My daughter shared this with me today. She probably thought that I could relate to what he was talking about and she is right. One of my favorite activities is hiking through the wilderness. Whenever I go I gain a deeper appreciation for God's creation and can't help but sing "How Great Thou Art". Well, more like humming between breaths. I always knew that I am not the most fit person and a somewhat slow hiker. I didn't realize how slow I was until this summer when we went hiking with couple of friends. When Mike and I go hiking he always lets me go ahead of him so I can set a pace that is comfortable for me. From the very beginning I could tell that they were much better and faster hikers than I am. I was feeling pretty bad and somewhat embarrassed when they had to wait for me to catch up from time to time.
As long as I remember I always had low blood iron and shortness of breath. I assumed that I had a mild case of asthma, but my doctor told me it is caused by not having enough oxygen in my blood and because of that my heart has to work extra hard. So when I hike up steep mountains my heart works extra extra hard which makes me slow down and take a lot of breaks. So, knowing this, I don't feel as bad about being a slower hiker. I still get to the lake that we set out to go. It might take me longer to get there, but at the end of the day I am there and that is what counts. One benefit of being slow I get to enjoy more just because of so many breaks.
I was thinking about hiking in connection with life. We all start out together, but soon some of us will choose to not continue, some of us will choose to take short cuts, some of us will enjoy the beauty of hiking, while some of us will complain about the weight of packs or the heat of the day. While we are on this journey some of us will notice that others have better equipment, more fashionable clothes, or better things to eat. We will notice that others are faster than us, have more energy than us, or are more cheerful than us.
Did you ever compare your life with others? I did that many times and still do from time to time. We live in a very competitive society and even when we try to not compare ourselves with others sometimes situations arise that make us compare and notice our shortcomings.
When my first born was about five months old someone said to me, "what? she is not crawling yet? so and so is about the same age as your daughter and she is already crawling." Well, guess what she learned to crawl, walk, and run and turned out to be a just perfect child. It is okay to be a late bloomer. Does it really matter how early you lean to crawl, speak, know your colors, finish college, or get married? I didn't start college until I was 36 years old. I married a little later than others. The most important thing is to not give up while trying to reach our lake. What our lake might be is different from person to person.
I appreciate Elder Ballard's words. It is okay to slow down and take a break. Just remember that as long as we are doing better than we have been and continue our journey to our lake everything will work out.
Side note: I am taking a serious amount of iron by doctor's orders and I hope that will help me become a better hiker.
Meekyung, I have this to say about your hiking ability having seen it in person: You are very impressive. When you twisted your ankle and we decided that the trail wasn't well defined enough to continue and turned back, we knew you were hurting but you continued without complaint and with an utterly calm attitude. And when 4 miles later, we returned to our base camp, after traversing extremely rugged terrain, you removed your boot and revealed a hugely swollen ankle that was black and blue. I could not believe you hiked out on that carrying a backback that was easily a third your body weight. I was then and remain now extremely impressed with your fortitude. There are not many who could have done that, me included. Being competitive is part of the human condition and in my case, after observing your example I have resolved to try to be tougher. Be well!
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