In this article I’m looking at another of my quote images, and it could be a wobbly old journey…
Embrace the climb.
I took that photo down at Lyme Regis in Dorset, on the South West coast here in Britain.
It was my first trip down there for at least 25 years, and just as back then, I wanted to visit the famous landmark down there.
It’s a little harbour town on a stretch of coast which is loved for both fossiling opportunities and long coastal walkways, but it was Hollywood that first drew me down there.
When the film ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ came out in 1981 there’s a scene with Meryl Streep that featured on the posters, which had her on the harbour wall, staring all moodily out to sea in the wind with waves crashing around her.
That film did wonders for the tourist economy down there, with people going down specifically to walk along that same harbour wall, which is known as The Cobb.
When I went down this time, it found me in the midst of enjoying a hobby of taking photos of sunrises and sunsets, so I made the 150 odd mile drive down overnight, planning to catch the sunrise over and around the harbour wall.
When I got there, I walked to the end of the wall, and had my doubts…
It was still dark, naturally, but with glimmers of the coming sunrise. On the harbour side of the wall, the water was calm, but on the sea side of the wall, er, it wasn’t!
There are steps taking you up to the top of the wall, and as I got halfway up the steps, I could feel the wind wobbling me around. I peered over and could sea the sea swirling. There was no-one else around, unsurprisingly at 4 o’clock in the morning, and it occurred to me that if I went up there, the wind might take me off and into the sea, which might not be a laughing matter.
When you see the sad stories of people being drowned while being too close to Mother Nature at the seaside, there’s a part of the response that asks why these people couldn’t see the danger, were they idiots?
I didn’t to be one of those idiots that thought ‘it won’t happen to me’.
So, I had to wait until the wind and waves had died down a touch before going on the top of the wall. But did still get some nice shots (and was safe!)
One of the sunrise pictures I took before going up on top was of a set of steps jutting out on the harbour side of the Cobb. They’re old, worn, and are known as ‘Granny’s Teeth’. After a few decades of probably too much chocolate it could just as well be ‘Gordon’s Teeth‘ but Granny’s Teeth it is.
They are a bit precarious to go up – nothing too dramatic, but you do need to pay attention, and the sloping of the steps and the wall do give you a slight back and forth wobble as you go up.
As I looked back at the photo, I thought it would work well with the words over the top to cover a great self improvement point…
Embrace the climb.
The ideas of personal development, self improvement and goal achievement, are often dismissed as new age airy fairy nonsense, but in many cases people just use that as an excuse.
They know it’s not new age airy fairy nonsense, but to accept that means to accept that it works, but only works if you put in the, er, work!
It takes effort.
It takes effort to analyse current situations, to think about goals, to set goals.
It takes effort to take the first step, to set out on a road of change.
Once the first hurdle or barrier is hit along the way, it take effort to carry on, to decide to take on the barrier and get past it. It takes effort to keep going.
Oh, the effort.
Much easier to give up at the first challenge, right? Much easier to not even start in the first place, right?
Well, it might seem easier in the short term, it might seem easier in the mid term, but it’s not easier in the long term. In the long term, we get the ongoing nagging feeling that we could have done something, that had we taken on the challenge, our situation would be different to the status quo we settled for.
Embrace the climb.
If we go about the goal achievement process properly, we start by setting honest goals, after doing an authentic analysis of what the ‘real’ us actually wants.
We then set the goal based on that foundation, and make a commitment to it, because commitment to the goal is a commitment to *self*.
Once we’ve got this right, it comes down to the attitude we take forward. Instead of fearing the obstacles we might come across, or that we absolutely know we *will* come across, we can embrace the challenge.
We can embrace it because we know that the challenge, the climb, is serving us, and it’s choice of positivity that can be life changing.
Now, that’s not to say that the climbing will always be fun, or a bed of roses. I’m not saying that at all. Moving forwards can be really difficult, and to take on challenges in life that we could choose to avoid, is a whole different thing to reading about it in an article!
However, taking the concept from the article and then applying it to real life is powerful. If it means that we approach the thought of challenges from a different stand point, it’s powerful.
If it means we take on the hurdles, we prepare for the wobbles of the climb as best we can, and then accept that we’ll still wobble and might feel scary, then it’s powerful.
We move onwards and upwards.
In my case, it was only a case of wobbling up the old steps of Granny’s Teeth. I was more than happy to embrace the wobbling, because I knew there were some sunrise photos waiting to be taken at the top.
I will say, I also knew that I had been cautious about trying to take on what I knew was too much. I knew that taking on the wind and the waves 30 minutes earlier was too dangerous, which in itself made the wobbles of Granny’s Teeth no hardship to accept.
So, look to your own goals. Have you been putting yourself off moving forwards because of the challenges, the difficulties that might be down the path? Would it be better to take the attitude that those challenges are part of the process to achieving the goal?
Look to the climb. Accept it, take it on – embrace it!
Ok do let me know what you think, I love the feedback,
‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you want to do more about embracing the climb, do grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula!
