The Goal & The Journey

A couple of years ago I had the great opportunity to hike the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in Yosemite National Park. The hike was to the peak of Half Dome. Half Dome is a 4,737 foot / 17 mile hike. This piece of the Sierra Nevada’s was deemed “perfectly inaccessible” in the early 1870’s. Then in 1875 a man by the name of George G. Anderson accomplished this “perfectly inaccessible” feat. Anderson was followed by, a novice hiker in 2008, by the name of Matt Linklater.
We started the hike at 9am. The first leg was a thigh burning mile walk on a paved path. Next was a stair like climb up The Mist (is a vigorous flowing waterfall). The stair like climb was more like a rugged boulder suicide staircase. That capped off the first 4 miles. The next 2.5 miles was not all that bad. It was a flat walk through sand. The sand instantly began to fill my shoes. The sand walk was followed by another 1 mile leg burning uphill dirt hike. Finally the end was in site. The final mile up was a switchback rock stair case climb. The last 400 feet was a straight up climb along a flat rock surface. To help us to the top were two cables bolted into the rock for us to pull ourselves up. Finally, at about 2 pm we made it to the top of Half Dome. A sense of accomplishment and relief swept over me. That feeling was short lived because I realized that I had to hike the 8.5 miles back down to the base. 3 hours later I was finally at that base. I immediately went to the bar and started to self medicate my aching body.
Although, this climb in hindsight was a great experience, doing it was a little bit of a different matter. The emotional rollercoaster was tougher than the actual task. The uphill climbs, followed by short downhill walks, knowing I will have to only walk back up. I thought of Anderson back in 1875. I doubt he had state of the art hiking boots. I doubt he had a camel back with 3 liters of water connected to a straw inches from his mouth. I doubt he had power bars packed with nutrition. Lastly, I doubt he had cables to ascend the final 400 feet.

This account is how the attainment of any worthwhile goal feels. The greatest joy is the completion of a goal that literally and metaphorically seems to be so far off in the distance. Set the goal, surrender the goal, and take action. With every piece of action and triumph along your journey keep your clearly defined goals in the background. Stop dreaming about your goals and start living your dreams!