You’re going to spend your time doing something. Your money is going to get spent on something. Your effort and passion will be spent. These things aren’t to save, they are to spend.
But on what?
The more I experience, the more I realize the truth in sayings such as “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
Climbing is a great example (of course I’ll find a way to make climbing into a life lesson regardless of the topic). We expend tremendous time, energy, effort, and money to climb. We plan, pack, drive hours across the country, hunt for parking. We load up our packs and set off across rugged terrain – scrambling, bushwhacking, sweating. We get lost and blame the guidebook (or our partner). We finally reach the cliff and stare up wondering where the route starts. We overcome physical challenge, our own fears and limitations. Sometimes we succeed in reaching the top. Other times we don’t, so we reverse the process and head home to train. We eat special food, engage in special workouts, and (often) shape our entire lives around the goal of climbing some cliff.
And after all of that effort, what happens when we finally reach the top? We yell “take.” We might remember to look around for a moment. Then we immediately begin the process of descending, retrieving gear, moving on to the next climb.
I believe that getting to the top isn’t why we go. I think people who climb love the process of climbing. All of that trudging and work, planning and gear… we love that process and would rather spend our time on it than something else.
So when do you quit, or when do you persevere through adversity? Not when you see signs of failure or success. You stick with it when you love the process. When you’re working on something that you love working on, regardless of the outcome. You’re going to spend your life doing something. Whether it’s a “success or not” seems like reaching the top of the climb: who really cares?
Have you fallen out of love with the process, and want to spend your finite time on a different pursuit? Then walk away and never look back. The only true “failure” in life is looking back and realizing you spent your precious days doing things you wish you hadn’t.
Did trying to get there light you on fire? Did you lose sleep over it in a good way? Do you get excited to try a new approach? Then keep going.
