A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit a good friend in Washing state. He lives right along the Columbia river in a rural area, so we got to go hiking a lot. The first hike he took me on was amazing but arduous. I’ve been going to the gym a lot, so I felt like I could keep up fairly well. My friend told me it was a three mile hike up to some amazing water falls. Most of it was uphill, but he assured me it was manageable.
At first, the hike was pretty gradual, and we went at a fairly slow pace. I’m not a very fast walker anyway, so I was pretty happy. As the hike continued, the hills got steeper and more difficult, causing me to sweat quite profusely. But the views also got more spectacular on the way to the falls. When we finally made it to the end of our journey, my friend looked like he had barely done a thing while I’m sure I looked like I had just finished a marathon. He’d done this hike several times before and I just wasn’t used to the pace he wanted to keep. Also, he had seen most of the views before, and I hadn’t. I wanted to go at a much slower pace because I wanted to take in all the views, the scents, the sounds, and the feel of the area.
Hiking is a lot like our life as survivors. We all have an end goal. Sometimes the terrain is easy going and we walk through our life without much distress. Other times, the hills are steep, unsteady, and uncertain. If your like me, I tend to concentrate on those steep hills because I don’t want to fall and I want to keep up with everyone else. But I had to realize that it’s alright to stop during those times and look around. I miss so much when I focus on how hard the journey. There is so much going on around me that is beautiful, wonderful, and spectacular. I need to stop and take it all in sometimes, especially when I’m on the hard road.
The end of our journey can mean so many different things to us, and it’s gorgeous. But there is so much along the way that we should stop to take in before we get there. Things that really help us appreciate the entire journey; the hard, steep hills and the easy, smooth terrain. We’ll get there, to our healing, in the end.
Harry L. Estes 