Just Another Monday
Welcome to Monday.
If you're like me, you're half awake and wondering where the weekend went. The moments away from the soul-sucking existence we call "work" was gratefully interrupted for a few days and now, with the rising sun, it's back to the grindstone.
Some of us do find a reward in what we do. Not everything is based around the gladless toil for another's riches nor is everything we do meaningless. There's a reward in the journey each of us take, regardless of where it starts and where it stands today.
To get to some of the most incredible vistas in the Faroes, you have to climb. It can be done by foot, sure, but in many cases, the views are from the slightly-off-the-beaten track roadside pullouts, after winding your way up tight switchbacks.
The view you see here is right before you head down into Gjógv and after the ascent from Funningur. It's a climb through the fog and mists on those humid days and regardless of hoof, foot, or tyre, it represents a welcome pause for reflection in any journey.
To get where you want or need to go requires effort and energy. Oftentimes, it's as grinding as one foot in front of the other, the hour spent in traffic morning and evening, and the endless emails at all hours. It's designed to test your mettle and persistence like some sort of cosmic Ninja Warrior competition. It's easy to give up when you raise your head and see the mountain in front of you.
We don't know what we'll find at the supposed "top of the mountain." For many, it's a plateau with a clear view all around and that is good enough. For others, it's merely a stepping stone to something else, greater or lesser, and a pause for breath. Still others will climb their entire lives, never reaching what they view as the top and, breathless, worn, and ragged, they'll claim dissatisfaction with the weather, the trail, their bones...anything to deflect from the emptiness of their vapid pursuit.
I say this with a bemused tone but, there's no one way to climb a mountain. There may be better ways and worse ways; potential cliffhangers and shale slips can be around every corner. There may be paved roads and sheep trails full of the shit and mire we've come to expect from the environs we find ourselves in. Regardless of the path, the goal is the pinnacle, the process is the path, and the journey is formative.
I started this post with a nod to reflection, a gentle whisper of remembrance to what and where we find ourselves. Our histories are made daily, the path winding and unwinding as we find our clarity, our purpose, our movement. What seems like a gentle bend today could, on future inspection, be more twisted and gnarled than the old corkscrew willow that grew up outside my house as a youngster. Again, regardless of those twists and turns, we've become, we've been made anew through the course of our journeys.
Dear souls, Mondays suck. Always have, always will. They suck for the very reason that they pose the mountain of the week to us. They hide the summit of our progress under the clouds, threaten the rain of busy work, the mud and mire of a thousand unpleasant tasks. But they also represent a moment of departure, an embarkation on another fantastic journey to unwinding the tangles of our story. And that, beyond anything else, is a cause to celebrate.
As you reach for that cuppa today, perhaps letting yourself know that there's a story to write, a journey to complete, a person to become is the right approach to an otherwise unremarkable autumn morning. And who knows? Maybe at the end of that path lies a pretty fantastic view of your story. Can't wait to find out with you.
May it ever be so.
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