Celebrate All Wins!

The wind was blowing so hard that I could barely get my car door open. Did I really want to do this? Badger Mountain looked pretty formidable this morning. I let the car door slam shut and thought, “Geesh, I drove all this way, I should probably do it. I really want to.’’

Heavy sigh. I got out of the car and felt blown across the parking lot.  I stopped, and turned around to go back to the car. “This is crazy. What are you thinking?” I was fighting a mind war. “There’s barely anyone else hiking. Do you go, not go, too windy, blah, blah, blah! But you’ll feel so good.” 

I did a 180 and proceeded to head up the trail anyway. I went the “easy” side, which isn’t very easy, but I thought it would be out of the wind. 

At the bottom of the trail, I realized I hadn’t locked my car. My car lock clicker wouldn’t work that far away, so with the wind raging into my back, I was pushed back toward my car. It was like the wind was laughing at me and telling me, “You really don’t need to do this…and you’re already on your way back to the car…”
 

Wait a minute!

I stopped thinking about the wind obstacle and focused on how good I would feel hiking. My day would be so much better and I’m not a quitter, dang it. I walked back to where my clicker worked and turned around one more time and headed into the wind. 

I was right! The easy side wasn’t so windy after all. I felt so strong, so accomplished, because I overcame the mind war and was now reaping the benefits. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the wild flowers and the magenta and light pink blooming orchards below. The beauty of God’s creation was so astonishing and I felt so grateful to be in the midst of it. This was  a great "win" for me. Marching down the hill, I celebrated by high-fiving the air.

I had this thought, “And I would’ve missed this. Had I surrendered to the wind and the mind war instead of focusing on what I desired, I would’ve missed this!"

What "win" have you had lately that I can celebrate with you? Email me back, no matter how small you think it is. Maybe you got out of bed this morning and didn't feel like it....

Celebrating,

Jan

Jan McDonald
Maxwell Leadership Certified Team