This weekend I faced a huge fear. The hubby told me on Wednesday he wanted to go hiking this weekend, and I just thought, cool, I like easy hikes. What he didn't tell me, until the night before, is WHICH hike we were doing. We ended up driving 3 hours to the town of Glenwood Springs and staying the night so we could do this trail. By the time he told me what we were doing, the room was already booked and we HAD to go.
We did the Hanging Lake Trail in Glenwood Canyon. While it was a short hike (1.5 miles each way), it was STEEP. A 1000 foot incline in those 1.5 miles. And the terrain was very, very rocky. Of course, as soon as he told me which trail he wanted to do I looked it up, and was immediately terrified. Even experience hikers in excellent shape called it a "challenging" hike. Even though I'm in better shape than I was, I'm NO WAY in shape for strenuous hikes. Or so I thought.
I was pretty much terrified the whole night before and up until the hike began. The trail was crowded, and I saw quite a few people turning back. After the first 1/4 mile, I wanted to turn back. I was short of breath, uncomfortable and terrified of slipping and hurting myself. The hubby told me he wouldn't force me to keep going, but I could tell he'd be disappointing if I didn't finish. So I pushed through. It was one of the hardest things I've done. I was constantly out of breath, my legs where shaking and I had to keep taking breaks. I wasn't the only one. People everywhere were stopping...but they were mostly older people. There were plenty of athletic looking young people that just kept going as if it wasn't hard at all. At about the halfway mark, I was exhausted and shaky, but I was almost halfway done...I figured I had to keep going or I'd never forgive myself. For some reason, the last 1/4 mile was the easiest to do, even though it was the steepest part. I think it was the knowledge that I was almost there. The top of the hike, the Hanging Lake, was gorgeous and totally worth the hike.
The way down was scary, but not as bad as I thought. While I was short of breath and tired on the way up, I wasn't THAT scared of falling. On the way down, before I started heading down, I was terrified. I was convinced I would slip while scrambling down from the top, or on one of the slippery patches and fall and hit my head.
But none of that happened. I've apparently gotten more confident, because I was able to make it all the way down without incident (and I only asked the hubby to hold my hand for like 5 minutes of it).
Three hours after the begining of the hike, we were back down at the car and headed for the hotel. And I have never been prouder of myself.
Never be afraid to face your fears. The feeling that you get when you accomplish something you thought impossible is priceless.
You are amazing , Leti! Way to face your fears, this post is definitely a good life lesson to anyone who is working to achieve something in their life, way to inspire!!
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