Carve Your Mountain

• “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” – Norman McLean

We planned on a modest hike, roughly 900 feet in elevation to the top of a ridge where we were promised a scenic waterfall. Except, by this time of year, you can’t be guaranteed one.

The heat caused beads of sweat to run down my chest and back, as I puffed on my albuterol. I blocked the pain as I forced myself to slow my breathing, regulating my heartrate while I checked my bag for salt tabs.

Cystic fibrosis causes a sodium chloride imbalance and I ingest salt on hikes with the same fervor that I use to have for whiskey and diets on a Friday night. Okay, I still ingest that with great fervor, too. You caught me.

I love the pain of hiking. I am not as fast like other trailblazers. I’m obnoxiously slow. My backpack is littered with half a dozen medications to make sure I live through it. And my dog is usually by my side, except when i convince my fiance it’s time for her to be carried.

This hike started like any other. A quick 4 miles to the waterfall, I let my mind wander about all the wrong turns I took in life, hoping to not do that on the trail.

I’ve struggled with my place in life. Where do I belong? Do I belong?

I was a recruiter for ten years. Then, I started a recruiting company.

I shut it down because my passion was gone and I wondered if there was something more.

For a while, I did sales training. Shut it down because although I wanted to be like my friends in EO and Vistage, I didn’t have the drive for sales like they did.

I was a Zumba instructor (still have my cert) but didn’t have the lung function to teach my own classes well.

I created a social media marketing course (because everyone wanted to know how I get paid speaking gigs & promoted a best-selling book).

Where did I fit?

I take one step in front of another, contemplating how I fit. Looking at the variety of trees, insects, plants on the dusty trail. And as I rounded a bend, the quiet cacophony of the forest ended and the sound of madly rushing water carving the canyon pierced my ears and silenced my thoughts.

Thousands, maybe millions of years ago, the water set out to carve it’s place in the world through rock, trees, and wilderness. It didn’t have it all figured out. It just flowed.

And as it flowed, it gave life to the vast species around it.

Nourishing them. Revitalizing them.

A thousand different paths, merge to one. Connecting all the differences into one moment. Making every leaf, tree, forest, flora, and fauna beautiful in their own unrelated way. To make them one and whole.

You need all the parts of your journey to give your gifts to the world.

The expansive waterfalls remind you that your life is an evolution of different strategies, ideas, and dreams…creating a journey for you to hike through. Be brave to embrace who you really are and all the pieces that have lead you to where you are. Because, my friends, you have the capacity to carve a mountain…

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