Go Back!

​Lately, my middle child has been asking me to tell her stories about 'when I was little'. I've also been reading a lot of travel books so I started telling her about my travel stories and showing her pictures - like this one...

I was on a backpacking trip in the Alps with one of my friends, the first long backpacking trip I had ever taken. Before the trip I had bought a new pair of hiking shoes but they weren't broken in yet so I thought - I'll just bring my Chacos. They would take up less room in my luggage and it was the middle of summer so I wasn't too worried.

We started up the lush green slopes and meadows and were in hiking heaven. After the second day as we climbed higher into the mountains, we passed some hikers who noticed my Chaco sandals. They started waving their walking sticks and pointing at my shoes, speaking in German, which I couldn't understand. When they realized we only spoke English, one yelled, 'GO BACK!' pointing at my shoes. I laughed and nodded as if I understood why they were telling me this, and continued on. Why did I need to go back? These shoes were fine-it's summer and in America, this is totally normal, (not really).

A few hours later, I understood why they wanted me to turn around. Snow.

But what would have happened if I had gone back?

I think there are moments in our lives when we want to turn around instead of moving forward. It often feels easier because we are familiar with the path behind us. We know the way back, we know how long it took, how difficult or easy it was. But going back won't really lead us where we want to go.

I had been warned to go back early enough that I could have considered the idea and made it a reality. I could have doubted myself, the decision I made, and wondered if what everyone else said was true. I could have let fear dictate my choices. Instead, I thought, 'Oh well, I'll figure it out I guess.'

When we reached the peak shown in this photograph, I was gobsmacked by the view. I have been on many mountaintops and looked over valleys before, but this experience was different. It felt like an ocean of mountains, waves upon waves of new mountain peaks and I had never seen anything quite like it. My camera couldn't do it justice. I remembered staring out, surprised that majestic places like this could actually exist. If I had turned around, I would have never known this kind of beauty.

My good friend lent me her hiking poles to keep myself from slipping as we crossed the snow-covered stretch of the trail, and I just remember laughing most of the time. Is it really that surprising that a girl from Nevada would backpack in the snow on the top of the Alps, wearing only sandals? In so many ways, no it wasn't. I didn't get frostbite, I didn't slip and fall down the mountain, and I didn't regret any of it. It became the best story from our trip, the one that we will always remember and laugh about, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Sometimes, our mistakes and missteps, all the times we wished we went back aren't the things that define our stories. The stories emerge from the courage to pushing through and move forward, even when everyone else tells you that you should turn around. The best stories often come from the most challenging things, or in my case, the craziest things we've done. They come from embracing the unpredictable, from doing things differently than everyone else, or simply doing something that is uniquely our own.

So, don't go back.
Don't stop.
Keep going.
Keep pushing.
Keep creating your best stories.