Often, during intense challenges such as climbing 1100 metres in 46 km on snowy, muddy, rock-filled trails, morale can falter and can lead to a state of mind of complaint and discouragement.
I will tell you about something that happened in Australia in 2003 that was a great lesson for me. This learning has served me well ever since and has changed my outlook on life.
We are penniless, we have no job and suddenly a man offers us the opportunity to work in a garlic field picking garlic. It’s 45 degrees Celsius, the wind is constant and the dust whips around our bodies.
We are bent over and our backs hurt…
As we are paid by weight, we want to go faster, but we are too slow and it is impossible for us to go faster because of the pain our bodies inflict on us.
Suddenly, between a few complaints, I notice a group of Africans gathering garlic so quickly that I decide to watch them.
They are singing, laughing and having fun as they work and their harvest is immense compared to us. I start to listen to their singing and even sing with them… After a few hours my body hurts less, I feel happier; I don’t focus on my pain or the heat anymore. I realise that I am collecting much more garlic than before! So I make more money…
Now, whenever I face a challenge, I think of them as they helped me to transform my mindset and not to dwell on the difficulties, but to see the good and the beautiful even in difficult times.
