One step at a time

                 It’s amazing how you can learn from little day-to-day incidents in your life. This summer, I had gone for a trip to Uttarkashi, which is in Uttarakhand. We had a 5-day camp after which we went for a trek to Gomukh, which is the snout of the Gangotri glacier. Basically, it’s a 14km walk to Bhojvasa, and another 4/5 kms to reach Gomukh. The thing with this trek is, is that the walk is not the difficult part, if you walk at a steady and slow pace, it can be managed with just 1 or 2 breaks in the middle. The difficult part of the trek is altitude sickness. Many people who are not used to high altitudes are prone to getting affected by altitude sickness while going to Gomukh. Altitude sickness causes breathlessness due to less amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. It also causes an extremely painful throbbing headache and giddiness. I was one of the people who were victims to this. While going to Gomukh, after about 9 kms of continuous walking, my head started feeling heavy. It just kept worsening every minute. Walking got difficult and my body started feeling weak. To top it all, my mind started playing games with me. Telling me that I can’t do it. There were 5 more kms to reach Bhojvasa and I knew I had no choice but to keep walking. I took a tablet, which solved my problem of breathlessness, but the headache just wouldn’t go. There was no turning back, I knew I just HAD to reach Bhojvasa. That was the place where we were supposed to spend our next night. So I gathered myself, and decided to take one step at a time. It was difficult because my mind kept reminding me that there are FIVE more kms to go. It all just started building up in my head, being in the middle of nowhere, 9 kms ahead of the previous checkpoint and 5 kms away from the next one. We all were constantly keeping ourselves hydrated. We lived on just dry fruits for 2 days. After a while, this “one step at a time” thing started working. I was looking at the next rock I was going to step on and nothing beyond that. It was difficult not looking ahead, knowing that there’s a neverending path to follow, but I started handling myself and started avoiding thinking about the rest of the road. I got better, Held myself together, got my mind in control. At this point of time, being able to do that makes me feel so much better about myself. It may sound easy but it was a huge task for me. I also used the method “Don’t think, just walk.” I literally didn’t give my mind a chance to even imagine how I’m going to be able to make it. I just knew that I was conscious of my body; I had to use my feet to walk! Nothing else. There was a point where I was feeling so giddy that I could barely see through my eyes. Man, that was scary. But ya, I got through it all. After so much of mental and physical activity, we finally reached Bhojvasa in the evening, which was situated in the middle of a valley. There were small huts and tents put up there for trekkers to halt for a night. We spent a freezing night in the tents without light and electricity. THAT was a proper test for me, stepping out of my comfort zone. Oh no, wait, stepping is the wrong word here. I was so far from my comfort zone that I couldn’t even see it. :3 Quite an experience. The next morning we left for Gangotri, we couldn’t go ahead of Bhojvasa because of a time crunch. After this trek, after a nice peaceful night’s sleep, we left for Rishikesh in the morning. We went to Rishikesh for river rafting which was A-MAZING! It was a wonderful experience. After rafting we left for Haridwar, and then Delhi and then back to Mumbai.

                   I learnt a lot of things from this trip. I’m taking so many memories home, and I’ve learnt so many lessons, my life is going to be easier.

1.     One step at a time

I tend to over think sometimes. Every time I start thinking about the future, my mom reminds me to be in the moment and tells me “That’s not in your next ten meters.” This sentence helps me so much. And it makes so much sense! Thinking about the future does nothing but drains your energy and spoils your mood. And the future is beyond our control. One way to control your future is to act according to your requirement. The good old “Karm karte jao, phal ki chinta mat karo.” Or “Do your best, leave the rest.” Or “Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana.” In short, LIVE IN THE MOMENT.

“Keep your mind where your hands are working”

                                                  -Swami Chinmayananda.

2. Life starts at the end of your comfort zone.

I’ve learnt that living in my comfort zone will get me nowhere. It’ll do nothing but enslave me to certain comforts in life. The lesson of detachment goes hand in hand with this lesson. This trip has taught me the importance of detachment. Detachment from things, that I used to feel were necessary for me to be comfortable. For example, I spent more than half of the trip without my cell phone because there was no range there. I realized that I was a slave to a mere piece of machine. It’s not like I’m giving up on my cell phone now, but then, now, I at least know that I could do without it, in fact, to be honest, those 4/5 days were peaceful. It was nice, not having my cell phone beep every other minute. It gave me a sense of disconnection from the rest of the world, which gave me, time for “me”.

3. Seizing every moment.

This came from river rafting. I have felt every bit of the cold water gushing through me, and the current of Mother Ganga just driving me and throwing me from one place to another. MAN! What an experience. I have lived every bit of it.

4. To strive.

After this trip, I have got a sense of confidence within myself. I learnt to work hard to get to where I want to reach. I learnt to push myself through every struggle. And I learnt that the struggle is temporary. If there’s a storm, it HAS to be followed by a rainbow.

5. It’s about the journey, not the destination.

        Not being able to go up to Gomukh was a little disappointing, but it is very necessary to understand the importance of the journey. I have learnt so much through the trek. This concept is definitely going to help me in my life ahead..

“The success is not in the trophy won, but in the race run” 

–Swami Chinmayananda

Overall, this trip was an ammmmmaaazzzzinngg experience, just thought I should share it with you :D