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I loved climbing trees as a child. My siblings and I spent half our time playing in the native bush near the house and around the farm. We made huts, climbed trees, and created huge imaginary worlds in the safety of the trees.
One of my fitness goals was to be able to climb trees again. Possibly an odd goal for a 55-year-old but I love the sense of freedom and being embraced by tree limbs.
After my left hip was replaced in 2019, I wasn’t sure whether I’d ever get back up into the trees. Before my hip deteriorated I’d been known to clamber up a tree just for fun or to pick fruit, but it had been years since I last ventured skyward among the branches.
This week I finally achieved my goal. Lots of injuries and rebuilding my strength, fitness, and balance and I ticked tree climbing off my list – I’ll keep climbing mind you because there’s nothing like it for lifting my spirits.
Rebuilding fitness, strength, and balance has been a key focus for me in the past few years. I’ve learned how to tread the line between pushing myself and not doing too much, to avoid dumping excess stress and cortisol into my system.
Progress, not perfection is the goal. One small step daily.
For years my husband and I climbed mountains and hiked high mountain passes. It taught me about my perceptions of what I could and couldn’t do and I climbed many places that scared the living s*** out of me.
The exhilaration when you reach the summit, whether it’s the tip-top of a mountain or a particularly gnarly, steep mountain pass – one called Gun-sight comes to mind – the incredible sense of achievement, is unsurpassed.
There were times when we were climbing, particularly on steep icy slopes, and I had no idea how I would make it. The first time we were with a professional guide. I recall stopping about 200 metres below the summit, utterly terrified and spent.
We perched there looking out at the amazing views, the clouds drifting by below us, and our guide said, “Well if you can put one foot in front of the other and make it to the top, we’ll belay you back down as far as you need.”
I looked at him and said, “Just one foot in front of the other, ha!” And that’s what I did. One small step at a time.
It was a pivotal moment for me because, not only did we learn the techniques to go places in the mountains that we’d never accessed before, I learned the art of one step in front of the other.
Whatever mountain I’m climbing, whether metaphorical or physical, I remember to break it down into one small step at a time. Each goal is an opportunity to create small stepping stones along the way and it translates into every aspect of my life.
I rebuilt my strength, fitness, and balance slowly, one step after another. I use fitness goals like climbing trees, being able to chainsaw firewood, wrangling the heavy scrub-cutter, practicing certain yoga postures, and hiking the hills further, faster and longer, and each of these goals requires small steps to achieve daily. I’m aiming to get back into those mountains on multi-day hiking trips.
No matter how big the mountain is, you can climb it. One small step at a time. And climbing trees – well, it’s all about fun because you need some fun stuff daily too.