avatarJanin Lyndovsky

Summary

The author shares a personal lifelong love for mountains, detailing how this passion has provided solace, energy, and life lessons.

Abstract

The article titled "The Majestic Mountains — My First Love" is a personal narrative by an author who has been enchanted by mountains since childhood. Influenced by their parents, the author and their sister grew up hiking and embracing the natural offerings of the mountains throughout the seasons. The mountains served as a sanctuary during challenging times in the author's life, particularly during adolescence. The author reflects on the energizing and revitalizing effects of the mountains, contrasting it with the exhaustion felt in urban environments. The narrative spans various mountain ranges, including the Tatra, the Alps, the Dolomites, and the Snowy Mountains in Australia, each offering unique experiences and lessons. The author emphasizes the importance of respecting nature, drawing parallels between the challenges of mountain hiking and those of life. The article concludes with the author's current residence in Australia, a relatively flat country, yet they still find solace in the surrounding hills and continue to be inspired by the beauty of mountains worldwide.

Opinions

  • The author believes that mountains have a magical quality that recharges and rejuvenates them, unlike city environments.
  • Mountains are personified as teachers, offering lessons on life, resilience, and the importance of respect and understanding.
  • The act of hiking and reaching the summit is seen as a metaphor for overcoming life's adversities and achieving success.
  • The author values the unique beauty and character of different mountain ranges, appreciating each for the distinct experiences they offer.
  • The author holds the view that the journey to the mountain summit, with all its hardships, is what makes the view from the top and the feeling of accomplishment truly rewarding.
  • The author emphasizes the personal growth and fulfillment that come from interacting with nature, particularly through mountain hiking.

The Majestic Mountains — My First Love

Since I can remember, I have always admired mountains; in the mountains, I always feel at home

South Island of New Zealand (Photo by Author)

Just recently, I came across Dr. Preeti Singh’s post titled The mountains are calling me. I’m aware that it is an old nature prompt, but since I just recently joined the Reciprocal publication, I couldn’t help myself and decided to write a post on this topic.

Mountains have been part of my life forever. Both my parents are passionate hikers, so maybe the love for mountains was genetically passed onto me and my sister, who is trying to inject this special love into the hearts of her children.

We lived near the mountains and spent every spare moment wandering through the hills. From Spring to Fall, we would be hiking and collecting all the goodies nature shared with us — mushrooms, berries, herbs. And in winter, we took our skis, hiked up the hills and then slid down almost all the way back home. I remember many times when my dad came from work earlier to take us hiking in the mountains.

The view from my family home back in Poland. Whenever I looked out of the window, I could see the mountain ranges (Photo by Author)

When, as a teenager, I faced difficult times, when all the world seemed to be against me, my mountains were always there for me to support me and give me strength and courage. There were times when I would go hiking instead of going to school (high school was an absolute nightmare for me; I wrote about it in one of my About Me stories). And I spent endless weekends walking through the mountains with my dog.

When I walked in the mountains, I never got tired. On the contrary, mountains energized and revitalized me. I could hike for hours and come home happy and joyful. However, when my mum sent me shopping in town, after a couple of hours, I came home drained and exhausted. The day was gone for me. This got me into trouble with my mum, who thought I was pretending to be tired to have an excuse to get out of my chores. I wasn’t pretending. The mountains simply have some magic that recharges me, while the city drains me quickly of any energy.

Wherever I went, be it to school or walking my dog or catching up with friends, or even going to the city to the theatre or cinema, there were always mountains in the background (Photo by Author)

The Tatra mountains were also within our reach, about 100km away. We used to visit them quite regularly as well, hiking in summer and skiing in winter.

Visiting Tatra mountains and relishing their winter beauty (Photo by Author)

After I emigrated, I got to enjoy the Alps and the Dolomites. I remember the first time I drove through the Alps with Andy; at some point, I had tears flowing down my cheeks. I’m not a person who easily gets teary, so Andy was surprised and thought I was in pain or something had happened to me. “No, I’m perfectly fine. I just can’t believe the beauty of these mountains,” — I replied

The Dolomites. The mountains are bare and very rugged. It seems as if there was no life, but at the same time, you feel the power of the massif and feel they are full of life. And when you rich their peaks, you feel both — powerful (”I have conquered the peak!”) and humble (”I’m so tiny compared to the majestic mountains, and I'm n heir mercy”) (Photo by Author)

Mountains have always talked to me. The first lesson they taught me was, “We are powerful like life — understand us, and we will help you understand life; respect us, and we will respect you back and show you the way to success, to fulfilled life”.

I know, not many will understand the lesson, but here is the trick. Life is just a journey that starts when we are born and ends at the moment we die. The journey will be filled with ups and downs; we will face adversity and challenges; we will get exhausted, frustrated, hurt and close to losing hope. However, when we persevere and don’t give up when we learn to see the beauty in adversities, we will succeed, meaning we will have a beautiful and fulfilling life.

Riding through the Snowy Mountains in Australia. These mountains are rather gentle, not as majestic as the Dolomites or the Rockies, but they have their unique beauty too. (Photo by Author)

And it is the same with hiking. The summit can be very steep; the road can be very rough and difficult to pass; there will be cliffs and abysses, the weather can change in a moment, and we are exposed to all the forces of Nature. However, if we respect the Mountains, if we respect Mother Nature, we get rewarded as soon as we reach the summit. Usually, we will be greeted with wonderful views and have the feeling of accomplishment, of success.

Mountains on the South Island of New Zealand (Photo by Author)

One could say, “I can get a cable car, or a helicopter, to get to the summit and see the view. I don’t need to put all the effort and hike”. Sure, we can, but even if we get to see the view, it will be a very different experience, in some respect, a very different vista. The feeling of success and fulfilment won’t be there. Nonetheless, only climbers and hikers will understand this.

On the way to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada (Photo by Author)

While driving through Canada, I was stunned by the unique beauty of these mountains. I stopped and looked at the sun setting down, thinking to myself, “I have hiked through so many various mountains; I saw various mountain ranges in Poland; I visited the Alps and the Dolomites; I rode the motorbike through the hills of Australia, and I saw the Glaciers of New Zealand, yet I have never seen something so touching and beautiful, wild and powerful, as the mountains here. One is sure each mountain, or mountain range, has its own unique character and will touch us in a different special way. There are plenty of more mountains in the world waiting for me to be discovered.”

Getting closer to Price Rupert. It’s not the best photo, but it has a special meaning for me. The mix of rain and the setting sun shining on the mountains gave me a magical feeling. Though I have seen so many other mountains before, at this moment, I could feel the unique beauty and power of this particular mountain range. (Photo by Author)
Somewhere on the way from Prince Rupert to Prince George, British Columbia, Canada (Photo by Author)

I chose Australia as my home country, which is relatively flat and doesn’t have the majestic mountains like Canada or New Zealand, or plenty of other countries which I still need to discover. However, even here, I found a place where I'm surrounded by hills, and wherever I go, as soon as I live home I'm driving over the hills and through the mountain ranges. My farm is located about 950m over the sea level.

And here are a few posts I enjoyed reading earlier today:

Forgiveness has been always very important for me. Though I have faced many adversities in life, I have never hold onto grudges. Therefore I enjoyed Séverin Makengo’s post

There is another story of Séverin Makengo where he reminds us to chose happiness over envy and jealousy

Walter Pop Matthews IV takes us on a thought-provoking walk

And Aza Y. Alam reminds us that sometimes there is blessing in a disaster

Nature
Reciprocal
Inspiration
Mountains
Life Lessons
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