Photo By: Mel Fechter
When I returned to California, I was offered a traineeship/master’s degree, but since I had been out of school a while they required that I sit in on some classes and achieve at least a “B” in each one before I could enter the university. So I began another mountain climb—living at home, working several days a week, and commuting to the classes. After a year, having met the requirements, I had scaled the foothills and was now facing the real challenge. Being out of school for several years made it really scary to be competing with all the youngsters, but somehow I put one foot in front of the other and triumphantly scaled the peak. After graduation I started working in a place that had never had a dietitian before, so I had no idea of what was expected of me. The nearest other dietitian was 100 mi away, too far to pick her brain. And I had been out of the loop for 2 years during the traineeship. So I had another Everest towering over me, but I just called up all my knowledge and experience and applied it there. As with all the other peaks I had already scaled one step at a time I feel I conquered that mountain triumphantly the same way. For my 50th birthday I decided to build a wood shop for myself, so I bought a book, sketched out a simple plan, and began climbing that mountain. This was not a simple shed, or shack or anything like that. It was a 15x18ft beautiful building that could be easily turned into a guest house if anyone ever wants to. And I not only designed it, I built it with my own arms. 95% of it anyway. I can’t physically handle whole plywood sheets, they “take me”. So I had to hire help for that, but I did everything else. If I had set my sights on the finished building from the beginning I would have been so intimidated by the size of that mountain that I never would have even started it. Now that it has been complete for many years, I look at it sometimes and say to myself “How did I ever do that??” I set my sights on one stage at a time, and didn’t think about the rest. Just like with all the mountains before, I concentrated only on where to step next, leaving the final summit out of sight somewhere in the clouds. This was the first monumental challenge where I actually realized the value of this pattern of one step at a time. I have used it on all my building projects ever since. Looking back on my life experience now, I realize that this step by step method has been with me all along, I just didn’t realize it. So now, after recalling all of the mountains I have faced and conquered before, I know I will get through this latest challenge the same way, one bit at a time. I feel more relaxed already, just by having written all this down. I hope anyone else who reads it can gain resolve from it as well.
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