Everything is silent with the world asleep. I rise, bracing against the cold of the morning that begs me to stay huddled in my sleeping bag. I step outside the tent, marvel at the air that feels as fresh as Earth’s first breath, and feast my eyes on a view that pierces the heart: a sky of the darkest hue of blue on one end, slowly lightening to a reddish-yellow tinge on the other, still littered with faintly glimmering stars. Below, the mountains are but dark shadows, like ragged teeth reaching for the sky. Thin wisps of fog slowly drift below their peaks like phantom rivers.
Nature’s beauty has a way of nourishing the soul. A few years ago, I would have reached for my camera to try and capture the scene. These days, I’d like to think I know just a bit more. I’d like to think living in the moment is so much better.
It feels like we’ve degraded to a very poor world, where people could see but couldn’t appreciate. Where photographs take the place of memories for and of people who are too busy chasing the coolest fads and latest destinations. We just can’t bear to be left behind, can we? Definitely not. Not in this day and age where most people are judged based on what they have on their social media profiles. We’re all too addicted to gaining likes and attention.
I started climbing mountains a few years ago. I’d like to think that it’s one of the more important turning points in my life. It opened my world to a greatness beyond what my words could hope to describe. But climbing was only the start of it. Learning to become a mountaineer was a different matter: You could climb but still not be a mountaineer. For what little I was worth, I broke pretty easily. It didn’t take much — all the mountains did was take away the conveniences on which I was too reliant: electricity, running water, comfort, plentiful food, instant communication, and so on. Oh, and that misguided sense of entitlement, of thinking that money can solve just about everything — that you could simply pay someone to carry your load when you get tired.
Stripped of everything else, I realized that most conveniences often took life away from us more than they gave. Having to do without these conveniences forced me to use my mind a lot more: to plan, navigate, adapt, and it made me connect with the earth so much more. It was on the mountains that I discovered and overcame most of my weaknesses, apprehensions, and a sh*tload of
my pretensions. I learned that the tool you must keep sharpest is your mind. Atop their summits, I found the confidence I needed to make myself better. The mountains brought me back to earth, showed me what I was capable of, what I needed to learn, and most importantly, who I truly was.
Once I was able to rid myself of most of my foolishness, it became easier to partake of the wisdom of older outdoorsmen — things they’ve been saying all this while to people who would not hear. The more you humble yourself, the more you’ll learn. Just like the great master Jes. Critical thinking. Function over form. Tolerance. Patience. Persistence. A genuine toughness that goes beyond appearances. These are the qualities that make a man equal to the mountain.
We share a sense of disdain and pity for people who want everything instantly. They are yet to appreciate what this life has to offer. We are instilled with the capacity to accept certain things that are beyond our control — such as the weather. It helps us adapt to the overwhelming craziness of daily life so much easier without losing our cool. That’s why so many of us say that we climb to keep ourselves sane, I suppose. That, and there can be very little drama in your life when you choose to fill it with adventure. And thus we remember these mountains for home and help and hope.
We seek a different high — the sort of joy you get when you push yourself to your absolute limits, and just when you feel that you’re about to crumble to your knees, you find just a little more strength… just enough to make it through. It’s a sort of beauty in itself. For these are the moments in which we find the best in ourselves. And finding the best in ourselves time and time again is simply priceless. Everywhere we go, we find another bit of ourselves through and in the earth—in the littlest things. And so we come to know the value of beauty.
We take in and wonder at the infinite beauty of nature, a sense of fulfillment, and adventures to make us feel alive. We understand that kindness and love are what must primarily be exercised when proving yourself to other people is no longer a concern. The paths we take and the mountains that we climb are for finding the destination and the meaning of the journey for ourselves — not just for the sake of being able to say that we’ve been there.
Remember, it’s not a contest — and it never will be. Do not measure the mountains by the standard of yourself.
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Kevin Manuel, 28, is a financial consultant.