Life Lessons From Mountain Hiking
By: Abdul Azeez
Tags: Hiking

I have always wanted to hike for a very long time, but the opportunity never came knocking until recently when I just had to go out there and search for the opportunity. And when searching for the hiking team to join, I realized a number of teams already organize hiking trips and the opportunities to go hiking was usually much more than I thought. You would think how many people would leave their comfortable beds on the weekend to go hiking, the number of people you meet at the hiking trips when you go would shock you. I realize we have as low as a 50 to 100 people when the hike is not very full and much more when more people show up.

And the team I hike with is the Naija Adventurers. If you are ever in Abuja and would love to join a hiking team, then they are a team I would recommend you check out for. Well, I have not tried out other teams, but what I have gotten so far has been amazing. The nice and wonderful people you get to meet at the hiking site and much more just make the hiking a nice and wonderful experience. As such, the first life lesson I have learned so far is that the opportunities for what you are looking for are usually much more than you think, and you always have to get started to really know how much there are.

Also pain usually has more rewards than you can imagine. When we start the hike, people feel good getting started, but after a while, the pain begins to set in. The mountain begins to take its toll and wherever you look, you see everyone hoping it was already over even befire it started. But the lesson here is if you endure long enough, your completion at the end of the journey gives you more joy than you can ever imagine. So when I get started with my hike and the pain comes, all I say is the gift at the end is more than what I am currently facing, and I just keep going, taking as many pictures as I can while doing that. And this my friends is the second lesson I have learned, that no matter the pain, the goal at the end is what you should be more focused on, pain hides the goal, but your persistence to keep going is what shows who you really are in the end. So much pain does not mean the goal is not there, it just shows that the goal you would achieve is even greater. Realize why the military have to do more hardwork than other enforcement agencies, well, the goal is higher, and so the pain is also high.

And when you get to the top, it is just the beginning of another journey. Because getting to the top of the mountain might seem like the end of it, it is not. In mountain hiking, getting back down is not as easy as it is in human activities where you have to do nothing to get back down, with hiking, the work starts when you get to the top because coming back down is usually as hard as going up. So when you get to the top, do not use up all your energy, help as many people as you can along the way, because you might need all that energy coming down. So the third lesson is about helping others on your path in life because we all need one another either on our way up or our way down.

Also hiking takes you back to where it all began. Right there in nature where you have a better perspective of how life truly is. You are so far away from the noise and the things that worry us and we are calm and at peace with nature, enjoying is cool breeze and just being ourselves. Nature has a lot to offer and teach us and we can only learn if we go find it. The pictures out there are so amazing and wonderful.

And finally, get to protect yourself as much as you can. The little trees and shrubs on the mountain can do you more harm than you can imagine. So when next you think of hiking, cover the most important parts of your body. Well, the heat might be more, but you need to cover important parts of your body. And also use good shoes, flat shoes do not make your hike easy. Friction is what you need and flat shoes may not give you that. So get your gloves, good shoes and be on the look out for the next hike. You can also me that wonderful hiker.

For us, when the mountain calls, we respond and hike. Naija Adventurers, thanks very much for the opportunity. We really appreciate.