The Long and Short Roads of Life
May 14, 2008
Tonight I thought I was clever leaving my walk late in order to have a nice Latte, darkness had began to fall but the urge to get out into nature overwhelmed me. Music in my ears I set off on two legs travelling the roads I have travelled many times before.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been pushing my body more and more by choosing a route that has the most elevated hills, they’re short but steep, ones that are (not kidding) close to 70 degrees in both directions. The initial reason for this madness was to put pressure on my knees and hips in order to strengthen the muscles and to put strain on my lungs so that I can feel the damage that I have done to my body for 15 years. Yes, pure madness…
Tonight though I decided to take the not so crazy hills and take the more even ones, in my area there are only hills, it is just the elevation that differs. As I walked I started to feel myself tire faster than I do on the steep hills, I was shocked that I was battling so much, but then it struck me…
The short steep hills are fine, you put your body through hell getting up and down them, but the agony is short lived. The less elevated ones, however, are more strenuous because they are longer lasting, causing more agony and pain, because just when you think you’re at the end you find yourself only at the midpoint. The benefit to my body would be to take the less elevated hills, although they are harder the benefits will be longer lasting than those of the 70 degree’ers.
Such as it is life, the short battles that we go through, the hardships that seem so steep to overcome when we’re in the mix of it. We recover from them far quicker than those that last longer, the effects on our spirit are also not as lasting. We soon forget the lessons that we learn, we start thinking that those short steep hills in our lives are the way to go and when faced with a problem we choose to go the quick but painful route.
The longer less elevated hills in our lives last a lot longer, they take longer to overcome and accept but the effects on our spirit last. Although it is not the “easy” route, it strengths our spirit enabling us to weather the storms that life throws us, we build up the resources to get us over the next hill.
There are no quick fixes in life, when we choose the quickest route to get over or deal with something it comes back to bite us and bite us hard. Add a whole bunch of quick hills together and you’ll soon find that you tire from life’s trials more easily, your fuel for life gets diminished and soon your spirit is flatter than an energizer battery.
Don’t run from healing, don’t run from dealing with the things that you need to address by taking the faster route for all you are doing is stunting your spiritual growth and your emotional well being.
The long road might be hard but is far more worth it…
Oh, you’ve made my long road look much more attractive! I kind of like it better now!
i totally agree with you… there might be easy short roads but in the long run they will just tire you unexpectedly. everything goes through a process and taking shortcuts might hinder you from attaining that pure clarity and pure cleansing.
you changed your header… it’s very nice.
ifoundme - thanks you
and how true! tbh my muscles are so sore today which just goes to prove that taking the steeper shorter hills is easier lol!
hmmm….but the short ones are also important…and you will remember them too…because each path has its own tale…
True each path has it’s own tale but the ones that take longer are more beneficial because there is real cleansing and healing where as the short steep ones just tire you.
In the past I took some shortcuts to protect myself perhaps because I wasn’t ready to face the past for what it was, it came back to bite me hard and I realised that there are no short cuts if you want to get through something…
I wouldn’t change any of the rough roads I’ve travelled for smoother ones… the lessons learned are painful, yet very valuable.
Of course, I know the photo isn’t really from the end of your road because there are no giraffes in it. :oP
You know, I tried to entice them with carrots only to remember that the poor thing was not in fact a horse… Then I tried an olive branch but it was too oily for Twigga’s liking (Swahili for giraffe)
Oh well next time perhaps Simba won’t try eat Twigga and I can get a full family shot in 
What strikes me the most, my friend, about this lovely, telling post of yours, is that, although the longer, more gradual hills require more endurance, and leave us feeling more spent, the lesson in it for me is that I need to pace myself. I need to learn to gradually go up that gradual hill; take breaks and rest if I need to; not expect to tackle it all at once. The other part is that to some of us, we are walking the road, and it doesn’t seem “hilly” to us, but it is to others. I do a lot of walking, and several of us walk together; I am amazed at the grades in the road that appear to be moderate or steep inclines to others, and to me, seem smoother, and the other way around. Thanks so much, as usual, for your full and unrestricted insight….. hugs, Vanessa
Lol it struck me after I wrote this that so often I rush, I forget to pace myself (exact words in my head but somehow I don’t think you will be surprised
) I want to do things right the first time and fast…Each hills incline differs from person to person all dependant on their set of circumstances. My weak knee might make one hill really hard for me while your weak ankle makes another more hard 
Thanks as always *hugs*