Tough Stuff

I wanted to give you a post about a serene trek along a lush river to a fairytale campsite, but that would've been for the hike we thought we were going on. Instead, we unexpectedly summited a freaking mountain.

You see, a plan was hatched for the holiday weekend, supplies were quickly purchased, and bags were haphazardly packed. It was, as they say, "no big deal." Except it was. We hadn't read the trail description carefully. We didn't know what we were getting into. This trail, it went uphill, steeply, relentlessly. We had too many pounds on our backs, but not enough water. I gave most of mine to the dog, as he shouldn't suffer for my own dumbness. Although the path was busily sun dappled and views of the volcanoes emerged from the forest, we were all in pain. One hour turned into five, and up we still went ...

Spoiler alert! The story ends with us making it to the fairytale mountain lake. We did not die. We did not give up.

Instead of a glorification of escaping to nature, then, this post is a glorification of doing tough stuff. Like, it's okay when things are hard. It's okay to dig deep. We walked up the side of a mountain, but we felt like we conquered the world. Had we known how bad it'd hurt, would we have undertaken this mission? Maybe not. But maybe, as modern humans, we are too free to choose.