Monday 6 April 2020 / 21 Days Lock Down Reflection
Thinking back to moments that have had some significance, turning point or profound upheaval in my life to help keep me on track. Thank you to all who follow my rambles. I have been quiet on social media for some time, I guess now is as good a time as any to share.
A Tale of Two Mountains:
It was over the brim of my coffee cup at my favourite breakfast retreat that I saw Kersten crack a sheepish smile, uttering the words, ‘Mt. Kenya’. “If it comes about that you do join us on Mt. Kilimanjaro this year, you must promise to do so on one condition. You must climb Mt. Kenya afterwards with me”.
I made an excellent recovery from a dazed stare, still managing not to spill any coffee in the process and suddenly found myself offering my handshake, reflecting back an equally stupid grin. The voice inside my head cowering in the corner stuttered “Oh Boy, here we go again!”
MT Kilimanjaro
And so it was and so it is. At times it is still somewhat hard to believe. We summited two of Africa’s great peaks one week apart during October 2016. Given that Point Lenana is the 3rd highest peak on Mt. Kenya and not as high as Mt. Kilimanjaro it is still, most certainly, something to write home about.
But what does one write exactly. Having traversed many character building ridges and even deeper questions along the way. Here and there I have shared a momentary flashback with friends, at times with some charismatic body language to emphasize the story, but the mountain tends to linger more silently in the deeper parts of your soul. In the quiet moments outside of the regular trappings of life, she whispers to you her offerings of truth.
One would think that all the learnings of the mountain are integrated during the experience of climbing her. I came home feeling I could summit my world. I could take on any challenge, nothing could stand in my way.
All hell broke loose.
Once again the journey of self-reflection began. Surely this was not the way it’s supposed to be after my epic trip. What happened to the glory of the previous moment? Am I missing something somehow? Am I not seeing and applying some valuable lesson? Is it possible that I’m even being punished?
Then it struck me. You can’t summit to the next mountain top from the top of the mountain you are already on. You have to first go back down into the valley.
Mt Kenya
Coming down off Mt. Kenya the morning after our summit was not easy to say the least. We were tired and we were done. The descent was exceptionally steep and seemingly treacherous. We had no walking sticks and the surface consisted mostly of loose rock and gravel. Numerous tumbles ensued. Neither of us were having much fun and as hard as it is to believe, by now we had both lost our sense of humour. But then isn’t it funny somehow? I find it interesting that few mountain climbers ever talk about the descent? On the mountain, as in life, with every new plateau we progress to, we have to first take the journey down into the valley. There has to be a time for descent, for a reckoning of what we have learned, it is part of the cycle experienced on the mountain. Resilience and attitude will be tested. This is a given.
The valley experience has much to offer. This is the laboratory where we develop the mountain mind set. Coming down off the mountain, it is in the valley that we once again prepare, we research. We develop new capabilities, insight and faculties. We discover new ways of management that we will need to adapt to the ever changing environment around us.
We must be prepared to adapt a different way of thinking towards different levels of the environment. This is essential to survival. Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya were two completely different experiences. Neither was any less difficult, both remarkable in their own right. No two mountains are alike.
We have to be master and student, again and again. The summit and valley experience is an ongoing cycle to be embraced if we are to continue to climb the mountains of life. Those that are nimble enough to be more innovative, more adaptable, to be willing to let things fall apart out of the comfort zone of structure, to be creative and spontaneous will be the ones that summit new possibilities, whilst passing through the valleys of discovery and integrating these values along the way.
The mountain top offers us the vision of where we are going. Mt. Kenya was particularly majestic with its endless mountain landscape vistas. Summiting and descending down the other side, though challenging, was rewarding with its own journey of discovery. It resonates the call of the mountain experience.
If we are to embrace this life, we must not forget the vision of where we are going. Summiting requires a certain tenacity, but so does the decent. Are we fully prepared to embrace both?
