Over the last two years I have made a number of trips home to Wyoming. Regular readers know why. As I traveled north on I-25 I always enjoyed seeing the mountains in the west. When the sky is just blue, Laramie Peak cuts a wonderful scene against the sky.
Like many people, I think about how cool the view would be from the top of the mountain.
I am not much of a mountain climber, but there are lots of people who have that drive. According to a number of different sources, about 800 people reach the summit of Mount Everest each year, even though Mount Everest is the deadliest mountain to climb. It has a death zone that starts at the elevation of 8,000 meters. Twelve percent of the deaths over the years are from exhaustion.
On my walk I was thinking about trying to go home this summer, and then I started to think about the past trips and the mountain range (and actually of the handful of poems I’ve written from those trips). In one of those magical moments where ideas lead to ideas and then to connections, I thought about how we use climbing a mountain as a symbol of reaching our personal goals.
And why the symbolism works.
Everyone loves the view of their goals as they travel the road of everyday living. We think about how great the view of life would be when we reach those goals. But that thought is not enough to motivate most of us to actually put on our gear and start climbing.
I’ll use Mount Everest as an example for reaching our goals.
First is time. On average it takes 6 – 10 weeks to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Part of the reason is to safely adjust to the altitude.
There are milestones and adjustments when striving for a goal. Be it time, sacrifices, or even self development. Trying to fulfill a dream takes a commitment of time that we sometimes don’t want to give. It’s easier to continue on the highway and look at the goal on the horizon.
Second factor is the cost. Just the license to climb Mount Everest is $11,000 from the government of Nepal. Also, there is the cost of equipment and the Sherpas’ services to reach the top.
The cost of reaching a goal varies for sure. But I am in the red for the total amount I have paid for gas, bookmarks, and postage compared to how much I’ve made selling books, and it’s not even close.
Then there is the cost of pain, physical and emotional. While climbing Mount Everest, climbers will experience altitude sickness, fatigue, and the weather conditions can change quickly. I can’t even imagine how many times they have to deal with the voice in their head telling them to give up. Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first climbers to reach the summit, said, “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
Isn’t this true for everyone who strives to reach their goals? It is one of the most important reasons to go after our goals. There is a reason why we have a dream. It is connected to our spirit, it is a reflection of who we can be. So, even if we never fully reach the summit of our goals, we become the person we can be by striving for that goal.
It’s easy to just drive past the mountain ranges as we travel this life. Gaze at their majestic beauty. Think about the view from the top, how wonderful it would be, but keep the cruise control on.
Or go after that dream that beckons you. There is an exit coming up that will take you to the base of the mountain. It has always been there, just like the mountain range.
It is all Connected 