amazing............a year

Amazing it has been…….walking from here to there.

Not so long ago I was a prisoner in my own home and struggled to leave. The simplest things were the hardest things for me. I struggled to go to a grocery store. It seems like so long ago but in truth it was only slightly over a year ago that it was my reality. I have worked hard to battle my anxiety disorder and I have found success over the last year.

I have hiked many miles in the woods. In the course of those hikes I have learned a lot about myself and faced many fears. I have seen so much that I have never seen before. It is a whole new World but one that is still closed to me in so many ways.

I just want to savoir the last year though. I have seen Bald Eagles, bears, cubs, moose, fox, grouse, turkey, grey jays, deer, and so much more. I have climbed mountains upon mountains over the last year. I believe the number is close to 30 summits. Six of them over 4,000 feet high, 2 over 5,000 feet high, Mount Washington over 6,000 feet high. I have dreamed and realized dreams. I have touched the sky and it has touched my heart. I have found inspiration where only sadness had was found before.

I dare to be now. I dare to dream and go for those dreams. I dare to believe in me. I have faced fear over the last year that has kept me living in fear before. I have walked where great men and women have walked long ago. Thoreau found inspiration for his writing in many of the places I have visited this past year. I have stood at the top of mountains with views that seem to go forever. I have wondered what lies out there. Before that would evoke fear or anxiety but now it conjures up dreams and possibilities. I want to walk where greatness has been and I want to see what great adventurers have seen in life. I want to dream and I want to inspire others to dream.

I want to walk forward today and all the tomorrows. Some never see the forest for the trees but I have and I want to continue to walk in the forest and enjoy the trees. Our lands have become so full of concrete, brick, and tar but I want to roam where it is still wild and free. It is the one place I know I can be me. I want to smell the pine forest and drink from a tumbling waterfall. I want to see the moose before me and even the bear that will always cause fear to rise within me. Out there I feel free and that is where I want to be.

One year has come and gone. I am ready to keep going…to keep walking..to keep dreaming…to keep believing…to keep inspiring.