I've climbed the mountain and I looked around

Today, I climbed a mountain.

It was my first hike ever, and It was more than a mile up of strenuous rocky trail.

At first I wasn't planning on going, but I was talked into it by one of my house mates and well by God I was determined. (Not really, I just didn't wanna hang around the house by my self until they came back with their stories of how awesome it was.)

So at 2 o'clock this afternoon we set off, up the street across the road and to the quaint trail that was just a little bit hilly. This is nice, I kept thinking, day dreaming all the while of stories I could be writing when I got back down.

Half way to the first plateau I was knackered out. Tired as everything and wheezing for breath.

"How far is it?" I kept asking, by this time only thirty minutes had passed.

We continued our ascent up, up up, up, up and up some more, then after that we went up again, and then up once more just for good measure.

Less than a third of the way up I was having to forcibly move my legs to keep going.

It was a constant battle of wills, my bodies will to shut down and my own pride to keep me going to the top.

For the first time in my life I was having to really really really work for something.

Not that I hadn't really strove to do things before, but this was so draining and I wanted so badly to give up every step of the way, but I needed to get to the top, I had to.

So I went on, realizing this is the part that people leave out when they talk about 'valleys' and 'mountains' in their spiritual lives.

Most people just want to ride the gondola up to the top of the mountain from their toils in the valley, but it's only really worth seeing if you have to will your way up.

Tomorrow is going to hurt like nothing I've ever felt before, but I'm gonna move my legs forward again, fighting for every inch of ground I take, because I've taken the mountain, and even if I have to stubbornly move forward to get to where I'm going, I'm going to get there.

That's the lesson I really felt I learned from climbing the mountain today. Not that I was out of shape, which I learned that too, but that I have to really want something so badly I won't give up for it.