Hiking in the Dark: A Lesson in Trusting the Journey

We parked right by the trailhead. Hiking boots were tied, snacks packed and water bottles ready to go. A highlight of our annual family camping trip in the Adirondacks was this eight-hour round-trip hike. We were all excited to climb Snowy Mountain, a favorite on my husband’s side of the family with a breathtaking view.  A first for me…

I missed one little detail. Everyone talked about the amazing view - not the amazing views. Did you pick up on it? View - singular.

​I grew up in Switzerland and while I can’t speak for ALL hikes in my home country - the ones that I explored had nice hiking paths and great views for almost the entire hike. I loved it. I could see where I was headed and how far I had come, all while enjoying nature’s beauty around me.

East Coast hiking is very different. 

As soon as we embarked on the hike, it was pretty dark. The woods were dense, but I enjoyed the cool and refreshing morning air. We crossed the cutest little bridge over a calming stream and shortly thereafter we faced a steep and very rocky climb in what looked like a river bed. What happened to the path? , I thought. Surely it would pick back up right around the corner. Only, it didn’t…

We hiked for hours with absolutely no view. I did, of course, enjoy the company and I was impressed by how tirelessly all six kids made their way up just chatting away. 
I hate to admit it, but out of all six kids and six adults I was the first one to ask: “Excuse me, quick question, how much longer?”
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My family didn’t give me an exact answer as to how much longer it would take, but they did tell me that the view was going to be incredible and so worth it. 

I couldn’t help it, I started to get tired of just looking at my feet, trees, and rocks. It all looked the same after a while.  If it wasn’t so steep I would have wondered if we were walking in circles. I definitely wasn’t used to “hiking in the dark” like this. 

However, I was committed to finishing this family trip together, to getting up top, and seeing what all of the fuss was about. I believed that the view was worth it since the entire side of my husband’s family raved about it. - including my husband. I was curious to see what there was to see and I trusted the people who had been there before. I also focused on spending time with my family, having some interesting conversations, and having many good laughs along the way. 

After almost four hours I heard the kids yell: “We made it!” and shortly after I could finally see the sky and a clearing opened up ahead of me. We did make it. This was the view everyone talked about: the view that was worth hours of climbing up steep trails surrounded by trees, rocks, and more trees and more rocks. I have to admit, it was stunning. Rolling mountains all around us as far as I could see. Breathtaking for sure. 

To this day, the mountains give me a feeling of such deep peace and strength, they make me feel both insignificant and powerful. As I said, it’s hard to explain. I took everything in with all of my senses and I knew in that moment that I had created a memory that I could go back to at any given time. I would be able to hear the wind, and everyone’s voices, I would be able to see my family and all that nature offered to me that day, I would be able to taste the water that I brought with me and touch the warm rocks I was sitting on. If I want to, I can get back to this memory in a heartbeat by activating all of my senses. It’s priceless. 

I still prefer hikes with views along the way, but I did learn a valuable lesson that day. 

Sometimes, in life, we want to achieve something or get somewhere but we don’t really know how. We may not know how it would look and feel, but sometimes we do know of someone who has been there before. Or we have reached that goal at one point in our life but got off track and can’t really remember how it felt. 

In either case, here is what you can do to finally reach what you've been longing to achieve. 

1. Trust and follow someone who has achieved what you are looking to achieve
2. Stay curious and committed to reaching the goal you have set for yourself
3. Make sure you are surrounded by people who support you and hold you accountable. 

When I start to work with clients they often feel like I did on that hike. They hear people talk about true wellness but are curious as to how it feels. They know that true wellness means their joint pain will be gone, their brain fog lifted, and that they will feel less stressed and less anxious but more confident and energized. They know they'll have more mental bandwidth to deal with what life throws at them, but these clients just don’t know how to get there. 

They can’t quite picture the view from the top of the mountain or the journey to the top, so to speak. 

As a solution, I often dream up goals with my clients. How will it look and feel when you achieve it? How will your life be different? How will you be different? Sometimes, things get difficult or it seems as if you are not making any progress while in fact, you are just hiking in the dark. Once you have that picture in your mind with all of your senses activated, you will be much more likely to stay committed to your journey even when it gets challenging.

My message to you is:  If you have never experienced true wellness or peak performance in your life, or if you don’t know how that looks and feels but are curious enough to find out, look for someone who has been where you want to go and follow that person’s lead. Also, make sure that you are surrounded by people that encourage you and hold you accountable. A health and wellness coach might be a great option for you to work with. 

“Surround yourself with those who believe in you. 
Your life is too important for anything less”
 - Steve Goodier
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Claudia is an NBC-HWC Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, the owner of Vibrant Health by Claudia LLC  and Virtual Health Coaches LLC. She studied health and wellness coaching at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where she also completed courses for Gut Health, Hormone Health, and Advanced Coaching. She is a certified 21-Day Sugar Detox Coach as well as a co-author of the Amazon Bestseller “The Ultimate Guide to creating your soul aligned Business” 

To schedule a time for a free information call click here or join her Vibrant Health Power Community - a free Facebook Group - here
To find out more about Claudia, visit her website: www.vibranthealthbyclaudia.com