When the summit is not the goal 🙂
A comic inspired by a recent hike up Middle Fell in the Lake District, England. The route takes you via Greendale Tarn and is supposed to be a “moderate” walk according to the National Trust, but with a bad foot and improper shoes I found the steep uphill climb really difficult. After a lot of being pulled up by K, I found a spot by Greendale Gill where I decided to settle down and wait while he climbed up to the tarn. I could see the Wastwater Screes plunge into the water before me, and far away in the distance I could see the sea! I could even make out the windmills.
I drank the water from the gill and listened to its musical gurgling. I opened a bag of chips and ate it happily. I was perfectly content, and my initial dismay at not having made it to the top faded away. Maybe there was beauty in being halfway up, too.
Often we invalidate our feelings because of guilt, because we feel the problem isn’t “big enough”, and so it grows quietly into something that damages our everyday functioning. You wouldn’t not attend to a bleeding cut on your finger because someone else has a massive open wound. “Others have it worse” is not a reason for us to not live the best version of ourselves.
