After the exhausting cities of India it was a huge relief to spend some time trekking in Nepal in the mighty Himalayas. We walked all day and at night stayed in simple teahouses where we ate Dal Bhat and slept on very hard beds!
The trekking was much harder work than I expected! Perhaps I should have thought about it more – in the UK we have a few mountains over 1000 meters – in Nepal they have a few over 8000 meters!!
The trails were well kept (save for those damaged by the earthquake) and nearly all steep sections were stone steps. One morning we walked about 300 meters down (steps all the way) to the bottom of a valley – I’ve never felt my knees shake that way before! Then over 1000 meters up the other side (steps all the way) – by the end of that everything was shaking!. I love trekking but I did find it hard to stay motivated when I knew we had about 4 hours of steps straight up a mountain ahead of us!
Jam! Jam! was the cry of our guide… which he told us was Nepalese for ‘Let’s get started!’
It became a favourite saying of our group. Whenever we stopped for a breather someone would say Jam Jam! – and we would move off again!
There was a lot of time for thinking on that long trek up the stairs – and I got to thinking about any difficult project. The first step is always to actually start – Jam Jam!
To run a marathon you have to start with the very first training run.
To complete a degree you have to start with the first lecture.
To write a book the day has to come when you sit at the keyboard for the very first time and type some words.
To build a business you have to start with your very first client.
To fall in love you have to begin with the first smile.
In fact nothing at all will happen until you actually take the first action.
So whatever it is you want to achieve just say Jam Jam and take that first step.
Namaste
