Hey friends. I’m writing to you today from the beautiful state of Arizona. There are countless miles in front of me of flat land accompanied by serene mountains and plateaus in the far spaces. Today I faced one of the most challenging hikes of my life. It made me realize that no matter how much you prepare for something, it can still hit you like a ton of bricks and the only way out of the situation is to go straight through it.

Hiking: A Journey of Growth

This morning, my husband and I left our AirBnB tiny home to embark on a hike we’ve been looking forward to for years. After passing Humprey’s Peak endless times, we finally made a point to book something near it so that we quite frankly couldn’t pass it up again.

Humphrey’s Peak is the highest point in Arizona, an ancient volcano with wilderness all over and lava rock strewn across the highest points. It’s an incredible trek, which I highly recommend if you ever get the chance.

Right now in the evening, the skies are a pretty purple, blue, pink and orange fading into one another. It’s breathtaking. But this morning, it was chilly, cloudy, and cold. (If you do decide to do this hike, be sure to layer! We passed so many people in shorts and tank tops. The top was frigid and had winds so strong we nearly fell over).

The start of the hike was a telltale sign of how the rest of the trek would go. It was straight uphill, unforgiving, and motivating all at the same time. I couldn’t wait to get to the top.

By about halfway through, I was seriously struggling. For some reason I always crave grape bubblegum about this time, so I made sure to arm myself with some! This helped for a little while to keep my mind from hating the uphill, but eventually the annoyance returned.

Hiking is something that is a personal journey. I learned this more than anything today. Let me explain how.

 

–Habitual Growth: Looking Back And Moving Forward

 

 

Facing Challenges in Hiking and in Life

Once we passed a bunch of people (it’s surprisingly a busy trail!), we continued on to the top. I got increasingly annoyed as my husband so often treks ahead of me. Not often out of sight, just enough that I know I need to pick up the pace!

To succeed, you have to struggle.

In my opinion, this can be applied in so many areas of our lives. We as humans constantly look for a way out of difficult situations, quit early and make excuses, or say we’ll come back and try again.

Why?

I can’t give you the correct answer on this, as I believe it’s a personal journey that we all have to face. Sometimes, we decide to turn around. Other times, we push through.

What have you done lately that you’ve needed to make a decision to push through?

I’m clumsy. I always have been. I’ve done a little better in my adult life, but anytime I’m near a cliff edge, well, that shit gets sketchy. You need to be on high alert, knowing that any wrong move can send you spiraling downward into the jagged rocks and tall trees.

Therefore, I often have to stop to see the sights separately, since I literally have to use all of my focus on the ground in front of me to ensure I don’t misstep. As we got closer to the top, all I could think about was the revolving thoughts going on inside my head. “Am I going to make it? I don’t think I can do this, I’m going to need to turn around…”

Luckily, I am blessed with a supportive partner, and most of the time during hikes, he encourages me to keep going, tells me I’m doing great and pushes me to make it to the finish line. It’s not that he was doing less of this on purpose today, but more that he was on his own personal journey…and I didn’t even see that since I was too worried about my own.

Oftentimes we can rely too heavily on the support around us, which in turn forces us to make decisions less and think on our own when the going gets rough. This is what happened today.

 

Navigating Hardships: Finding Strength in Slowing Down

 

 

Struggle is Real, On This Hike, In This Life

Why is it easier to lash out onto others when we are in distress? Why is it that when we get uncomfortable as humans that we feel the need to act in a way that we typically wouldn’t if we weren’t struggling.

The struggle is real. This is real. Life is real and the struggle is constantly within it.

Without struggle we wouldn’t grow, without struggle we cannot form into a better version of ourselves, without struggle and failure and hardship, we cannot become stronger and more adapted to situations in which we need to be.

Struggle is always present, in some way, shape or form. Its learning curve is a mystery to me but I thank the heavens for it on a regular basis as it’s helped to mold me into who I am today. I believe I have several areas of improvement to work on in this lifetime, but I am finally beginning to become more comfortable and confident in my abilities to do so.

Through tough times and learning opportunities like today, I’ve realized that it takes situations like these to understand others better, or when it’s time to go inward and work on myself just a little more.

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This week friend, I want you to do the same. I want you to go inward and realize 3 things that you could improve upon this week.

These changes may not happen quickly, but jot them down and repeat them to yourself daily. Each opportunity that arises can make you stronger. Each opportunity can reward you in ways you may have never even imagined.

Struggle through it, push forward, and keep going. Whatever it is that you may be going through, you’re going to come out on top. I know it.