High Altitude Valleys

High Altitude Valleys

My two 5th graders came home the other day with a homework assignment about the Andes mountains in South America. Mt. Aconcagua at 22,831 feet is the highest mountain in the Southern and Western Hemisphere, the highest mountain outside Asia, and one of the highest peaks in the world. In fact it is part of the legendary “Seven Summits” (the highest peaks in each continent). It takes between 18-20 days for an EXPERIENCED mountaineer to scale this vast mountain.

If that isn’t fascinating enough on these mountains there are High Altitude Valleys. These valleys, while lower than their corresponding summit peaks, are impressive in and of themselves at massive heights of 7,000-9,000 feet high!

As a therapist and scholar in resilience, this got me thinking about the impossible mountains we sometimes face in front of us and the low valleys in which we become entrenched.

Stressors, life circumstances, difficult people, burdens, and challenges often seem as mountains in front of us; giant barriers that we cannot over come. We likewise wallow in valleys of despair and feel as if we cannot escape!

Yet mountains can be scaled. They may take time, effort, practice, faith, and pauses but they can be scaled. Valleys we encounter along the way do not have to be low points of despair.

Instead “high altitude valleys” can be places to rest, places to mobilize resources, places to identify needs and strengths, places to look for opportunities, places to have gratitude for the climb completed thus far, place to slow and savor the current moment, places to reflect and evolve, places to appreciate growth that has been achieved thus far, and places to adapt and plan for the remainder of the climb to the summit! The summit will be reached, scaled, and remove from being an obstacle if there is perseverance, if valleys are seen as high altitude launch points, and if the summit is always kept in view…even from the valleys.

The climbs may be difficult and valleys may be deep. Let us not deny this, but appreciate our abilities and strengths in spite this. The courage of undertaking the journey is impressive in and of itself and it leads to the greatest perspective at its completion.

Mountaintop views are majestic but it takes effort, adaptability, and perseverance to get there. We have the resilient capacity to adapt to every condition faced in our climb if we rest, rejuvenate, and learn in the valleys.

Make your valleys “high altitude valleys” that propel you forward rather than pause you indefinitely.

Do not stop at the valleys but persevere.

Be resilient and continue the climb and you will grow, thrive, and soar above every cloud and valley along the way!

🦋🌺🌻💕 C.A.R.E. Center for Authentic Resilient Empowerment www.caresilience.com @caresilience

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