In the summer of 2018 we drove to Cody, WY to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. It’s a beautiful part of the country - roughly 30 miles from Powell, WY - the small town where I spent my elementary years.

Between the two cities lives a large landmark called Heart Mountain.

I climbed this mountain a few times as a child, and was eager to relive the memories by climbing it again as an adult. A 47 year old adult mind you. One that rarely exercises and sits in front of a computer most days. I think you can see what’s coming…

I’ll start by saying I made it to the top (and we have pictures to prove it). But it was rough. There were a few moments where I literally sat down - unsure if my legs were going to hold me up any longer. For a significant part of the climb you are ascending as quickly as you would climbing stairs. But there were no landings, just the continuous climbing. Up, up and more up. But the group I was with pushed me to keep going. They waited when they needed to, and didn’t let me fall too far behind.

In the end, it was the difficulty in the climb that led to the elation at the top. I had nostalgically completed something important to me. But more importantly, I had pushed through the discomfort in order to realize the joy and satisfaction that can only be experienced at the summit.

Climbing a mountain might be one of the best illustrations we have for dealing with trials in life. Like the mountain, the trial looks really big at first. And while we’re in the trial there may be moments where we don’t think we’re going to make it. But we keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually we make it. There are people around us who will sit with us, and encourage us to keep moving. And eventually we make it through.

The best thing is that each time we go through a trial like this, we get a bit stronger, and better equipped to handle the next one.

Transcend Human suggests the following:

• Our goal isn’t to get out of trials easily, or somehow reach a level of nirvana where we have no trials

• Instead, we need to understand there are two ways to look at trials:

  • They are bad, and you are unlucky, or picked on in some way because you experience them. Feelings of anger, frustration and depression often follow

  • We all experience them as part of the human condition. Nobody gets a free pass, and nobody Is being picked on. Look for the hidden meaning in each trial and what you were meant to learn from it. Feelings of success, and accomplishment often follow

Land the plane:

• What’s your mountain right now?

• How are you looking at it?

• If you changed your perspective, what would that look like?

• Is there someone you know climbing a mountain of their own? If so, can you wait for them and encourage them along their way?