What I’d like to talk about today are goals and our journeys towards them. Imagine that your goal, whatever it is (weight loss, fitness, or something else entirely), is the peak of a mountain. To reach it, you must climb a path up the side of the mountain. In the same way that no two mountains are the same, nor even two paths up the same mountain, no two goals are the same. You will have different challenges from your friends, different reasons for climbing the mountain. But mountains are similar, and we can all share our knowledge and learn from one another as we climb our paths.
At the outset, the way will probably be broad and easy to follow. Many people have started up the mountain. You’ll have companions and laughter, people to walk with you along the broad, smooth trail. It will be fun.
But, sooner or later, the way will become more difficult. As you climb, maybe the path becomes steeper or rockier. Maybe an obstacle will block your path. Maybe it becomes less travelled. And here, perhaps, your companions will turn back. They were with you while the going was smooth, but now it’s too hard. It’s just easier to shrug and return to base camp, where it’s comfortable. Sure, it’s far away from the peak, but at least it’s got heat and running water.
But you won’t turn back. You’ve planned ahead. You have lifelines prepared and a good map to guide you. Maybe you’ve even managed to convince one of your friends to stay with you on the path, no matter how hard it gets. You know where your goal is, and you’re still going to move towards it. What are these lifelines in terms of weight loss? There are lots of them! People to encourage you and keep you accountable, tracking software, established menus or workout routines, and, most importantly, a plan. You need a plan to get you where you’re going, in the same way your mountain-climbing counterpart needs his map to show him the paths and the obstacles.
And now you, back on the mountain, have made it past some of the obstacles. You’re climbing up the mounting. The obstacles will still be there, true. Sometimes you’ll have to back-track and find ways around them. Sometimes clouds might descend over the peak and hide your goal, so that you can’t even see it. All you see is the mountain, huge and forbidding, on all sides of you. But don’t fear! The peak is still there! And if you keep following your plan, taking one step after the other along the path, you’ll keep getting closer and closer to it. One small step at a time, you’re getting closer.
Maybe you slip, fall, and find yourself further down the mountain. It’s at times like this that we want to join our friends at the base-station chalet, drinking hot chocolate and bemoaning that we’ll never reach the top. But don’t do that! Instead, look down. See how high up you are! Yes, you may be lower down than you were before your slip, but the important thing is you’re still on the mountain! You’re higher than when you started! And even if you’ve managed to fall all the way back down to the bottom of the mountain, at least now you know what to do! You know which paths to avoid and which to follow. You know how to get past those pesky obstacles that blocked you the first time. And that means you’ll travel the path even faster the next time!
Still you climb. Up, up, and up. Sometimes losing the goal, sometimes having it clearly in sight. Sometimes faltering, sometimes charging forward. Up, up, and up. And one day, you realize that the peak is right before you, just there. It’s so close you can touch it. And you do. You’re at the top of your mountain! Shout it to the world! Congratulate yourself, because you’ve done it! Huzzah!
And maybe, just maybe, you’ll realize that the goal, though important, was not the most important part of this whole climb. Even more important than reaching the peak was the knowledge you gathered along the way. You have new skills. You can do things now you’d never dreamed of when you were sitting in base-station. You’ve made new friends along the way, had new experiences. And now, guess what, you know how to climb a mountain!
So… where’s the next peak?
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