What I learn from my trip to Mount Fuji

My trip to Mt. Fuji took place 1 month ago, and during the trip I learnt ( realized would be a better word here) a very important lesson.

At first, I have no intention to climb Mt. Fuji, but after being enticed, i am sold. Mt. Fuji (3776 meters), Japan’s highest and most prominent mountain. It is divided into ten stations with the first station at the foot of the mountain and the tenth station being the summit. Our team decide to start at Fuji Subaru 5th station( about 2300 meters), where most people start their ascend. I remember the climbing distance is around 10km but it took one hell of a journey. Our goal is to catch the sunrise on Mt. Fuji so we started climbing at 9pm and hoping to reach the summit around 4:30 - 5:00.

At that time, I underestimated the hardship of the journey. Imagine one guy planning on climbing Mt. Fuji with only his jacket, which he prepared because he know it is cold on the summit, no proper clothes, no proper shoes, no flashlight, no hiking stick. Yep, that ’s me. I admitted that I make a huge mistake!

I don’t like physical activities, just because I hate to let my mind free, that ’s why I enjoy reading and solving problems. Climbing, on the other hand, requires huge amount of sheer power and zero amount of thought. And when my mind is free, I think about all kind of things, from when should I do laundry to what is the meaning of life ( apparently I never find a satisfactory answer). During the trip, there is one thing that I keep thinking:”Is this worth it? Do I want this?”. I enjoyed the sunrise apparently, but with the cost. I had to climb throughout the night, exhausted and sleepy. I was so tired to the point that I don’t know how I got to the summit. At that moment I just wanted to say fuck it and look for someplace to sleep. But I made it through because I don’t want to be perceived as a loser, that ’s all! To be precise, I want to enjoyed the sunrise but I don’t want to put up with the process. Hell, I may not want to watch the sunrise! So what is the lesson here?

We should prepare before going mountain climbing.

Yep, but there are more in this story. It is about the most important things in life : the pain. We, all think that we want something. Everyone wants what feels good. The thing is we want the glamour result in the end, not the hardship to achieve it. I want to watch the sunrise, but I don’t want to climb throughout the night. See, asking for what we want is easy. A more interesting question is what pain do we want in your life? What are we willing to struggle for? Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives turn out.

I realize that when you want something, you have to love the reward and the struggle to get it. If I want to see the sun, I have to keep walking. It is all about trade-off, we can not live in a pain-free world. Let ’s be real here, if you find yourself wanting something month after month, year after year, yet nothing happens and you never come any closer to it, then maybe what you actually want is a fantasy, an idealization, an image and a false promise. Maybe what you want isn’t what you want, you just enjoy wanting. Maybe you don’t actually want it at all.

It is not about what we want, it is more about what we have to suffer to get what we want. What do you want is a bullshit question, the right question is what pain are you willing to take? Slap yourself and start asking a right question!