Opportunities arrive when you’re in motion (a mountain trekking story)

My thighs burned, and the bones in my feet pulsed pain.

I had to slam spikes into the snow to keep from falling hundreds of metres down the steep face below.

Brain pounding.

We were nearing the upper edge.

Finally, we could begin the return home.

But as we emerged above the ridge line, she appeared.

The peak of Giewont in the Polish Western Tatras.

Right up close, within reach.

Not a Google image this time.

She mesmerised, her upper crags dripping in golden sun.

I was ready to join the path home and rest my aching limbs.

But this offered a new challenge.

A story to tell.

Was there time to get to the top?

A thick grey raincloud looked menacing to the west.

Risk of death by lightning strike.

Or a crunching fall.

Both had happened several times before on this trail.

The decision was made.

Trip adjustment.

Itinerary adapted.

An hour later we stood by the cross on her summit, looking down on the miniature town of Zakopane, immersed in Sunday slumber.

My legs shook from the fatigue.

But the decision was unquestioningly a good one.

…

Our goals rarely show up in the way we envision them.

And that’s fine.

We aren’t expected to do it to the book.

But setting a course gets us moving.

We can’t ever see new opportunities if we aren’t in motion in the first place.

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