When I was young and in boy scouts, I remember a particularly long hike that felt like it went on forever. Mind you, I loved hiking during that time, and still do. However, this hike was a doozy covering a lot of ground and elevation with a heavy pack.
As the day grew longer, we grew wearier and were all ready for this adventure to end. Accompanying us on the hike were some fathers, including my own, and I’ll never forget one thing they kept saying,
“It’s just around the bend.”
When we heard those words for the first time we rejoiced and found a new burst of energy helping us labor forward. However, as the “bend” turned into one and two, and more, those encouraging words of “It’s just around the bend.” went in one ear and out the other.
Receiving Eagle Scout Award – Check out that hair!
At first we were all a bit upset of course and eventually understood that camp wasn’t really “just around the bend”. As it continued we also understood that while they were lying to us, it wasn’t really that they were flat out lying to us. At least in the sense of not be totally untrue. Heck, camp really was around the bend! Just not this particular one. Ha! No, they were trying to simply keep us going by reframing how we viewed the journey.
I’ve actually used that exact reframe so many times in my life it’s just natural now. Whether it was gymnastics, judo, learning Japanese, business, or whatever hardship was going on in my life, I would focus on getting to the next bend in the trail and that was it. Once I got there, I’d focus on the next one, and the next until I was were I wanted to be.
Right now is a perfect time to just focus on getting to the next bend in the road as we navigate this up and down journey we’re on.
True, we don’t know exactly where this path is leading us and it can be scary. But we can control how we view the journey and hike the route.
Take charge of how you view this seemingly never-ending hike and focus on making it to one bend at a time. And remember to take off your heavy pack from time to time to just chill and take in the beauty that still exists around you.
