Learnings of The League - Getting Over The Hill

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about that hill. This isn’t the common slang that refers (unkindly) to people who are middle-aged or older, as being “over the hill” – you know The Fem League isn’t into that kind of ageist language. Instead, we’re talking about a different hill. We’re reflecting on the steep climb toward any goal that matters to us.?

We’ve all been there. We’ve all done it. Many of us are doing it right now. The goal we’re striving for might have to do with our professional or financial life. Maybe it has to do with some aspect of our health or personal growth. At any given moment, it’s possible that we’re climbing more than one hill at once! This is particularly true because some of the most-anticipated goals in our lives aren’t even our own, strictly speaking: we often have to work hard toward milestones in the lives of our partners, our kids, or someone else we love, whose development is so important to us that it’s really our own. Supporting, guiding, or even just loving them as they climb is very much our ascent, too, and it takes a lot.?

We know that it’ll be such an enormous relief when we (or they!) finally reach the top of the hill. We’ll be able to pause, catch our breath and stretch our muscles and even sit down for a while in the shade of a tree. We know that we’ll eventually have a snack and a nap. We know that the top of the hill is a plateau where, at least for a while, we can just cruise. And from there, we can check out the views of the entire landscape: we’ll be able to see everything so much more clearly than we can right now. We’ll be able to see where we’ve come from, and get a gander at where we want to go. We know it’ll all be fine.?

But between here and there, sisters, it can really be a slog. The incline can be so steep, we can lose perspective on the path. Day after day after day, we just have to keep getting up and doing the same thing, putting one foot in front of the other. It often comes down to gritting our teeth and persevering. Some days the changes are so gradual that we can barely observe them, and it might seem like we’re not really making any progress at all. It’s so frustrating if we’re caught in a phase of one-step-forward, two-steps-back! It can be hard to have patience, perseverance, and faith. But those phases happen. They’re natural and normal. If we keep at it, those phases will give way to stretches of two-steps-forward, one-step-back. Sooner or later we’ll find ourselves backsliding less and less, striding more and more. It’s happening. It really is.?

Deep down, we know we’ve got this. We know that many goals are more like marathons than sprints, and we honour the resilience it takes to keep at it, again and again, day after day, step after step. We already have everything we need to make it to the top of the hill. This includes both our own inner resources, as well as a community that understands us, supports us, and cheers us on all the way. We’re right here with you for the climb – and we stand ready to meet up there at the summit with binoculars, bubbly, and cake.?