My son and I climbed the Manitou Incline last week.
This was a perfect situation to observe mine and other hikers’ thoughts. The website states it takes an average of 2 hours to climb up. There was a sign at the base that said the record was 17 minutes to the top.
Caregivers, you can use this story to relate to caring for your loved one or for any other matter.
My 19 yr old said, “Mom, hurry hurry we are only 2% done.” I set him free to conquer the mountain and said I’d see him on the other side.
Before we started we chatted with an 89 year old local woman who said she had climbed the Incline many times. Her advice? “Go slow!”
I proceeded to climb the mountain with many other hikers, ranging in age from 12-80. The 20 year old men climbing were “horrified” to tell me their age as they were “sucking oxygen” sitting under a tree and they lived at altitude unlike hikers who come from around the world to train here.
What I noticed as I climbed (very slowly) and talked to many people was how different everyone’s thoughts were about the same 2744 steps. I heard:
A colonoscopy is more fun than this.
The next 500 steps are the worst part.
I don’t believe that, it’s all in your mindset.
Holy “eff” these steps are stupid tall.
Before we started today we were young and dumb, now we are old and stupid.
This is humbling as all sh*t.
This is harder than every 14’er I’ve ever done
Everyone making these comments believed them to be true. I offer that they are opinions, not facts, about the 2744 steps. Our thoughts cause our feelings. The hikers I climbed with shared many feelings – dread, horror, exhaustion, exhilaration, inspiration, etc. about the steps.
Our feelings fuel all our actions or inactions. I watched some people turn around part way up and climb down, some literally climbed on all fours to the top, some complained, some remained quiet, some sped up.
One woman celebrated at step marker 1800, made a video, danced and happily went down.
Every hiker got a different result because of their actions, feelings and thoughts. Some finished, some did not, some got hurt, some turned back.
Many of you are caregivers reading this. What belief about your caregiving do you think is true? How does that feel and what actions do you take from that feeling? Do you like your results? Are they serving you?
Reach out and we can take a look at this for you and the results you are creating.
For the record my son finished way ahead of me. I stayed slow and steady, felt determined, kept climbing and finished 2744 steps up the Incline. Check out next week’s blog to hear what happened on the way down.
