Overcoming Wounds is Worth the View - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to climb the Great Wall of China. Our excursion involved a 3 hour drive from Beijing. Along the drive we bypassed several neatly restored sections of the Great Wall, conveniently sitting next to the highway. The path we chose led us down back roads where we were dropped off at a trail head in the middle of nowhere. No Great Wall was in sight. Our Chinese guide (known to us as “Sherpa Larry”) began to lead us up a trail where we finally caught a glimpse of the Wall itself between two peaks.

The journey up proved to be somewhat difficult itself, but with the destination in sight we successfully landed on the Wall. Unbeknownst to the climbers, the wall itself was not the final destination. Once we got to the wall, began the photo shoot, and celebrated our arrival, our Sherpa, unable to speak English, pointed down the wall. This communicated our need to continue what you at home may envision a walk down a smooth, stone surface. Our requirement to keep walking was imminent, but the wall path was unsteady, rocky, steep, long, windy, and freezing. We walked for what seemed an eternity with varying terrain. Eventually we took a path off the wall believing this was the descent only to realize that we simply bypassed a section to get to a more clear section of the wall. After many more steps, we eventually began the more treacherous descent. Having sprained my ankle a month before the byproduct of that injury came into play. The walking lean down the mountain put strain on my ankle that it had not experienced since the sprained. At one point the good ole’ ankle gave out on me, resulting in a fall flat on my backside.

Climbing the Great Wall is a life journey. If you have the option of the road less traveled or the restored, tourist sight, go with the road less traveled. At the trail head arrival, we become uneasy at the lack of a visible goal or we become excited at the challenge ahead. In climbing the mountain to the “goal” or “wall” it is easy to become discouraged whether the goal is insight or out of sight. When we achieve the goal, as we arrived at the Great Wall, there is much joy through a sense of accomplishment; however, most times we believe we have completed something by arriving at the “goal,” only to realize it was simply the means to beginning a great journey. Our first step on the Great Wall led us on a journey in which we had no idea where it would take us or when it would end.

Along the journey we struggled to climb the steep, ragged wall…we paused for breaks to wait for a brother or sister lagging behind… The journey along the ridge of a mountain creates unlikely terrain and unexpected conditions. Winds come in from the east and the temperatures decrease rapidly….so although the view is glorious it is often an uncomfortable experience. The slopes or steps down the wall looked great from afar, yet the reality of going downhill was just as difficult. Due to old wounds the downhill actually became the most difficult part. An ankle sprained from Angkor Wat made the Great Wall more of a challenge than it should have been. In life wounds from the past hinder us from being completely successful at a future endeavor. At times we even stop to question the journey embarked upon due to the difficulty of the experience and a forgetfulness of the incredible views found along the journey. At the foothill of the mountain our journey resulted in the meeting of a sweet, elderly Chinese man who embodies what the wall represents…a full life of wounds topped by incredible views.

At the end of the Great Wall journey I can say the challenge was worth the view. At the age of 25 I can say that the wounds have been worth the views. At the 7 month mark in the World Race I can say the Great Wall depicts the entire experience.

Overcoming wounds is worth the view!