Happy Saturday!
Yesterday, Vivian and I arrived in Karlsruhe (Germany) to visit my son Julius who’s working at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology this summer.
We strolled through the city and went to a “Biergarten” to have some dinner: “Schnitzel”, “Haxe” and “Radler” (google it!)
… and that’s when Julius had a “great” idea:
He said:
“There’s a hill just a few minutes from here, and you can see an amazing sunset from there. Do you guys wanna go? It’s really cool!”
Sure! That sounds good, doesn’t it?
He said: “We just need to climb a few steps to get up there. But it’s not bad!”
We walk over to the hill… and I see the “few steps”!
Do you remember the movie “Kung Fu Panda”?
At some point in the movie, the main character of the movie – Po the Panda” need to climb the steps to get to the top of the hill.
He hates stairs.
His famous quote:
“My greatest enemy… stairs”.
Well, that’s how I felt when I saw the stairs.
I took a picture for you:
It’s 528 stairs!
And like Po the Panda, I’m huffing and puffing up the stairs.
My Apple Watch starts beeping:
My heart rate is at 160!
(Yes, I’m out of shape…. stop judging!)
Julius is wearing a fitness device, too.
“How…. high….. is….. your ….. heart……rate?”, I ask, huffing and puffing.
He looks at his watch and says: “110! What about you?”
Never mind! Why did I even ask? – LOL
I’m thinking about Po:
My Greatest Enemy…. Stairs!
… and I keep climbing.
After what feels like an eternity, we reach the top.
And we are rewarded with an amazing sunset.
We are watching the sunset, and I’m forgetting about the torture of getting here. It was soooooo worth it.
It’s really interesting:
Isn’t it often like THIS in life?
At some point, we struggle, and we are ready to give up.
We think: “It’s too difficult” and “I can’t do this.”
And yes: giving up would be easy, and many others do it.
But then we push through.
We reach the top of the mountain.
The view is breathtaking.
We are rewarded for our efforts.
People look at our pictures of the sunset and might envy us.
They don’t know the struggle it took to get to the top.
They just see the result, and not how we got there.
Only WE know how much it took to get to the top.
And it was soooooo worth it.
So whatever struggles you are facing right now:
PUSH THROUGH!
When you’re at the top of the hill, you will be rewarded.
And you will quickly forget the pain it took to get there.
Ok, time to climb back down these @$#%$@# 528 steps!
Have a great weekend,
– Markus, a.k.a. “Po”