The hard climb

I've started biking up Mt Tabor again, due to the fact that my achilles injury isn't allowing me to go on my walks.  I have to be honest...biking up Mt Tabor isn't nearly as much fun as walking.  It's much, much harder.  It's painful, and I dread the climb every time I'm near it.  And while I'm on it!  The other day when I was biking up, it occurred to me that the ride is a great (and cheesy) analogy for my creative life and endeavors.  In order to get to the top (which is always exhilarating and fabulous!) I have to push reaaallly hard.  I have to keep pedaling when my muscles are burning and exhausted. I need to repeat mantras to keep me going.  "You can do this, you can do this, you can do this..."  I know that if I stop pedaling, it'll be really hard to start again while on the uphill slant. I just never stop pedaling.  

In life outside of my bike ride, I haven't learned to keep going.  Maybe it's because the ride is much longer.  I tend to start a plethora of projects, and I rarely finish anything.  I have at least 10 starts to songs I may write someday; 5 paintings in the early stages of completion; one page to my book; a beautiful armoire that I'm going to refinish someday, currently sitting in the middle of my basement; countless half read books; and so on.  I need to apply my Mt Tabor bike rides to my life.  I need to choose one project and push through until it's done.  I need to keep pushing when it gets really hard and frustrating...even when it's not any fun.  I need to complete something.  I need to complete many things!  I need to push through and start manifesting things.  How amazing would it feel to have a whole chapter to my book, a whole finished song, a finished painting?  

The walks up Mt Tabor are more fun than the bike rides, by far, and I wish I could keep taking them. The bike rides are hard, but I'm so grateful that I still have a way to get up there...to my happy place...even when I can't walk up.  The feeling of accomplishment when I bike up is great.  I know I've achieved something.  My goal for today, and tomorrow, and this week and this month, is to push through and complete creative projects even when they're really hard, frustrating, exhausting and no fun.  I suspect the end result will make the push worth while.  I also suspect that the ride will get easier then more I do it.