One Step at a Time
Author: admin
A Naif in the Forest by Darrell Berger
Wing Tips to Hiking Boots: Musings of a New, Full-Time Poconos Resident
Spring hiking season is upon us. My first experience with real hiking came in 1996 when I trekked the base of Annapurna in Nepal. My prime motivation for this was to be able to say, “When I trekked the base of Annapurna.” I trekked with a small group of moderately fit westerners, led by a Sherpa, a member of the Nepalese ethnic group who for centuries have lead Himalayan ascents.
Our group gathered the night before we departed to learn the rules and warnings of the trek. Our Sherpa’s final words were, “Tomorrow I will tell you how to trek the base of Annapurna.”
The next morning he said only, “One step at a time.”
We all laughed, but I was also disappointed. I felt I needed advice. Soon I understood this was best advice I could have received.
We spent one entire day walking up. I could see nothing but steps carved out of the mountain for as far as I could see, until the trail disappeared into the clouds. I said to myself, “One step at a time.” Eventually, I reached the clouds.
Later, when we spent a day walking down, and my knees hurt more with each step, his advice enabled me to endure the pain. When we trekked along the side of a mountain and the steps became distressingly narrow for my size twelve boots, I took each step very carefully, focusing on the current step, looking neither ahead or behind. When we returned to the valley I knew I had been able to complete the trek because I recalled his very good advice again and again.
One step at a time. Stay focused. Keep in the present. Don’t look back. The clichés of motivation didn’t originate in offices or classrooms or factory floors, but in the mountains and fields and seas where following or not following them had real consequences. Now when I hike through our forest, the altitudes are not as great, nor the paths as narrow, yet I frequently repeat our Sherpa’s still helpful advice.