Manitou Incline
Climbing the stairway to heaven!
I could feel the sinking feeling of excitement, anxiety, and sheer overwhelm surrounding me as I looked up at the stairway to heaven. Or at least that is what I am calling the Manitou Incline, The stairway to Heaven.
I had never honestly thought about climbing the incline until about a month ago when I was planning a big adventure. You might be wondering, what big adventure! Stay tuned as that big adventure will be announced in the next few months.
I have come to have a profound reflection that every moment I have had in the last several years has been climbing mountains, volcanos in the dark, or moving my life in an upward motion.
The excitement of the Incline was me showing myself once again that I can do hard things. I can do anything that I set my mind too, even if it’s testing my physical limits. I can’t say that I have always been a physically active person. I have always been one of those fitness people that come and go in spurts. I get going and get good at it and then life happens and I get comfortable with not working out. It’s a back and forth relationship that led me to the incline.
The Beginning of my Reflection
Call it what you will but it took my breath away.
The excitement at the beginning of the stairs was met with, I can do this, I can do hard things. I was feeling pretty positive about the first 1000 steps. I stayed in good spirits throughout the beginning of this hike! I knew right away I needed to take my time and pace myself as Im not an experienced climber just a reflection enthusiast. The incline started to show me where my physical limitations are but more importantly it started to show me how I sometimes create obstacles that get in my way. I sometimes get in my own head on if I am good enough, or capable, or in the cool kids club. In all actuality I’m a woman in my 30s that is capable and good enough to be in any club including the incline. I quickly noticed that I needed more breaks than most, people were supportive while passing me. Honestly everyone on the incline that day passed me. But I remained in high spirits because I was only in competition with me. It dawned on me that when things have become challenging in my life I find myself wondering “ what does that person or business have that I don’t” and I realized nothing, absolutely nothing.
As i made it passed 2000 steps I noticed that my physical body was screaming at me “can I actually complete this incline”. Well, yes, yes I can complete this incline because I can do hard things. My Incline buddy was very encouraging and stayed with me, never left me behind as I was continuing to get up the mountain. She was cheering me on the whole way.
As the dread settled in around 2300 steps I had a little bit of an emotional moment as I turned around and looked at the view! I had come this far. There was no way I was turning back now. I started to crab crawl up the stairs, one stair at a time reminding myself that I have actually been through harder things than this and I came out the other side on all those things. I came out the other side as a rebuilt person not completely the same but rebuilt. As the climbers continued to pass me everyone was cheering each on “you got this, keep going’. That incline support honestly kept me going as I seen all the smiling faces breathing hard getting themselves up that mountain.
I ended up throwing up twice but not because I was sick but more so because my body was removing the excess internal dialogue of obstacles that I put in my path leading up to the climb. I knew that and acknolwedged that I was releasing more than I could have ever imagined. I was coming back into me once again and reminding myself that I can do anything. By this time I had around 200 steps left to get to the top of the incline. I could see that the top of the stairway to heaven was near and I became emotional once again but not for the same reason as the beginning. I became emotional because I never actually thought I could do something like this, But I could see the top I was almost there. All of my hard work was getting ready to happen. I could see the top of the stairway to heaven.
It wasn’t the fact that you increase your elevation by 2,000 in .88 of a mile. The altitude increase surprisingly did not impact me which was a pleasant surprise. It was the physical exertion within those final stairs. It challenged me, tested every physical limit i had, it created a new space for me to be within. A sense of calm.
My incline buddy and I held hands on the final twenty steps to the top. We started this adventure out together and we finished together. Never leaving a climbing buddy behind. As we reached that top step at 2,768 steps a rush of emotion came over me and I began to cry happy tears. I did it. I tackled this physically demanding challenge. I did hard things on the incline that day and I reminded myself once again that I knew who I was, I have known all along. I am a woman who can climb mountains.
For more adventures follow me at theraexpressions.com
