the grind

My roommate and I wanted to go for a hike today, something close and not too long but with a good view. Per recommendations we went for what is known as the "Abby Grind." I've heard of its intense, straight-up climb many times but had never attempted it, and I figured that I could endure 45 minutes of pain knowing it would be over soon.




About a year ago I went for a hike and wrote a post about all the parallels between hiking and life: the mental battle, the uphill, the looking-at-how-far-we've-come. Today's post is perhaps much less inspiring but while I was hiking I said I'd write it, and so here it is!




Today as I hiked, I couldn't help but notice all the ways that life is not like a hike.



First, there's no guaranteed time element. This hike was bearable for me because I knew that it was approximately 45 minutes of uphill climbing, and so I knew I was close. Even better, there were 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 markers along the way. Not so in life, particularly in the inner journey. It's hard to keep going, to persevere on the climb, because we don't know how much longer it will take. We don't know if tomorrow will bring the transformative moment we've been waiting for, or if this steady grind continues for the next decade or who knows how long.


Second, there's no guaranteed viewpoint. I knew that when I got to the top, there would be a viewpoint that many others had told me about before. Less so in life. Sure, sometimes we do get a bird's eye view of what our life has held, entailed, and meant, but not always. I can base my hope on the idea that my inner journey is leading me up to a beautiful place, but it's just a hope. I guess it's faith.



But finally, there's no guaranteed categorization of success or failure, and that is a blessing. Today I remembered a lot of hikes that I didn't finish, and then I also remembered a lot that I did. But not so with life. It's one continuous journey, and there is not way to fail as long as we take each day one step at a time with whatever it has to bring us. It's not a race, it's not a competition, and no one else's path is quite the same, though they may overlap. It is our journey to take, and we will only know each step as we take it.



And I sure hope there is a great view.