Towards the end of Spring this year, we had a gloriously beautiful day without the chilling breeze, so my family pulled out our hydration backpacks and took to the mountains.
The trail we chose that day was one we haven’t hiked in a few years. In fact, as we were walking merrily along, I realized I didn’t remember anything about it.
But I should have paid attention.
There are some basic truths in life it is important to remember, for the purposes of this post we are just going to concentrate on one – What Goes Down, Must Come Up.
That’s how it goes right?
As we followed the trail down, down, down, I was so caught up in the shadows of Pine and Aspen trees, the long dried moss on the rocks and the cool mountain breeze, that I completely overlooked the fact that we were walking down, down, down.
In the basin, the kids had a blast. They ran around, inventing games and climbing rocks, while Handsome and I sat in the shade of a granddaddy Pine tree and talked.
When it was time to go, I called the kids, donned my backpack and turned around.
My heart sank to my toes.
It was a steep climb out.
Have you ever felt Dread? You would know it if you did. It is probably one of the least helpful emotions we carry. It likes to yell “Can’t” and “Won’t” and “Impossible” and “Too Hard” until we are as miserable as can be, then Dread points and laughs.
Which is just rude.
I can’t think of a single helpful thing Dread does. So I’m going to take away the capital letter and dismiss dread forthwith.
We all know the best way to climb a mountain is to put one foot in front of the other. If we concentrate on that and keep doing that, it isn’t long before we can look back and see just how far we’ve come.
That’s when dread is exposed for the chalatan it is.
Because, what goes down, must come up. We don’t stay stuck in the basin forever. Eventually, we start looking up, eventually we start moving up. If we keep moving forward, we move forward, leaving dread far, far behind.
No matter how steep, no matter how rocky, no matter how long, everything is conquered eventually, one step at a time.
So, tell that dread to take a hike and remind yourself that WHAT GOES DOWN MUST COME UP.
Things always get better my friends.
Always.