It's the climb

​I spent this last weekend helping my friends Celia and Meg continue their quest to run the length of the Appalachian Trail.

The goal this weekend? 150 miles in 72 hours.

I have friends who suggest I join adventures like this because it gives me something to write about. There's truth in that. But I only write about things that are - first and foremost - big enough to shape my life. Even change it.

I also write about them with hopes it might shape and change yours.

I'm not going to cover a lot of the details of Celia and Meg's run this weekend. Meg will do that at some point. I'm going to fast forward to my big take away.

The big life shaper.

When Meg and Celia were finished yesterday, I told them I was most impressed by the spirits they displayed every time I met them. Often, when I met them, it was after they'd just run or hiked or climbed another 15 miles or so of mountainous trail.

Invariably - they were laughing.

They were positive.

They were forward thinking.

They spent very little time reflecting on the challenge they'd just tackled. They were all about the next mountain they wanted to move.

Here's the thing about Celia and Meg - the thing I can relate to. What makes it healing for me when I am in their midst. Celia and Meg are flawed and imperfect. They've had battles in life. They've both faced their fair share of struggles.

Like me, they've come to know there is always going to be another mountain. Like ALL of us, they've come to know it's only a matter of time before the next battle, before life draws them into the middle of the next struggle.

Celia and Meg know there is always going to be another mountain - but what separates them from a lot of people - they always want to make that mountain move.

Because isn't that really what separates a lot of us? It's not our mountains. We all have them. What separates us is our belief - our willingness - to get up and go make them move.

Yes, Celia and Meg are out there attempting to make a dream come true. They are attempting to run the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. But that big goal is such a small detail in what they are really out there doing.

What they are really doing is training themselves to keep knowing they are two women who can make mountains move. Life gets good - no, life gets INCREDIBLE - when we start seeing mountains as things we move and not things we shrink in front of.

When you believe you can move mountains, you show up at the breaks in life with laughter and positivity and forward thinking.

Because the thing that robs us of joy most in life is not the mountains, it's our thinking that we can't move them. It's seeing mountains as something that stands between today and tomorrow, not something we move to get there.

When I told a friend about all that was happening, she sent me a Miley Cyrus song - The Climb. I hadn't heard the song. I'm not sure I'd ever heard ANY Miley Cyrus song.... but this one sure fit.

Ultimately this weekend, Celia and Meg stopped ten miles short of their weekend goal. But here's the thing - here's what this song says:

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

Celia and Meg came up a little short on their goal. But on the drive back to their cars, I wasn't with two defeated women. I was with two women who were in good spirits, who were positive, who were already talking about the next segment.

Why? Because I was with two women who know life isn't about win or lose. Life isn't about how fast or slow we achieve our dreams or end up where we believe we are called to be.

Life is about the climb.

You either run from the climb or you take it one. You stare at the mountain, trembling - OR - you go frickin move it.

That's all of us today. It's Monday. There's one thing we will all have in common this upcoming week. We will all face a mountain.

Big or small, we will ALL face one.

At the end of the week, some of us will be feeling down. And some of us will be in good spirits - laughing and positive.

I think the difference will be in how we came to see those mountains. Were they something in our way, or something we decided to climb?

The mountains in your life are never going away. Today is as good a day as any to embrace the truth: when it comes to life - the joy is in the climb.

I'm grateful for the chance to be inspired by my dear friends this weekend. They shaped my life. They indeed changed it.

Because this week, I'm ready to climb....