Its a powerful feeling to do something that you aren’t quite sure you can. I find myself doing this more and more. The rush of power I feel after I do what I didn’t know I could do is addicting. Maybe its new found confidence. But in the past I let the voice in my head or often the voice in my ear convince me not to try something new or hard. Now I look forward to these opportunities.
This month I went on a week long vacation planned solely on my own. Its the first time I planned a vacation just for me. I’m the one that usually goes along with what everyone else wants to do. Never really thinking about what do I want to do.
So I went to Acadia to hike. At the time I didn’t necessarily have anyone to go with me. I’d been seeing a man for a few months but it was early to be planning a vacation. I planned it anyway and would have gone by myself if necessary. I bought a book on Acadia and studied for months what I wanted to do. Top on the list was to climb The Precipice Trail which is a trail straight up the sheer side of Mount Champlain. It includes alot of rung and ladder climbing up rocks. The day before this first climb I refused to jump over a crevice that didn’t have a visible bottom. My travel companion said ‘You won’t jump over that but you are going to climb The Precipice tomorrow?’ I simply said ‘Yes.’ And I knew I would.
Today I refuse to jump over this. Tomorrow I climb a sheer cliff straight up one mile.
Mount Champlain, Acadia National Park, The Precipice Trail
I felt on top of the world after doing that climb. After that we climbed the next most challenging hike in Acadia, The Beehive. I was giddy.
After a great 4 days of hiking and spending time with my new boyfriend he left mid-week as we had previously planned. I moped and worked on a puzzle for about an hour then I said ‘You didn’t come here to do a puzzle. Get out and take a hike!’ Another scary thing for me is hiking by myself in a strange place. I always say ‘I can’t follow a map.’ ‘I can’t follow the trail blazes.’ ‘I can’t find my way around the streets much less the woods.’ I CAN and I DID. I went out and hiked up Acadia Mountain by myself with my maps and water bottle. I made it back and felt that powerful feeling again.
First solo climb – top of Acadia Mountain
What did you do to challenge yourself recently?
My Life Untangled 