We conquer
Marmolada is the highest mountain of the Dolomites, Italy.
Photo by Marco Bonomo via Unsplash.com.
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” — Edmund Hillary
Hillary makes an excellent point. The mountain can’t be conquered by any person. But its magnificent, inevitable presence can be a venue for the building of skill, courage and resilience. It’s not surprising that mountains have become a favorite metaphor for the challenges of daily living.
Perhaps you face a year of daunting challenge in 2017, as I do. Or maybe your year promises to be typical, but holds an as-yet unrevealed crisis or obstacle that will take you by surprise. Either way, I hope we will remember the mountain and work with the reality of whatever lies in our paths. We can survive, and maybe even thrive. I really believe that.
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: challenges, courage, diligence, effort, faith, hope, mountains, New Year, obstacles, resilience, resolve, resourcefulness, setbacks, stamina
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia! I love this thought: “We can survive, and maybe even thrive.”
Tomorrow I start back to work after four weeks off, where I did almost nothing useful at all. I didn’t even see friends or family. It feels like the waste of a month, but I’m sure that there was some meaning or reason for it. It’s likely that I am better positioned to thrive in this coming year.
Blessings of the New Year to you and Matt.
Susan, perhaps it’s my compulsive aversion to any sort of waste, but I’ve come to believe nothing is ever totally lost, even if mis-spent. It all goes into the compost heap of our experiences, thoughts, actions and inaction, that make up nourishment for the soil that will feed whatever days remain to us. That’s how I prefer to see it, anyway. And I hope you welcomed your return to work with a renewed energy!