Look how far you've come. Since July of last year.
I know you feel like you are still climbing the same freaking mountain. But hold steady... plant your feet... and take a good hard look at what is behind you.
I tell you to plant your feet because when you see how far you've climbed it's likely your stomach will do flip flops and you'll think you're scared of heights... You'll have to squint your eyes to find the ground... and you will realize you have come so much farther than you thought.
Go ahead... Smile. You're doing it. YOU are climbing a MOUNTAIN.
Remember the beginning? Remember the weight of the baggage you were carrying in July of last year? The burdens were not light. Your back felt as though it would snap with every step. You packed everything under the sun for the journey and slowly... along the way... you realized you were carrying a load that didn't belong there anymore.....
You carried anger. God it was heavy. You carried it like gold... carefully packed away in the bag on your back. Then one day... you realized it wasn't helping you in the climb...it was costing you instead... you couldn't move as fast and it was holding you back...So you set the anger on fire.... you used it as kindle to keep you warm. Within a few days... all that anger had turned to ash...
Then your load was lighter.
You took another step.
You carried loss. You wonder how you carried something that isn't there... how do we carry what is gone? Memories. Loads of memories... bound in books...and you somehow managed to carry all of them. As you sat by the fire you'd pull those books out and you'd read them... chapter by chapter... you would recall... remember. As you read the replay and as you relived the loss... the before.. the during... and the after... you started realizing that many of the memories no longer served you. You couldn't change what happened. You couldn't take back the goodbye. Death is final. The Divorce is done. The relationship is over. So you tore out the memories that you can't live without...all the good ones... page by page... and you left the rest of the books behind....
Then your load was lighter.
So you took another step.
Remember the fear that used to shackle your feet together? Do you realize how many steps you took... chained? Your will was stronger than the fear though... that's what makes your story so amazing.. you had WILL.... you kept on despite it... and then one day you discovered you could break off the shackles. Fear didn't belong on the journey. You had enough. What were you afraid of after all? The climb? You were doing it. You were actually DOING IT... Eventually you stepped out of the chains and laced up your shoes with strands of courage instead... and the courage propelled you... your shackled steps became steady strides.. and you gained an incredible amount of ground.
Your load was lighter.
So you took another step.
You let go of...
I can't.
I won't.
I'm not strong enough.
I'm not smart enough.
I'm not ENOUGH.
and your load became lighter....
You let go of...
Preconceived ideas.
People's opinions.
Dogma.
and your load became lighter.
You let go of...
The worry.
The what ifs.
The whining.
and your load became lighter.
You let go of the shame. The guilt. It had no place. It was never yours to carry in the first place. You buried that sh*t.... so no one else would find it and pick it up... carrying it as their own... just like you did.
GOOD FOR YOU.
What you kept inside your bag was hope. You realized that was all you needed...
Hope and Belief.
You see they were both buried in the bottom of the bag you were carrying. You forgot you had packed them...It wasn't until you began leaving the other weight behind that you could feel the power of what was left inside you. It had been there all the time.
So you continued to climb.
And NOW....
You are HERE...
You've come SO FAR since July of last year.
Maybe you are not to the top of the mountain... YET....
But you are getting there. And that means EVERYTHING.
Take one last hard look... don't throw up... I know it's hard to look down from an elevation as high as where you stand now... but take one more look... feel proud...
YOU ARE DOING IT.
You are moving forward. You are moving on. You are moving up.
Now.
Turn around.
Throw the bag back on your back... you're gonna need what's left inside it....
and CLIMB.