Good Morning Steemian Mulitiverse!
I hope everyone is quite well :)
In my adventures and contemplations yesterday, I remembered something from years ago and I thought I would like to share it with you.
I was pondering people's metaphorical mountains we have to climb in life, or our hurdles to jump so to speak.
Often times we find ourselves standing before daunting tasks, wondering how it is we are ever going to complete that which has been set before us.
One day, to conquer his fear of heights, a man, we will call him Josh, decided to go free climbing. Now most would consider that scaling up a cliff that is at least 150 feet high without any ropes, to resolve a phobia of being in high places would be a little bit... excessive.... but none the less, it was decided that this would be completed, and once it was, Josh knew he would have mastered a bit more of himself in doing it.
This man, along with his friend Joe, who was far more experienced in this sport than he, set fourth onto their journey to the top of the mountain (literally and metaphorically.) However, when they arrived, before even putting his gear in, our phobic friend Josh found himself growing weak in the legs, realizing the magnitude of what he was about to undertake.
"How do you eat an elephant?" Joe said to Josh
Josh looked up and replied with a smile, "one bite at a time."
He took a deep breath, calmed himself, finished preparing his gear and they both took their first steps toward their ascent up the mountain.
The first three feet were easy, and the second three foot set was as well, however once Josh realized he was 10 feet up, he felt his nerves begin to rise.
Joe realized that Josh was getting nervous, looked down at his pale friend and told him to keep his head forward or up, looking down at where he's been will only show him how far his fall would be if he slipped up.
"Just keep going" he said, "eventually you'll get to the top".
Again, they kept moving, kept working up their mountain, and as they went higher, Josh began to feel how high he had climbed.
At about the half way point, Josh decided to again, look down, and when he did, he froze. He could feel the blood draining out of his face, and his hands growing clammy inside of his gloves.
He looked at Joe with fear in his eyes and said "I can't move!"
Joe knew the fear Josh was feeling, but also knew that there was no stopping at this point, the only place to go was up.
Again, in a comforting voice Joe looked at Josh and said "This mountain you're climbing, you can't expect yourself to conquer it by climbing 150' really well one time, especially your first time. To master this mountain, and yourself, you only need to climb 3 feet, and then 3 feet again, you've already climbed 3 feet, almost 20 times, and you've done well every time because here you are. You're very good at climbing 3 feet. I already told you once, looking at where you came from isn't going to help you. Stay in your three foot world and keep moving forward, only looking at the next steps to take, and your destination."
Josh took a deep breath, and again, was able to climb, 3 more feet.
Josh climbed 3 feet and 3 feet and 3 feet again, and stayed in his 3 foot world, until eventually he felt something flat under his hand, followed by, his friend's hand pulling him up. Josh had reached the top of the cliff, besting his mountain and learning a bit about an inner strength he never knew was there.
Often times in our lives we are faced with mountains to climb. More often than not, it will come with it's lessons, but no matter how high that mountain is, if you stay in your three foot world you will get to the top.
You can not stand at the bottom and jump up to the top, and you will never get there if you sit down and tell yourself it's too big, but when you find the strength inside, and make the decision to climb that mountain, you will get there.
Thank you for visiting my Page Steemians!
Blessings! Ophiel