Are you hiking with your eyes open or closed?

I’ve spent a lot of my life just trying to survive and not really enjoying much of anything.

There have been so many times my only goal was to just make it until bedtime. Just get the kids to bed and then try to stay awake for at least a little while to be conscious for a few minutes of alone time.

It was a really tiring way to live.

And it was also really depressing.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that circumstances weren’t going to change how I felt, and neither were other people.

I thought once I achieved a certain level of financial success or once I hit a goal weight or once I was married (or not married) then I would be happy.

I didn’t realize it was the other way around.

Something really helped me look at this differently.

When things don’t go the way we want to, when life throws us big curveballs, when stuff happens that we didn’t anticipate and it effects our results, we often use this as a reason to be angry. Frustrated. Sad. Crushed.

But this is part of reaching a goal. Figuring out how to navigate inevitable challenges and obstacles.

I recently heard our quest to reach a goal compared to going on a hike.

What’s your goal when you’re going on a hike? Is it just to get to the top? To see the view?

That’s not why I go hiking.

I go hiking because I like to exercise in fun ways, because I like being outside, because I enjoy exercising outside, because I like being challenged, because I like sharing the experience with other people, and because I like to remind myself that I can do hard things.

Not just to see the view at the top but to see the view along the way.

The only enjoyable part of the hike isn’t when you reach the summit. The experience of hiking starts from the first step you take at the very bottom of the trail.

When you have a goal, whether it’s to have your kitchen cleaned up before you go to bed or lose 50 pounds, everything you do that day is a part of the hike that will ultimately lead you to the result you want.

You don’t hike with your eyes closed and ignore everything that’s happening along the way.

You soak it all in.

What if you looked at each day of your life as a section of the hike?

Some parts of the hike might be boring or hard or challenging. But at the end of the day, you learned something about yourself or your environment. Maybe you connected with someone you were hiking with. Maybe you got to know them a little bit better.

Maybe you navigated a tricky section of terrain with ease for the first time.

Maybe you helped someone else who was struggling.

Maybe you’re not doing anything particularly remarkable today but the fact that you are on the trail and not sitting at home in your pjs for the 4th day in a row is a victory.

Maybe you aren’t anywhere near the top of the trail yet.

But who cares. That’s not where the best part is.

The best part of the hike is happening right now, wherever you are right in this minute.

The way you approach each section of the hike doesn’t just determine how quicklly you get to summit.

It determines the quality of your experience once you are there.

Today is a section of the hike. Tomorrow is another one.

There are so many opportunities coming your way, but you can’t see them if you’re hiking with your eyes closed.

Keep your eyes open, and enjoy hike.