Climbing Kilimanjaro
Its so odd. Everytime I set out to do something in my life, which is big. I have never known that how big it was. I have always set on the path to do it, without first realizing at all what it was. A striking similarity comes to my mind, when I think of the big big IIT JEE exam. When I had set myself for preparing for this exam in my early 11th grade. I did not even know what was the full form of the letters I.I.T. When I moved a little forward and started preparing myself for the whole course of iit, I did not know what I was in for. The journey just began, and ended one day. Ended with a huge effort being put in, each moment realizing - so much to be done in so little of extra time. Hiking Kilimanjaro was something very similar to that.
When one of my friends told me that lets go to Kilimanjaro to nail it, all he told me was how scenic was it at the Roof of Africa. I did not know where it was, what was the altitude I was to go to, but I became all excited and committed to do it. It was later that my friend collected passports to get it stamped by Tanzanian Embassy, that I realized that this mountain stood in that country of East Africa, which would have been probably among the last countries I would have planned to visit.
When we are set to do something big, it seems always the case to me that we tell ourselves that it is not as big as it is hyped about. This is probably the reason we someday just start walking on the path to our destination, and someday reach there. I was never able to give GRE, because I postponed it on one occasion and canceled it on another. Each time I ran away from that fateful day of the examination because, whenever I sat to start my barron's, I began at the first chapter, and it seemed impossible to me to reach chapter 50 which marked the completion. Though this was not a huge task compared to many other things I probably have done, but that clear demarcation of the line to be reached kind of discouraged me each time I tried to make a move towards it.
That is why probably we are told to break down big tasks and plan them well. Sometimes even clouds may help you when you are hiking. No they do not make you sit on them and fly you from peak to peak. It just hides that dangerously tall mountain from your sight which might discourage you on the very onset as something unachievable. Each time on the trip when we had a clear sky, and could see the humongous mountain, we gasped. Looked down on the trail we were walking, told ourselves not to look at that devil laughing at us, and just move on. Don’t we do that all the time? May be when we have to pass time waiting for the next flight at an airport full of people, yet leaving us in solitude. More often you gaze at your watch, more you get irritated at the slow pace the time is moving. And it seems to you that it would be eternity before the clock shows the time you want. But try distracting yourself, make yourself busy in something, and there flies away the time, you were so anxious to pass.
What makes a 100 mt. sprint different from a marathon? The quick answer which comes to our mind is the pace. One is exciting and quick, the other is boring and slow. But can one sprint all the way to complete a marathon? Not unless his muscles are charged up with replaceable batteries! The bigger the task you have, the longer you want to be in arena of performance. More you would like to make yourself steady and slow. Its like saying, how important it is to be on crease in a test match. It just means that more points would accumulate on your scorecard more the time you are there. Remaining steady, maintaining your equivalence and just sticking around is what takes to sail your boat to the other side in rough times. Summiting Kilimanjaro was a marathon. It was a test match. It was an ocean which you had to cross with your boat. Here what matters is persistence. What matters is learning the tricks of the game when you have already been pushed on the field. One who can successfully adjust himself to the conditions around, would definitely emerge as a winner!
When one of my friends told me that lets go to Kilimanjaro to nail it, all he told me was how scenic was it at the Roof of Africa. I did not know where it was, what was the altitude I was to go to, but I became all excited and committed to do it. It was later that my friend collected passports to get it stamped by Tanzanian Embassy, that I realized that this mountain stood in that country of East Africa, which would have been probably among the last countries I would have planned to visit.
When we are set to do something big, it seems always the case to me that we tell ourselves that it is not as big as it is hyped about. This is probably the reason we someday just start walking on the path to our destination, and someday reach there. I was never able to give GRE, because I postponed it on one occasion and canceled it on another. Each time I ran away from that fateful day of the examination because, whenever I sat to start my barron's, I began at the first chapter, and it seemed impossible to me to reach chapter 50 which marked the completion. Though this was not a huge task compared to many other things I probably have done, but that clear demarcation of the line to be reached kind of discouraged me each time I tried to make a move towards it.
That is why probably we are told to break down big tasks and plan them well. Sometimes even clouds may help you when you are hiking. No they do not make you sit on them and fly you from peak to peak. It just hides that dangerously tall mountain from your sight which might discourage you on the very onset as something unachievable. Each time on the trip when we had a clear sky, and could see the humongous mountain, we gasped. Looked down on the trail we were walking, told ourselves not to look at that devil laughing at us, and just move on. Don’t we do that all the time? May be when we have to pass time waiting for the next flight at an airport full of people, yet leaving us in solitude. More often you gaze at your watch, more you get irritated at the slow pace the time is moving. And it seems to you that it would be eternity before the clock shows the time you want. But try distracting yourself, make yourself busy in something, and there flies away the time, you were so anxious to pass.
What makes a 100 mt. sprint different from a marathon? The quick answer which comes to our mind is the pace. One is exciting and quick, the other is boring and slow. But can one sprint all the way to complete a marathon? Not unless his muscles are charged up with replaceable batteries! The bigger the task you have, the longer you want to be in arena of performance. More you would like to make yourself steady and slow. Its like saying, how important it is to be on crease in a test match. It just means that more points would accumulate on your scorecard more the time you are there. Remaining steady, maintaining your equivalence and just sticking around is what takes to sail your boat to the other side in rough times. Summiting Kilimanjaro was a marathon. It was a test match. It was an ocean which you had to cross with your boat. Here what matters is persistence. What matters is learning the tricks of the game when you have already been pushed on the field. One who can successfully adjust himself to the conditions around, would definitely emerge as a winner!
posted by Laxmikant at 1:38 PM
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