Life's Like This

It’s a forest. A big huge forest.  It’s the Smoky Mountains. When you’re 20 something, your standing at the edge of the forest looking in. You are in awe. Its so big and beautiful. Its exciting and scary.  You are ready.  With all the enthusiasm, you have everything packed you think you will need for your trip. Your trip to the other side where there awaits you a castle of beauty and all the promises of a sweet restful life.  You are sure you have everything. The tent, sleeping bag, food, water, clothes and a great pair of hiking boots.  “This forest is mine. I got this!”

            As you head in and find the trail, the excitement is so exhilarating, you run.  The quicker you get to where you’re going the sooner you can just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

Before long the run turns to a jog then the jog to a walk.  There are snakes in here! You didn’t bring a bite kit for that.  There are huge rock walls that need to be climbed.  There are rivers that must be waded through.  There’s weird noises.  One after another you face things you never dreamed you would face. And things you never planned on preparing for.  Every once in a while, you slip on some damp moss and rock ledges, tumble down a hill and land in a pile of brush.  You check yourself for injuries, get up and move on.  This seems a little overwhelming and more than you bargained for.  When you finally find a peak high enough to look around, it seems the way back to the start (because all you want is rest) is much further now and more complicated than when you entered in.  You must keep pushing forward even though, at the highest peak, you can’t see the destination. 

This is the point on your journey that you begin to determine that you will start enjoying the good things around you since you’re not sure what the other side looks like.  You notice the wild flowers are blooming the most beautiful shade of purple and pink.  The animals seem to have a system in their storing food, talking to each other and interacting in their world.  Your eyes are starting to open.  This crazy wilderness that you realized you weren’t prepared for suddenly becomes a source of peace in all its hills and valleys.

I’m in the middle of my forest.  There is no ending yet because I still can’t see it from my mountain top but it took me everything I had to get here.  From battling lions to warding off poison ivy.  The number of days I have won is all of them.

Happy Trails and keep going, you’ll get there.