46 •
The Lion King
• October - December 2017
FEATURE
BY WINNIE KAAKA
REACHING THE SECOND
HIGHESTPOINTINAFRICA
M
ount Kenya may take second
place when it comes to height
above sea level, but the clam-
ber up the summit is viewed as the
most challenging climb in Africa. I
made it despite the major snow storms,
altitude sickness and what some may
think to be a disability being a woman.
It’s the parallels between climbing and
life that fascinates me. The chance to
explore inwardly, to understand who
we are, where our limits lie. Every day
is a school day and we learn some-
thing new with each adventure. For
Instance:
Just do it:
I never thought I could
climb a mountain, was a little
afraid of the idea and doubted
I could but then I did. We are capable
of more than we think, yet we are so
afraid to even attempt. What’s inter-
esting is that the only real risk is that
you never see the top of anything;
you never learn your true capacity;
you stay at the bottom. But this is
completely fine, if that’s where you
want to be.
Don't Feel Defeated Before
You Start By Looking At How
Far You Have To Go: When
you are hiking, especially
when starting out, you don’t
look at the top. You keep your head
down. While the peak always looks
a little bit crazy and impossible, for
practical reasons you keep your eyes
on your feet so you don’t trip and fall.
When you want to look around or at
the top, you stop intentionally. You
take a minute to admire the view.
When you start again, you put your
head down and march. In life and
business we need to take time to
remind ourselves: Don’t fixate on the
impossible top or how you’re going
to get there look down at the next
good step up. Don’t worry about how
you’re going to reach the peak. Trust
that forward motion will get you there.
However Stop and look around occa-
sionally have a vision, learn something,
do research, ask the wise, then put
your head down and move.
It's not all Straight Up:
There
are down-bits in every climb as
you work your way to the top.
Perspective is everything. In life down
feels like defeat, in climbing it’s consid-
ered a rest before heading up again.
All Paths’ Lead to the Top:
a
truism of a Buddhist principle:
there are many ways up the
mountain! While some routes are eas-
ier than others, all paths are right.
When hiking you almost always get
lost at least once. We lose sight of the
trail, miss the small rock marks or get
so immersed in looking down at our
feet that we forget to look up and
scan for our route. But I have come
to learn and trust that as long as you
keep the forward motion; as long as
you keep moving one foot in front of
the other all paths lead to the top.
You often create your own routes but
with focused effort you always arrive
where you want to be.
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