Writing: Do you ever leave notes for yourself?
Do you ever leave notes for yourself throughout your writing? Or re-read your writing and it actually blows you away you wrote something that good, since it was so long ago?
I found the following gems the other day, while editing my travel adventure memoir.
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu
One foot in front of the other, and one day, you end up on a mountain. One piece at a time, and you end up with a converted bus home. Just as one word follows another to make a book. You have to start. “And then one day I found myself on a Mountain, 14 states later.” (Talking about my 6 month Appalachian Trail hike) Also climbing up Mount Rainier. That took on a whole new meaning of one foot in front of the other.
Add having trouble breathing into the mix of suffering. Mountaineering is suffering. It’s all worth it, but funk me running, it’s tough and exhausting and each step makes your brain and lungs scream for air, and your brain is like:
“WHAT THE FUNK ARE YOU DOING?! GO HOME. GO BACK TO THAT MEMORY ON THE BEACH IN NEW ZEALAND. GO TO THE PLACES IN YOUR TUCKED AWAY MEMORY BOX FOR THESE OCCASIONS. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU ON AN ICE WALL FOR WITH ONLY 5 POINTS OF METAL ATTACHING YOU TO THE WORLD. THIS IS THE DUMBEST IDEA YOUVE EVER HAD!”
But it’s the single moment of defining what you are doing. That single thought, step, breath, breath, next step, breath, breath, think about all the wrong choices your made to be here, step, breath breath breath. So dumb to think I want to climb Everest sitting in this air conditioned house, having a slight buzz, being able to drink water without having to melt ice, using lights and electricity.
Why?
It’s just something in me. Like Into the Wild, Alan Watts - I’d rather live a short life feeling alive, than to live a long one for the sake of living longer; I’d rather die on a mountain doing what I love.
