WORD COUNT: 618
ESTIMATED READ TIME: About 3 minutes
Not long ago, I was in Peru traveling with a small group of highly-accomplished and adventurous women. They included a pediatric radiation oncologist, a commercial banker, and a wildlife illustrator. Each woman was inspiring and fun and had successfully taken on many life challenges.
But one challenge on this trip panicked just about all of us. We were to climb a mountain next to Machu Pichu called Huayna Picchu. It was a straight up 1,000 foot elevation gain made of stairs built by the Incans. It has a slope of 60 degrees (steep!), hardly any switchbacks for breaks, and runs along the edge of sharp cliff drop-offs. And the Incans had tiny feet so the steps are narrow for our big ‘ol 21st century clodhoppers.
We would be walking on a trail nicknamed “the stairs of death.”
What?
Was that a metaphorical name or based on recent incidents?
Taking all this information in we did not, I’m sorry to report, say we can do this! No problem. We’ve done way harder things.
Instead, we came up with contingency plans. We decided on a code phrase if we needed to take a rest: “photo op.” We assured each other there was no shame in turning back if the hike was too much. We gave ourselves lots of outs.
By the morning of the hike, our hearts were all pounding. We had pretty much psyched ourselves out before we even started.
But we did start. We took step after step slowly making our way up the mountain We had a lot of photo ops. Some of us almost turned around. And parts of the hike were hard. It was tiring. But we kept climbing, taking breaks, and climbing again.
We made it to the top. Every one of us.
The view of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains from the top was awe-inspiring. We never would have seen it if we had stopped or let our panic prevent us from even trying.
That day, at the top of the mountain, I thought “writing is like this.” So many of my smart, accomplished clients in my writing coaching come in having already psyched themselves out.
“Writing is too hard, I can’t do it, I don’t have it in me,” they say.
And then we start climbing the mountain together, step by step, taking breaks when necessary. When we got to the top, the view is majestic. And the view is of their creation, a creation they never would have made if they hadn’t taken the first tentative steps.
Writing something in your voice that the world needs to hear is so worth it. Yes, it can be grueling and, at times, not fun at all. But it is also full of surprises. Like how we felt at the summit. That hike wasn’t so bad, really. Not as hard or scary as we made it out to be. Just like writing is. When you see what you’ve created, only something that you could have done, it is the best feeling.
Don’t let the scariness of writing stop you from trying. You can do this. And the world will be better off for it.
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