This morning, while hiking a neighborhood mountain, I realized that I was exhausted. I looked up at the path ahead of me and saw remainder of my uphill climb. It looked so daunting and I found myself wanting to give up. My heart was pounding so hard, the hot sun was beating down on me, I’d had a stressful week at work, and my stomach was growling at me. In that moment, it felt like everything was working against me. I could see no possible way for me to carry on.
I was faced with a decision. Either I continue on to the top or cut my losses and turn back. To be completely honest, I just wanted to sit down and do nothing. Okay, maybe I wanted to cry a little… and maybe pound my fists a bit, but I knew that stopping to have a small breakdown really wasn’t going to help. So I took a drink of water and looked behind me, considering both of my options. As I looked at the trail behind me, I realized something. My path had been difficult, but it had also been lengthy. I looked again at what I had left to climb and then once more at where I had been. I felt a wave of pride wash over me. I had already accomplished so much on this exhausting hike. Sure, I had stumbled and tripped a couple of times along the way, but I had made it this far in spite of my mistakes. I turned back around. facing the mountain before me, and I made the choice to put one foot in front of the other until I made it to the top.
My journey to better health is a lot like that mountain hike. It will seem impossible at times. I WILL stumble and I may even fall. It’s inevitable. However, I must remind myself that every moment of my journey is full of choices. Yes, it can feel like everything is against me and yes, I will make bad choices from time to time. It is what I do in these moments that determine whether or not I will be successful in my journey. I can choose to blame the stress of my day to day life, I can choose to blame other people and I can choose to blame anything and everything… I can even choose to turn back and let my mistakes control me. OR I can take a moment to catch my breath, look back on the path behind me with pride, and realize just how far I’ve come already. I can choose to keep climbing and keep moving forward toward the goal of becoming a better version of myself.