The Manitou Incline located near Colorado Springs has such great story. You can read about it in this Wiki Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitou_Incline; Nowadays, it is a gathering place from fitness enthusiasts, to instagrammers, to challenge seekers, or the casual tourist. It's impressive landscape can't be missed as you drive around the rocky mountains along Pike's Peak highway.
Climbing the incline is grueling at any fitness levels. It's less than a mile long from base to top, but more than 2000ft elevation. You are climbing from the moment you checked-in to the time you reach the top. Climbing to the top may seem simple, lift one leg, plant your feet, lift your body, and repeat. But the climb itself is strenuous starting at 6,500ft at the base to 8,590ft at highest point. In one of the posters throughout the trail, it's equivalent to climbing the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower - twice!
Much like our desire to climb the ladder of life, no climb is ever easy. I remember being a fresh college graduate, full of energy and enthusiasm. I was very determined, I wanted to work at a technology company, the best in the country. I had an eye on that Incline. When I got there, I was intimidated by the amount of knowledge in the air. Everyone seem to know what they are doing. The same way I look at the Manitou Incline, I was in awe! Look at these steps, from base to top. I can do this, I want to do this, how amazing would it be to do this. My first day on the job is perfectly captured by the emojis in photo. There's excitement, there's dread, and there's anticipation.
The Incline provides milestones in number of steps to show the climbers how far they have come, much like our climb in life. We have the promotion milestones, number-of-years-at-work milestones, childbirth, death, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, retirement, you name it we celebrate it. Through this journey, there are milestones I would rather skip. Milestones where I do not think I have the energy, the courage, the desire. When the going gets tough, I just wanted to sit and stare and pause until it all goes away. That somehow, I will be at the top when it all ends. But sitting and staring is not fast-forward button, it is a pause-button. The Incline does not allow skip, there's no short cut. Just like the climb of our life, each of these steps, each milestones, no matter how hard, no matter how painful, must be taken one step at a time. Celebrated and remembered one breath at a time. 300 steps may feel grueling, but when you are at the 2500th step, it just seem a distant memory. After a while those back-breaking pains of the past is now just another milestone.
The best part of celebrating these milestones is knowing how far you have come. How much you have endured. How much you have climbed. How much you have learned along the way, how many people you have met, how many people you have passed, how many people have passed you. In the end we're all going to the same peak anyway. No matter how fast or slow, at the end of this climb, everyone have climbed 2768steps. Each of the climbers have their own stories to tell. You have your own story to tell.
And at the end of the climb, it would be nice to have people cheering, rooting, clapping. But this is is not that kind of peak. Just like that promotion, that birthday, that anniversary, that childbirth, and even death. Life moves on. This is just one of the many peaks of our lives. You get to celebrate, take a deep breath, and do it all over again. And through it all, you are reminded of each step, of each milestones, and the peaks you have celebrated. Hoping that the next climb may be as fruitful as this one. Enjoy the climb!
Commentaires