Determination
What does it really take these days? It feels like there’s a constant barrage of people trying to sell you on how to make it big. Seriously, everyone is a guru these days and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed from it all. That on top of my ever-growing to-do list (hydra). I’m actually here writing this to avoid some other task (the specifics are not relevant to this post). I would rather write slop than do anything of value, but even pigs eat slop, so even that is value.
So, from all I see, what is one consistent theme? Determination — no one truly knows how to succeed in this digital age. It is simply showing up, and by doing this, one is becoming. This is the beautiful part of the hike where it’s steep, wooded, and the peak is obscured by the tops of trees. Not even the horizon is visible, the trail forks, yet still I must press on. I know that if I keep following this trail (one I am hiking for the first time) I will eventually reach something even more beautiful, more profound. A squirrel might be spotted in the trees, or even drop a load in front of me (true story btw). There is even beauty as the sweat is rolling off the brow and you feel a slightly more than subtle burning in your calfs. The beauty lies in that the trail leads onto something worth all of it.
Is what is at the end of the trail really better than the journey? Well the view can certainly be jaw dropping. The endorphins your body will produce will make you feel — for lack of better words — on top of the world! Oh but the little messages along the trail one may receive only support the journey. It’s a feeling of connection, surrounded by the buzzing of life, leaves bristling in the wind, as they whisper all the drama away. Words of inspiration along the way “Not everyone walks this trail” “what you’re experiencing is relatable to everyone who walked before you.” All that is certain is the trail in the present moment — unchanging, for at least this go around.
All this connection. Where does it all go? Back to my desk. Back here in this brief moment. Another trail, steep in its own, separate way. A slightly more than subtle burning in the brain, in the heart, in the wrists as I type away, as I form chord shapes. Listening to all the subtleties in the air. Coming from within and without. Coming from directly above the center of the top of my skull.
Yes — I acknowledge the slop now. No propositions, no expectations, just the trail ahead — taking each step one by one. I don’t give in to the whispers to stop. Messages of all kinds. How will you receive them to get to your goals? What will you do after you finally achieve it? I ask myself all the time, yet I’m still here on the trail — determined