Motion. It is all about staying in motion.  It’s about putting one foot in front of the other, day after day, step after step.  Not stopping to sit down, keeping the momentum, keeping your chin lifted so you can see that summit ahead of you.

Those last steps are usually the hardest. The ones where your muscles are trembling, when each step burns your lungs. These are the steps that can break you, if you don’t push through.

But you do.  And you reach that summit. And you have a moment to take in the beauty of your success, and the enjoy the long, deep breaths that fill your lungs.  Your adrenaline is still fuelling your body, numbing the pain and making simple colours brighter, and more perfect.

and then you take that first step down the mountain. Back home. Back to normal.

And you realize that the return journey is harder, that putting things back together is more difficult that you imagined.  That things don’t just slide into place, fitting perfectly in their original position.  There was wear and tear, and damage caused. Things won’t ever be like they were, and so the steps back to “normal” aren’t a retracing on the original path, but a hacking of the weeds and bushes, to create something new.

Its getting used to new patterns, and new roles. It is allowing injuries to recover, and muscles to grow stronger.  It is about giving your body and soul time to rest and rebuild.

Reaching the summit also expands your view. You see that before you there may lie multiple other summits you need to conquer before you can change your path, or perhaps the high ground continues far ahead.. past the end of your view, with no downhill to come.  Or perhaps rest is just right there… steps away, ready and waiting.

But, with one summit complete, you know whatever else is ahead of you, you can manage.
But just maybe not today.