Keep Stepping to Build a Habit of Persistence
The only way I can reach my destination is if I take as step and then I keep stepping until I arrive. The one step won’t get me there. Even the second step will not likely get me there – if it is a BIG DREAM goal. It will take persistent stepping to move me down my path and into my possibility.
My family and I went on a 2.5 mile hike. I know it was a 2.5 mile hike because I checked the map and the website several times before we set off on our adventure. It was important to me that we be prepared for what might come up and knowing the distance of the hike dictated a lot of what I would bring.
Instead of the packing a full day pack – like I normal would do for a longer hike – I settled for a water bottle clipped to my side.
I did insist that we take time for a picnic before we started the hike. It is always a good idea to have nourishment and having lunch eliminated the need to pack snacks for the short hike.
We started down the trail and the boys were excited that someone had placed walking sticks at the head of the trail for them to use. I passed on using a walking stick mainly because I had my camera with me and didn’t need one more thing to carry.
The boys struck poses for me at the peak of rocks and long the edge of the water. We played and talked as we walked along.
Many of the trails at the State Park where we were hiking are designed to wrap back around to the beginning. Too far into the hike, I realized this was NOT one of those trails. As we continued on our journey we discovered the trail ended at a trickling stream. Under normal circumstances (and if I had been prepared) then this would have been the ideal spot to rest, recharge, and refresh before tackling the second leg of the hike.
It was NOT normal circumstances. I was not prepared – which is a very unscoutlike place to be for a mom of three Scouts.
My water bottle was empty. I had no additional supplies. And I now realized that our short 2.5-mile hike was going to turn into a 5-mile journey and there was no way around it.
The only way to get back out was to hike back out and the only way to make that happen was to take the first step and then build my habit of persistence by taking another step.
I dug in and determined to concentrate on each step – counting them out as I went because it helped me stay focused. When my youngest son, who was walking in front of me, would want to stop, I would help him make a game of the steps as well. One step at a time added to one more step at a time brought us around the lake and back to where we started.
The only way to get to the end of the journey is to take the next step along the path - persistence is vital Share on XI learned several things about pursuing my BIG DREAM goals from my “short” hike and from the persistence I found to keep stepping.
Keys to Keep Stepping
- To always be prepared because you never know when your short hike could become a long one. I thought my lack of preparedness along that walk – how if something had happened we wouldn’t have had the first aid kit, or extra water, or another other supplies necessary to deal with it. A little preparedness can go along ways.
- To always read the fine print because sometimes what it says it not all that it says. When we arrived back home, I went back to the website and did a little more searching to see what I had missed. It was then that I discovered (in some tiny print that I had missed before) where the trail we had taken was indeed 2.5 miles . . . one way. In other words it was a two way trip which translates to a 5 mile hike for those of you keeping score.
- To expect more and different with every journey because what you get from the journey may not be what you went in expecting. We had wanted to take a fun family hike – and we did – but because of the extra miles my youngest son earned an award that he might have otherwise missed out on.
I can reach my BIG DREAM goals and I can give flight to my impossible dreams BUT I will have to take the step and keep stepping no matter how many steps it may take to get to the end of the path.
