The Mountains Saved Me
This blog post was contributed by Rene Crook as part of my “Into Nature” guest blog series celebrating the reissue of my book, The Ancient One.
My name is Rene, and I am 25 years old. I’ve recently moved back to beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. Every day I walk out my front door and marvel at the beautiful peaks. Every sunrise, every sunset, all so breathtaking. You’d think seeing the same group of rocks every day would get old. But it’s really the same construction, painted differently every time you look at it.
So often I heard my friends talk about hiking up in the mountains, and I let my chronic illness hold me down. But I was introduced to this AMAZING woman who wouldn’t let that hold me down. A week later we were hiking up Mount Muscoco.
Me. Weak, scared little old me. Climbing a mountain. And suddenly, I didn’t feel so weak, anymore. I started dancing more, skating and bowling occasionally. I stopped cowering at many physical tasks I’d given up on. I laughed, climbed up rocks where the path had been washed out, and only wanted to go higher! Watching the sunrise spread across the mountains and color the city below was so inspiring. We went out so early the birds were still quiet, nestled down and sharing their warmth with their babies. Every step crunched and every step was me proving myself wrong. I could do this. And if I can climb mountains, what else can I do?
Those mountains didn’t only give me peace, but they awakened a strength in me I wasn’t sure existed, anymore. These mountains didn’t just inspire me. They saved me.
