11 STAGGERING LESSONS I LEARNED FROM MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

On Saturday, I went hiking with a group of friends. For humour’s sake, I’m confirming that the hiking and venue was my idea, even though my dear friend Maame Dufie would like to say we discussed the idea.

We went to Shai Hills. It’s a 50-minute drive from Accra Mall. If you ever decide to visit, I suggest you set off by 7am to make it there for about 8am. It gives you the opportunity to hike up the hill for 2 hours and view the antelopes, zebras, baboons and ostriches. Meaning, you exercise for a good part of the morning and have the afternoon to yourself.

We saw only two ostriches. We were told that originally, four were shipped into the country but two died on arrival. We enquired what was done to the two dead birds, and the response was that they were fed to the lions in the zoo, here in Ghana. I hope you believe this story because the tour guide who told us seemed to believe it. LOL. Personally, I think humans ate the bird, but what do I know?

The zebras are beautiful. They were shipped from South Africa. I’d never seen zebras before so I was happy.

As we hiked up, it occurred to me that this was similar to the journey towards success in life. Most people liken success as the top, or pinnacle of achievement in life. So, you hear clichés like “the road to the top is hard, but with determination, blah blah blah.”

So, the Shai Hill, which is about 294 feet above sea level will represent the mountain of success in our lives. And my climb will be the journey to success.

1.    First thing I noticed is that my group was dressed for the occasion. We all had our trainers, shorts, pants, caps, sunglasses, bags for water, the whole shebang. We saw other people who seemed a little too dressy and not fitting the purpose of hiking. We wondered amongst ourselves what they came for, really. And concluded they perhaps did not come to hike but take photos for the gram.

Lesson

Show up dressed for the occasion. Whatever success you want to achieve, come dressed for it. We wanted to hike 294 feet above sea level. So, we didn’t wear jeans or pumps.

Whatever you want to be in life, dress for it. Don’t leave people confused as to what you really want to do, if you know what you want to do. If you don’t know yet what you want to do in life, then it is understandable. Just know that it leaves people wondering what you want to achieve. While you shouldn’t care what people think, there are a few people in life whose thoughts matter. They are the people God has ordained to help you through your journey. They are the tour guides. Personally, if I were a tour guide and a group of girls came in suits, I’d insist they cannot climb up the hill and I don’t care about discrimination rants.

Just dress for the event.

2.  Respect your intuition. When we begun climbing, there was a friend in front of me. I noticed I was trying to follow his exact steps up the hill because he seemed to be sure of himself. But at certain times, I didn’t think following the exact steps he took up was safe for me, so I placed my foot in different places that I felt more comfortable with. And I was okay.

Lesson

We are all going to make it to the top if we don’t give up. Some are going ahead of you, but you don’t necessarily have to follow the exact steps they used. It may be slippery for you. Maybe he is in hiking shoes and you aren’t, and you may or may not slip if you follow the same steps.

In your journey to the top, listen to your intuition. God gave that to you for a purpose. It helps you judge whether somethings are good for you or not. It is your internal compass. I am yet to do a study on what the Bible says about intuition. Some say it is the Holy Spirit. But that begs the question, “what about unbelievers who have some of the strongest intuition serving them?” Either way, God gave it to you. So, use it. If you feel strongly that a certain path isn’t for you on your journey to success, don’t take it. While we will all make it to the top, we have different paths leading us there.

3.     It’s hard at the beginning. 5 minutes into the 30-minute climb, I wanted to go back. My legs were hurting. My heart was thumping. I was sweating. I really did want to cry. I was already exhausted. And so were my friends, even though the guys would attempt to deny this. My knees hurt because I had had a leg day at the gym two days before this event, so I was already in some sort of pain. But once we kept going and didn’t give up, it became easier to endure until we got to the top.

Lesson

The start towards success is hard. Not necessarily because of the mountain. It is because you are not used to it. The long nights. Staying up to read. Working and schooling. Your thousand attempts to get the language right. Trying hard to please your clients. Staying up late to figure out how to get that deal. How to pass the exam this time around. Making your relationship or marriage work. It is hard.

And if you already have a disadvantaged start, like my hurting knee, it proves harder. Maybe you have an attention problem or suffer from PTSD or some underlying health condition. Maybe you’re from a very poor home and can’t afford your tuition. It is even a miracle that you are in school or have the job you do. Maybe you stammer and can’t speak two straight sentences.

It will be hard when you start. But do not stop. I made it to the top despite my aching knee. You can make it to the top too in your life. If you believe and strive on.

4.   Know your strength. I bet some of us wanted to impress ourselves and wished we could’ve climbed non-stop. But you can’t exactly cheat nature. We were sweating and panting. We accepted that we were tired at a point and needed rest. So, we requested that our tour guide make us rest. He agreed and was kind to us. We rested for 2 minutes at certain intervals. I noticed that whenever I rested, I was able to continue.

Lesson

Know your strength and know your limit. Push yourself, but rest! If you don’t rest, you cannot make it to the top. Or you’ll make it and not be able to enjoy the view. I could go on about self-care, self-love and your mental health. But I’d rather not. You know it already.

5.   It is not a race. Halfway through the journey, the guys went ahead of us. They left us with the tour guide. I suppose their masculine energy needed that competitive vibe. Men like to flex their muscles. Men love challenge. And that was precisely what we were seeing. Us ladies, just maintained our beauty and kept our pace. We were in no hurry to catch up with our guys. And we were fine with that. We took a group picture at the top of the mountain, so do the math. We all got to the top.

