On my last day at the University of California at Berkeley, the day I was moving to Japan, I went to see my ex-swim coach at his office to say “thank you and good bye”. Unfortunately, he was not there … and as I was leaving his empty office, I noticed a poster on the wall that I had never seen before. The poster was of a man standing on the top of Mt. Everest with a quote written in bold:
“the man at the top of the mountain did not fall there.”
On my long flight to Japan later that afternoon I reflected on that quote …I reflected on the numerous mountains throughout my life that I had started to climb …only to have given up when the climb got tough …or the first time I stumbled/fell …with many of my mountains, I was right near the summit — but essentially, when the last part of the climb got difficult — I turned around and walked back down.
Up until that plane ride to Japan - my 24 years of life had been a series of almost winning … almost being great … but not.
On that 13 hour flight to Tokyo - understanding finally clicked - awoken by that quote on the poster …
Since that day, I have looked at life and the challenges it brings like a big mountain — we will climb, sometimes the climb will go easy, sometimes we will fall, but the people that get back up and keep climbing and never stop striving to achieve (whatever the goal might be) …. are the ones that make it to the top …
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