“You know what the best part about going up a hill is, Mommy? Getting to have fun going down it really fast!” my little girl informed me as we traveled the neighborhood on our bike ride. You know what else, if I’m using my scooter, I can just put both of my feet on the board and save my energy. When we’re on the bikes, we don’t have to pedal as much either! While this may seem obvious to most adults and even some older children, what’s not so obvious is the deep rooted lesson my soon to be six year old shared with me.

How often do we focus on the difficulty of  a task or how it’s going to be an “uphill battle” to achieve our goals? As we climbed a very steep hill on our bikes, Quinn was already thinking about the fun part of coasting along and enjoying the ride down the hill we managed to climb. One hill was extra steep, and I struggled with my sweet girl hooked up to the bike trailer to get us up the incline. I even asked her, “Are you pedaling back there, Quinnie?” “I sure am mommy! We’re almost up that hill. Then we get to go down!” she said happily.

Then, we made it! It seemed like we’d never get up that one hill, but once we did, a weight was lifted, and we both were eager to speed quickly down the hill with the sun shining and breeze blowing in our faces.

Upon making our way home, she couldn’t wait to inform her dad about our struggle. She chuckled and said, “Mommy could barely make it up one hill, Daddy! But we made it. Then we got to go down the hill really fast. It was so much fun!”

Most of us have heard the phrase “Life is filled with hills and valleys.” However, most people view the valley as a negative place and the hills as the positive climatic moments in our lives. I’d like to think that the hills give us that challenge we need to thrive and be successful, and the valleys or declines from those hills give us the wind in our faces, time to rejuvenate and to simply enjoy the coast.

All the best,

Tanya