Braking

"It's harder to go down hill.  You have to keep your brakes on all the time."

My husband's great grandpa often said this quote.  It may seem obvious, but I don't I'm not sure we think about it all the time. 

When we travel from our house to visit family we have to go over a mountain pass any direction we go.  There are some steep grade downhill areas coming out of the passes.  In each of those areas there is a runoff truck ramp.  The creators of these roads know that semi trucks weighing many tons are coming down these hills.  Truckers have their foot on the brakes and sometimes these brakes can't take any more pressure and give out.  Trucks then turn onto these gravel roads and slow down.

The only relief for these trucks is to drag their tires uphill through deep, difficult gravel.

A few years ago while in Bozeman, Montana we had the opportunity to hike the M.  The M is a destination at the mouth of Bridger Canyon.  There are two trails up to it: one is windy, the other is extremely steep, traveling straight up the 820 feet in elevation.  As difficult as the steep trail is, the most difficult part is coming down.  Your toes try to jam themselves into the ends of your shoes.  Your knees ache from the extra force on them.  You have to be careful not to let your speed get away from you or you will go down the hill faster than your feet can keep up with.  Your head will have reached the end of the trail while the rest of your body is frantically trying to keep up so you don't get hurt. 

The only relief comes in the bends in the trail that attempt to keep you on a more level plane on your way down.

My husband's family shared a story where they took his grandma up a steep trail to use the restroom.  The adventure included some creative teamwork to get the wheel chair over roots and rocks and through the grass and dirt.  They succeeded in reaching the restroom then the most difficult part of the journey began: the trial back down.  They had to hold the front and back of the wheelchair to keep it from rolling uncontrollable down the hill. 

The only relief came from keeping the brakes on and going slowly down the hill.

Our journeys are full of hills.  Often times we think of our difficulties as a steep hill we traverse hoping to get to the top where we can enjoy the amazing view.  We forget the journey back down the hill may be difficult also.  Your brakes might fail and you have to climb back up the hill to slow down.  The trail down might be slow and windy, full of bends taking you far from where you think you should be going, but each bend is intended to keep you from hurting yourself and running faster than you are ready for down to the bottom.  Sometimes you feel like you are traveling with your brakes on.  The pace feels too slow, but you know if you let up on the brakes everything will pass you by and you may fall when you finally reach the bottom.

Journeys are unique.  The view changes with each new step.  The trials and difficult bends come and go.  We get scared about the steep climb up the hill, but we should also be cautious about the downhill journeys.  If we think we can coast to the bottom of the hill, we may either miss out on some important parts of our path or we can hurt ourselves along the way.  "It's all downhill from here" does not mean the rest of the journey will be easy.  It means we have to be careful and slowly take one step at a time.

My solution to these up and down journeys is to focus on where I am right now.  I try to watch my step.  I try to enjoy what I see.  I try to prepare myself for surprises, but ultimately I can only walk the path in front of me.  I can only see my next step.  I walk my own path.

These past few weeks I had to put on my brakes.  I caught a cold that refused to leave.  I have spent 3 weeks resting then working then resting.  I got excited when I started to feel better and took my foot off the brake then I started to fall down the hill and had to put on my brakes again.  I may have ended up in the gravel at some point when I failed to use my brakes when I should have.  I'm finally starting to feel better again.  This time I won't let my foot off the brake so quickly.

Enjoy your journey with all the ups and downs, races, and slow strolls.