
and I was this tired… –>
And looked up to see this…
I am not even on the steep parts yet. This is the point where my motivation is being questioned. My first thought was to give up and walk back down.
I really kept my pace up until this point and felt that a 40 minute work out would be sufficient today. To my luck a cruiceship had docked today so the mountain was crawling with the elder generations of Germany. They strolled up the mountain, not even breaking sweat. And I thought to my self, what kind of drugs are these people on? Well being a norwegian I had to keep on walking.
So I did. Meeting Germans all the way to the top, and finally about 150 feet away from the top I met a German man ready to quit, and managed to motivate him to go the last stretch.
Finally I could enjoy this.
Åndalsnes, Rauma.
My house is between the soccer field and the mountain. It seems a little bigger now right?
@frodeheimen
So almost dead, on the top…
I enjoyed my coffee, ate my apple and started to walk back down. A total workout of 3 hours, and a lesson in motivation. Because, if you give up, you will not get the price, but if you keep on going, you will get there eventually. And another tought kept crossing my mind. Just a few weeks back, a man with no legs walked up here on his arms. Limits are in your head.
On the other hand, before I was going to walk back down on my sore feet, I suddenly understood why my second cousin choose to go down the mountains the way he does [Click to see it on Youtube]…
Challenges might be huge or small, but you might be closer to the goal than you know, just when you give up. Keep on fighting, one step at the time.
Have a great summer.
Frode HeimenThis is me. I love customer service, motivation, coaching and leadership theory.
My career as a blogger started back in 2007 and I have been writing ever since. My goal is to inspire you.
Author of the book: Becoming Great at Work.
– I am happy to see you here at my blog. Hope you enjoy your reading, and that you will leave a comment to let me know what you think. – Thank you.