Lesson

It is not a race. Your journey to success is not a race. There are so many people climbing up. Some have the masculine energy and will get ahead of you in your chosen path because they have natural capacities. If you are the one with the natural capacity, move on. Don’t worry that you are ahead of everyone. Don’t get complacent either but don’t slow down because of those behind you. Embrace your gift.

If you are the one without the natural capacity, remember it is not a race. Unless there is a worthy prize being given at the top, take your time. Compete with yourself. Challenge yourself. You will make it.

6.   You cannot do it alone. As a first child, and someone who had to live on my own in a way for the most part of my life, I learned to be very independent. I get things done on my own. I’ve had to learn the hard way to ask for help. 

     As we climbed, at the start when I realised I could use help to lift my foot up a rock, I’d push myself hard to do it myself. But at a point, I simply couldn’t. So I asked Albert to help me up. Eventually, I was so exhausted that our tour guide had to hold my hand through the journey. It was support I truly appreciated. I realise it helped me. where I would’ve given up, I rested my hand in his and kept going. He wouldn’t let me stop. He seemed to even pull me gently.

      Lesson

You need the support. Don’t think you can make it alone. The people who say they are self-made are liars. I repeat, they are liars. Never believe anybody who says they got somewhere all by themselves. They got support from somewhere. Their wives or husbands who quietly took care of the kids and catered at home so that they could bag the masters and honours. The friend who lent them money when they were so broke.

Everyone gets support. And you need it. Just be sure to find it in the right person. Someone who genuinely wants to see you succeed. Our tour guide told us at the start “We go to the top together and come down together. Nobody gets left behind.”

7.  Find your clan. This is like support. But you need quality support. We got to the seemingly most impossible part of the climb. Going through a cave and out of it. One of my friends, Oforiwaa, closed her mind to the idea of going. I was convinced that she wouldn’t go through the cave. But guess what, she did. While I don’t know exactly what changed her mind, I think our support contributed. None of us told her to use the alternate route that was available. Because we all wanted to go through the cave. She could’ve used that alternate route but would’ve had to do that alone. So, we all went through the cave and climbed out. We cheered for her when she climbed out. And I think that was genuine.

Lesson

Travel on your journey to success with people who truly want you to be at the top with them. People who will stay and encourage you when you think it is impossible. People who will listen to your fears, and excuses, and smile and gently say “well, I hear you, but I believe in you and you’re made of tougher stuff. I know you can do this.” Our friend could’ve used the alternate route, but she would’ve missed out on feeling proud of herself for climbing out the cave.

8.   Take pictures. We took lots of them. Albert took a video of me when I was struggling to climb out of the cave. I haven’t seen it but I know I’ll laugh at myself when I see it. We will look at them later and laugh. And be happy and proud of ourselves.

Lesson

As you go towards success, save memories. Take beautiful pictures and videos. Of you struggling. Of your high moments. Of the low moments. So that you don’t feel empty when you make it to the top. Take pictures with your friends, your lover, your husband, wife, kids, lecturers, pastors.

9.  Enjoy it at the top because it doesn’t last for everyone. We made it to the top without even realising we had. And oh, the view was beautiful! It felt like standing on Pride Rock. I bet we all wished we could stay there forever. But we had to journey down.

Lesson

Sometimes when you make it to the top you don’t even realise that you have. Enjoy it when you do. Savour the moment. Stop taking pictures at that point and really take it all in, because you may not know how to sustain that success. Secondly, you won’t be alive forever. So just enjoy it. Don’t worry about how high you are. We were 294 ft up and didn’t care. We just enjoyed the fruit of our labour.

10. Work smart, not hard. On our way down, we met another group. Apparently they had chosen to walk the 12 kilometres from the gate of the reserve to the bottom of the mountain and were now climbing the mountain. They were EXHAUSTED. We were surprised to find out they had walked all that distance. They in turn, chided us and were mock upset that we had it so easy. We congratulated them for the hard work they had done. We were very impressed but none of us would take that option if we had to do it all over. Why walk 12 km to the foot of the hill, before the tiring climb, when you can drive the 12 km and just actually climb.

Lesson

The lesson is in the story. Don’t try to work so hard when it is not necessary. Look for things that make your journey easier. Like a life coach or a mentor who has done the things you want to do. They will help you not make certain fatal mistakes. Invest in a smart phone if you must. A ring light for your videos. Buy books that will help you sharpen relevant skills. Hire a help if you can. Stop making life hard for yourself. Stop choosing hard things if there is an easier way. There are times when you’ll have to choose hard things, but it is not everyday of your life.

11. Follow the steps of those who have gone ahead of you. I know I said earlier that you don’t have to follow the steps of those ahead of you. But I earnestly hope you know that was in context. As we descended, Jojo was ahead of us. He seemed to know what he was doing and where he was going. I followed.

Also, there was this rock that was quite slippery. Dufie alerted me to sit and crawl when I get there because she had just gone over that rock with Jojo. I listened to her and made it down. Behind me, I heard someone almost slipping. Must’ve been Selasi or Albert. I guess that happened because they had no one to alert them of the potential slippery situation.

Lesson

Listen to those who have gone ahead of you and know the path.