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December 11 is International Mountain Day. I am loving the opportunity to take some time to search for information and pick apart the metaphors of these quirky holidays. It’s really fun to look for metaphors in everything. I never realized how everything really relates to everything else, until I started taking the time to sit and think about things in a deeper way.
After reading about the largest mountains in the world, I decided that I liked Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania for its stories and qualities. Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa’s largest mountain and is located in the northern portion of Tanzania. Kilimanjaro National Park covers an area of 100 meters long and 65 meters wide. I found it fascinating that it’s made up of three volcanic cones (Dibo, Mawenzi, and Shira) and it is a dormant volcanic mountain.
Mount Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet high. It’s the highest peak in Africa and the world’s tallest free-standing mountain. Approximately 35,000 people attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro each year, but only two-thirds are usually successful.
Here are some notables about some of the types of climbers that have been successful:
– The average climb takes from five to ten days.
– a Spanish runner, named Kilian Jarnet, made the fastest ascent in September 2010 at 22 years old. He reached the top in 5 hours, 23 minutes, and 50 seconds
– the youngest person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro is currently Keats Boyd of Los Angeles who reached the summit in January 2007 at the age of 7 even though there was a rule that you must be at least 10 years old.
– the oldest person to reach Mount Kilimanjaro’s summit was Martin Kafer at age 85 and his wife Esther Kafer later climbed the summit at the age of 84.
– Bernard Goosen conquered the mountain twice in a wheelchair. The completed the second climb, mostly unassisted, in only six days! (he used a modified wheelchair)
I was drawn to this mountain for several reasons. First of all, I was amazed at the different types of people who have climbed the mountain and have been successful. It made me wonder what qualities these people had in common that helped them to be successful. Second, there is a wide variety of ecological systems can be found on this mountain including cultivated land, rainforests, heath, moorland, alpine desert, and arctic summit. I was fascinated that all of these types of environments are present on one large mountain. How could this possibly be?
These climbers of Mount Kilimanjaro are successful because of many things:
– Timing is Everything – some months the mountain is easier to climb than others
– Good Preparation is Key – climbers need to work on their stamina months before the hike and get medical clearance before the trip. Even the most basic ailments are made worse at high altitudes.
– Route Choice – There seven main routes up Mount Kilimanjaro. Each one is different in difficulty, traffic, and scenic beauty. The routes with the highest success rate take longer and ascend at a gradual rate allowing climbers to adjust to the change in altitude.
– Packing Carefully – You need the right combination of supplies, clothes, and sleeping equipment for the hike.
– Get Acclimatized – you need to develop patience and take a route that lets you adjust gradually. Just because you take your time doesn’t mean that you won’t have difficulty.
In reviewing this list, I realized that life isn’t much different than climbing a mountain. In life, timing is everything. How many times have you tried something over and over again but things need to fall into place at a certain time in order for you to be successful? This is why you should never give up. If you give up, you may have stopped right when it would have worked out for you.
Good preparation is key. In today’s society, as humans we want everything instantly. We get information in a split second on the internet and we want everything in our lives yesterday. We forget that half of the journey is getting there and we need to enjoy it.
Route Choice – each of the seven routes at Mount Kilimanjaro is different. Most importantly the routes that take the longest have the highest success rate. If that’s true in hiking, it’s true in life. When life progresses at a slow steady pace we are able to get our bearings and become stable where we are at before we move on. If our life changes too quickly, it becomes really difficult to stay grounded and think clearly.
Packing Carefully – without the right combination of supplies, clothes, and sleeping equipment you aren’t going to be successful. This is so true of life. If we don’t have the right education, experiences, and make the right choices, we will have a difficulty in everything we do. It’s all a matter of timing. We have to learn our lessons and understand how to use them in order to be effective.
Get Acclimatized – adjusting to the hike and the altitude is a huge part of the success. As we are growing, we need to learn to trust ourselves and take in what we are doing. It isn’t something that can happen overnight. We have to learn to be patient with ourselves and what we are learning. This is getting acclimatized to our lives.
It made me wonder if I am applying these climbing skills in my life? Am I taking time to get to know myself, making the right choices, choosing experiences and skills that will let me accomplish what I want to do within my heart? Or, am I making choices that everyone else wants me to make? Am I learning the lessons that I need so that I won’t repeat them? Most importantly, and I being patient with myself and allowing myself to grow at a rate that is healthy and allows me the best possible mental and physical health? If I force my body and mind trying to grow too fast or force changes, it will cause me nothing but stress and unhappiness.
What kind of climber are you? Are you the type that tries to sprint to the top or are you trying to climb at a rate of growth and pauses that allows you to get acclimated to your changes? Neither one is wrong or bad. The goal is to understand yourself and know what works for you. When you understand yourself, you know how to work with what you have and make the best use out of any information that you have access to.
This is why I love to use painting as an introspective tool. It gives me time to really dive deep into my own information. Painting gives me such freedom because it allows me to make mistakes and it allows me to have self-acceptance. When you are painting from an intentional and intuitive standpoint, you learn to listen deeply to your own internal voice. The painting begins to actually tell you what it needs, what you need to grow and make changes.
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