Climbing Hills . . .

BO . . . the best dog ever!

Walking my sweet dog is one of the great joys of my life.  Bo and I walk together 3 or 4 times a week.  Last week, on the trails of Irvine Park we came across a steep hill.  Of course, Bo bounded up the hill, he ran ahead of me and back to me and then bounded up the hill again.  I love watching him play, bounce and run around effortlessly.  

But for me it was a different story.  As I climbed that hill, I realized that I wouldn’t be bounding up that hill effortlessly.  For me, it was a little slower process.  I needed to focus on the next steps that were right in front of me, right in my path.  I decided to just look ahead, one step at a time.  When I focused on that, I easily climbed the hill and quickly found myself at the top.  It got me thinking about how easy it is to lose focus in life, especially when things get hard or the road is steep.  

When you are going through something difficult, how do you keep one foot in front of the other?  How do you keep moving up the hill?  What do you focus on?  I think our brains naturally go to the negative, our brains like to outline to us the difficulty of what we are trying to accomplish, the reasons why it is hard or why it won’t work. (This is what brains do...)  But one step at a time keeps us moving forward and brings us nearer to the goal.  

I love the Chinese Proverb:  “Be not afraid of going slowly, Be afraid of standing still”.

You can do it… one step at a time.  In fact, with the right mindset you can do almost anything.  Keep moving forward, no matter how slowly.