So this is like my 4th blog since being home from training camp…but I really couldn’t condense everything into one blog. That being said…here’s another thing I learned at training camp a couple weeks ago:
HILLS ARE HARD.
I’m fairly certain I said those words about 63 times a day while at camp (mostly complaining to myself, but frequently out loud as well).
Forget something from your pack? Walk up a hill.
Need to pee? Walk up a hill (sometimes in the dark while half asleep).
Want to go down to the lake? Walk down and then up several GIANT hills.
Have another session to go to? …well, you get the idea.
Most of you who know me know I’m not a huge fan of exercise. I view it as a necessary evil if you will. And just to put it into context (and because I’m a huge Hunger Games nerd), this would not be me:
So needless to say, training camp was physically challenging. We woke up at 6am every morning, packed our things, and were ready to work out by 7am. This included anything from hiking with all our gear, running, yoga, kickboxing, and whatever squad-led exercises we could come up with.
It also included scenario-based exercises in which I had to pretend to be unconscious (and then when I woke up I was suddenly a quadriplegic and then later had to undergo some serious physical therapy—completely normal everyday scenario, right??). I won’t go into details on this one as to not spoil any future training camp experiences (sorry to get your hopes up)…but the moral of the story is once again, it was physically challenging and completely lived up to my “hills are hard” outlook of camp.
I kept purposely looking for the smallest/easiest hills to take so as to not pass out from exhaustion or think my legs were falling off (not to be dramatic of course). But then while walking up a hill with a fellow squad-mate, I said those words out loud: hills are hard. Then I made a joke about how that would make a great blog title (hence the blog title)…and she quickly agreed, but then added that it could also be a metaphor for other things.
At the time I obviously meant literal, physical hills when saying that phrase, but without even realizing it I was also referring to emotional and spiritual hills. And then it occurred to me that sometimes I purposely look for the smallest/easiest hills to take in those areas of my life too. But God doesn’t ask us to take the small hills, aka the easy route. In fact, 9 times out of 10, His way is the hardest and includes the biggest hills. And it might be physically exhausting and emotionally draining…but in the end it’s spiritually rewarding. I have a strong feeling that’s exactly what the Race is going to look like.
I think I can speak for my squad when I say that our week at training camp did a number on us, physically, emotionally, and spiritually…in the worst and best ways possible.
From now on, I think I’ll volunteer for the big hills.
