I want to start off by saying, the top is not as beautiful as you think it is without the journey and hardship to get there.
This statement gave me an important realisation.
I visited Cradle Mountain in 2011 with my family. I remembered having the admiration of those who had hiked to the peak of the surrounding mountains, and seen the views only those willing could. I recall seeing the small figures of people atop the surrounding peaks and thinking to myself, “I will return here next time to see what the views would be like from up there.” This thought happened in the summer of 2011.
It took me 8 years to finally do what I had thought to myself, to see what it was like up there on those high peaks.
During those years, I made many excuses to why I was unable to, reasons like circumstances, wrong timing, no companion, you name it. All of which I allowed to stop me from doing something I thought about doing each year since 2011. It never left my mind, but I just never took action.
An important lesson I learnt during those years is that dreams without action are just dreams.
This stuck with me, and as I continued to discover myself more through podcasts and reading about some of the best self-helping books, they taught me the start is always the hardest.
This leads perfectly to what this blog post was meant for; to share the realisation I had when I stepped on to the peak of Cradle Mountain.
I have heard many times again and again from successful people how they compare success to mountains. I never truly understood this terminology until I was among the few who had hiked to the top of Cradle Mountain and saw the view.
“…the top is not as beautiful as you think it is without the journey and hardship to get there…”
As I sat and re-energised myself with the snacks and water I brought up, I could not help but notice if it had not been for the long and tiring hours spent to arrive here, I wouldn’t have admired the view as much. With this in mind, I realised that the success in life I am striving for is exactly like a mountain, and I had to question myself if I really want to reach the top of my mountain. Let me explain.
I predict from the sensation I had when reaching the peak of Cradle Mountain, I would enjoy the journey to my mountain more so than reaching the top. I guess this would mean I will continue to strive for more, and that is a good thing, but also must be aware that no mountain may satisfy me. This must be the curse of some who have fallen in to. It’s essential to be mindful of this pitfall, as it will be hard to get out of. But like all problems, awareness is the first step to preventing and extinguishing it before it becomes uncontrollable.
Conclusion
Be patient with the journey, take action towards your mountain, always lookup and have a clear path on where you are headed even if you can’t see the peak yet. As I learnt, never make assumptions on where the summit is from where you’re standing, when in reality the top can only be seen when you’ve stepped foot on it.
You can find the poem that inspired this here.
Amon Xiong 
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