.JPG)
“What do scaling a cliff, starting a painting, parachuting out of a plane, buying a kiln, and running a marathon have in common? They all take courage as well as commitment. Summoning the courage to try something new in the physical realm – something exciting and a little scary – helps strengthen the same muscles that boost us to new creative heights. Dreaming of rafting down a river or trekking up a mountain? Days “Yes” to that fantasy. Prove to yourself you can do it. You’ll have the exhilaration of that success to draw on later, when gathering the confidence to write a screenplay that’ll knock Spielberg’s socks off.” – Lynn Gordon
A couple of Saturday’s ago, I went on a Lapidary Club Field trip up into the mountains, to find specimens of opal and crystal in an ancient, petrified, Eucalyptus forest, on top of one of those mountains. Not far from my home and a place you would never dream had such. The Trip advisory said that there was a short 15minute hike up to the forest. OMG, what was supposed to take 15 minutes took me an hour. It was straight up. It was not an actual trail; it was a deer trail. If you stopped to catch your breath, you had to brace yourself up from falling down, on a leaning tree. And, once I got started, I knew I had no business hiking up. To top it all off, there was downfall of great trees to climb over or under. Ego got the best of me and I would not give up. I was near collapse by the time I stumbled up over the lip to the top where the forest was. I plopped myself down knowing I had just gone where no 75-year-old should go. It had become something to conquer, and although I was gasping for air, I had done it. I gave no thought to how I was going to go back down. Oh, I did not tell you. I haul all my heavy tools (sledge hammer, pick axe, garden shovels, drinks, camera, TP, brush, garden claw, etc., in a buggy (the kind you see people use when they deliver newspapers, and junk mail). If a wonderful young 20-year-old man grabbed that buggy up over his head and carried it all the way up. I’d have never made it without his help. But, when it came time to go back down… omg, the buggy drug me faster than I could stumble. Yes, the grade was steep. Another young man grabbed my buggy and hauled t all the way to the bottom. I would never have been able to get body and buggy down without a great crash or three or ten. But I made it up and spent hours digging a great hole at the foot of a tree, amidst the roots, I found huge pieces of petrified wood. The scenery was incredible as one felt like one was at the top of the world. I found a bucketload of samples to slab and polish and make jewelry out of.
Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. It would be so easy to say I could not go. Well, I could not go, but go, I did. And once I got my precious gems, and was safely back down in my vehicle, I was sooo proud of myself. If you showed me a video of the trail and the steep climb, I would have said that I seriously could not go. But I had and have the rocks to prove it. I shocked myself. I know I could never go again so it makes the trip even more meaningful. I have it in me to do things no 75-year-old could, would, should, do. I topped my physical boundary levels. And I got some wicked good specimens to work with this winter. The exhilaration of success.
Have you done something lately that yo are proud of yourself for? Was it physical, intellectual, emotion or spiritual? Was it completing some artistic goal you had?
©Carol Desjarlais 8.18.22
Collage #78/100 – using a bag (for the mountain), theme – autumn, Die cut (tre4es), Dry embossed (mountain), black, something from bin (stone jewel).
No comments:
Post a Comment