Lessons on the Hill

I live on the side of a hill. Okay, I guess it's a mountain. It's called South Mountain, so that must be what it is. Either way, it's steep. And I know--from a scientific engineering-type point of view--that when walking on this hill/mountain, one must go both up and down. But despite this knowledge, and vast experience, I can't seem to get past an urge to find a level path for walking.

Which means that every time I set out on a walk, I go in a new and different direction, one that most surely--I decide at the last minute--will lead to a level path.

But what really happens is that I spend about 90% of the first part of my walk going downhill, (because the downhill option ALWAYS looks better than the uphill option). But then eventually I decide I'm just going to have to go home, and since there's no level path in site I decide to just turn around and go back, which means of course that 90% of the homeward journey is going uphill.

This morning, grunting and groaning on that uphill part of the journey, I decided maybe, just maybe, there's a lesson to be learned.

I'm still thinking on it.