Stairs

Naplion, Greece

1,000 steps to get up to a 15th Century Fort sounded like a great idea at first. After huffing and puffing for 15 minutes, and with the summit nowhere in sight, I nearly gave up. The other thing was that I had stopped counting after 100 steps. The counting was demoralizing plus my head was starting to spin from the winding path up.

Going up takes work; but the rewards outweigh the pain.

It was a good thing that I only had a tiny backpack and one water bottle, which was consumed in the first 500 steps. I was tempted to ditch any extra weight and found the heaviest item in my backpack was my other Canon SLR camera.
It reminded me of my experience in the infantry when we were charging make-believe enemy fortifications. For us to get up to the summit, we had to drop all our extra gear. The 70 pound backpack was first to go, the extra water bottles, food and support equipment were all left behind. Sometimes good things can hold us back from getting to the top.
You’ve got to give up, to go up!

Destination Disease
When we got up there, we met some of our new-found friends who had taken the easy way up; in a cab. Wow! They got up to the Fort really quick and without any effort. We enjoyed the view from the top together and then as quickly as they came, they left. As I slowly made my way back down, the thought struck me; sometimes, it’s not just about getting to the destination; it’s what you experience in the journey that makes it memorable and even life changing.
It’s not how fast you get there; it’s what you encounter on the way that makes life meaningful.
They had missed out on the sights along the climb; the unique fauna and wildlife that made this trek extra special. I would have walked by some of these things had it not been for the many breaks we took to catch our breath.

Unplanned stops in life can turn out to be unexpected blessings!