Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Joy is in the Journey



 

 
I mentioned a few weeks back that my family went on vacation to the Adirondacks.

Well, one warm afternoon my men decided they wanted to climb a mountain.
I know you really do not know me, but, if you did, chances are you would rarely find me on a mountain top!  But, not wanting to spoil anyone's fun I joined in and went to climb a mountain.  




 I have never, ever climbed a mountain, but I did not want to disappoint my boys, so I gave it a whirl!  When we looked at the entrance to begin it was all muddy from tons of rain and of course I was sporting a brand new pair of white sneakers!  So as I mulled my options over, we chatted with a family that had climbed this mountain before and they said it was not a bad hike, so off we went... mud and all!




From the get go... it was pretty steep climbing.  By steep, I mean straight up, but, I kept on keeping on, because I did not want to disappoint anyone.




We  would hike for a while, and then we'd sit for a little while and take a break.  All the time I kept looking straight up wondering how the heck I was going to do this.  It was supposedly a 3/4 mile hike, but, 3/4 of a mile of flat road is WAY different than at a good incline!  I was pretty sure I would not make it, but, I kept hiking anyway. The boys were having a blast and like I said, I did not want to miss it.


 



I got 3/4 of the way to the top and looked up, up, up and decided that was it.  I just couldn't make it all the way up and go all the way down again.  I sat down with my boys while my sweet hubby ventured further up trying to encourage me to go to the top and seeing exactly how far we were on our journey.




 So...here we sat for a little while waiting to hear back from him :-)



So as we sat and I had already made my decision to climb back down that mountain.
It truly would have taken a small miracle to get me to go any further, lol!
I sat feeling sad, defeated and like I had ruined everyone's fun time.


On the way back down, while I was feeling horrible we ran into part of the family we had visited with before starting our journey.  They had made it to the top and were heading back down.  Now they were at least 20 years younger than me and that comforted me a bit.  I had told them that I did not make it to the top and the young man said the most insightful thing I had heard and needed to hear right at that very moment.  I love when that happens by the way :-)


He told me, with a smile, that it really does not matter that I did not make it to the top of that mountain.  He told me that the joy is in the journey!


 I missed the best part of my venture up the mountain.
I missed the JOY!

I looked at the nature and the beauty and all I saw was how far it was to the top.

I watched my boys have a blast zipping up the mountain, but, all I could think about was how was I going to get to the top.

If we are not careful on this journey called life we can VERY easily get distracted and lose our focus on what is important and miss all of the JOY that life has to offer.


I felt SO much better after chatting with that stranger.  I was being TOO hard on myself and really was proud that I made it 3/4 up a super steep mountain.  My husband and boys was thrilled I gave it a whirl too and we went out  later that night for pizza to celebrate.

This will be a memory for them as well as for me.  I never hiked up a mountain with my parents, but, I did with my boys :-)

I found a little magnet in a store in town where we were staying that says The Joy is in the Journey and it is now on my fridge to remind me to always try my best to stay focused on the here and now and live in the moment and grab as much JOY as I can!




1 comment:

  1. Amen! What a great reminder for us all. Great job giving it a whirl, my friend. You did your best and that's what life is about:)

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