Me happy after the storm, what storm? read along...
"Close the door that brings in the wind and relax" – Arabic proverb
I no longer listen to anything (minus the gym/ house chores), not even when I’m on the bus. No music, no podcasts. It’s either a book or nothing. An intense wanting to just be present, and live it, with no distractions. And how utterly transforming and enriching this turned out to be. It also begged an important question, was I distracting myself from life unconsciously/ on purpose?
Regardless of the answer to that, there is one mega-major rule in the world of athleticism, distraction is bad news! In competition, it could mean losing, in powerlifting crushing your bones, in bodybuilding mediocre results, and in any form of athletic training, injury, or ineffective results.
There is an Arabic proverb that fits today's tale like a glove “The carpenter’s door is lose”, although not always, today it happened in the worst way.
Up there with the clouds
I snap this photo and send it to Brett
Lana: Morning. Breathing!
Brett: Wow stunning!! This is one of the most beautiful parts of Türkiye if not the world! Lana, this land is powerful.
The silence … I sat - for an hour maybe - on a rock, watching this little bird flutter and swing from one branch to another. Not a bored bone in my body, not a flicker of “I wanna go somewhere, I wanna do so and so”. I have come a long way …. From the tight schedule, gotta do this, do that … what I call now “the noise”. It took training, and I am sure I have a long way to go, but time is all we have, and those who say there is no time, I believe they are just wasting it.
The view as I leave the village, it's been misty and chilly with sprouts of rain for 3 day
I continue my now favorite “top of the world” hike, lost in the beauty. I decide not to take any more photos, I wholeheartedly believe that my camera is the worst thing to happen to the Datca peninsula in the past 50 years, my eyes see one thing, but my camera catches a totally different thing, mostly unimpressive, and then I post it on the blog under the quote: the most beautiful thing in the world, and readers get two things:
First that I have actually seen nothing in the world, second that Datça just ain’t all that!
Before descending, I usually go back to where I started, I don’t think I need to explain the reason, it’s a no man’s land here folks, I mean you’d have to see it to understand. Anyway, I venture a bit and a glimpse of a bay attracts me like honey attracts bees, I lose track.
Done with my “sea worship” – I have no other words to describe it – I start to descend from where I was, which was? ????
Lana: Damn those declines, tough on the knee joints, I better start to choose my leg workouts wisely; there can be no space for error.
And it’s true, training for aesthetics vs strength vs function vs a particular sport are literally worlds apart. When your focus is pure aesthetics, you double down on what delivers that carved lean look, your joint health does not even register. If like me, strength was your cuppa tea, you need all your nerves, muscles, joints, and ligaments to push and lift in unison as heavy as possible, tactic and form being central only because they help you move bigger loads. Needless to say, this constitutes a crushing stress on your body, especially joints. And you need to rest/ recover as seriously and intensely as you train. I suck at rest and recovery, I am blessed though to have no pains I can think of, I jump out of bed every day with energy and stamina …. I have ONLY GOD to thank for it.
Having said that, there is a HUGE difference between getting away with little rest and adding mountain climbing - which is vigorous- to the mix. If I wanna nip this thing in the bud, and be alive and kicking to enjoy it LONG TERM, something has to give, which will be tweaking my whole gym routine. Not so fast though, I’m still gonna push some heavy ass weight and look ripped as hell, but I will be so mindful and picky with exercises so that I focus on what has a carry-over to climbing and eliminate what causes unnecessary stress and may hinder my new found Goat Life!
I lost track of my steps, I’m now in the gym, calculating, designing workouts, thinking about movement …etc I’m in my utmost nerdy nerd zone, total blackout. Until I lift my head and BAM, where the hell am I? I’ve reached a bottom … I am so entrenched in the thickest of thickest woods, I cannot see peaks. I walk and walk … a useless pursuit; I am digging myself a deeper and deeper hole
18 hours ago
Leo (looking all sun-kissed and handsome in a blue T, after a day of SAILING): be careful, you can easily get lost; if you get lost you know, that’s it!
Lana: (lying through my teeth) Don’t worry, I am careful …
Leo then goes on to detail all the hazards, poisonous plants, rattles snakes …etc. Giving me plenty of helpful info
Lana: (impressed) I am glad I am hearing this after I did all the crazy stuff – a cheesy laugh
Leo: it’s better not to go on it alone …
Lana: (oblivious of what’s to come) if I wait to find the right people, i’ll do nothing, besides I prefer to be on my own
Lana (speech bubble) it’s not the time to bring up the topic of soul search
So naturally when I felt lost/ stuck I remembered two things exactly: Leo’s warning and ……. An old Syrian TV series called نهاية رجل شجاع “ The end of a brave man” about the life of a big muscular dude, who at the end of an impressive life has an accident that puts him in a wheelchair, and then ends his own life by throwing himself with the wheelchair off a cliff. I swear I am not making this up.
I shut down the thought, and utter a prayer. See everything good that EVER happened to me happened because I prayed, and every idiotic thing I ever did was because I didn’t, or I was too stubborn to listen to my gut. I pray for guidance!
How can I be so dumb, of course, I need to climb to the highest peak, and look!
I cannot see up so I just start haphazardly lifting myself, OMG, CLIMB THIS????? ….the sort I thought can never happen without assistance/ a rope!
What are my options though, I say an enthusiastic Bismillah and start, with every bit of strength I did not know I had, zero fear, incredible determination, and FAST. I’m telling ya, this was one of the best things I have EVER done, and I felt it right there and then, a mixture of adrenaline, faith, brute power, survival instinct, and pure psychologically unstable love for risk ….I was sooooooooo enjoying this that halfway I was saying to myself, OUTLOUD (now you know why I am notoriously single, I’m a nut job):
Lana: I would never want to get lost again (mind you I AM STILL LOST) but this is one of the best things that ever happened to me …Lana, this climb is special, enjoy every moment of it .... learn, survival and necessity are the best teachers, this experience will CRUSH all your fears.
Finally: bruised, breathing heavily …. ELATED. I reach the very top ….And I see it … MY CABIN, I see my cabin …and I fly to it!
In the cabin, like a soldier back from battle I am cleaning this, wiping blood, removing all the friggin hitchhiker seeds, drying my drenched clothes …etc with the utmost peace, and a smile I can never forget! I was happiness incarnate.
I stay and stay until it's time to leave, I am starving, food is the ONLY thing that could convince me to leave this place. I just wanted to stay there for another … year.
On the hike back, I am gazing at those mountains, like I’m seeing them for the first time. A new reverence has flourished inside of me for those majestic beings. Grand, but humble and patient, giving and enduring, they tolerate, but take them lightly for a moment, step your boundaries, don’t give them their due respect and ………….. I think to myself, I’m exactly like that.
To be continued …