Who would have thought that a person like me who doesn’t fancy strenuous activities and too much sun exposure (ayoko umitim!) would go mountain climbing not only once but twice in just one month? I am still in shock myself. To be honest, I still feel that mountain climbing is a torture. I thought that since this is my second climb of the month, everything would be easier for me. I was wrong. It feels like I am still a Mountain Climbing virgin. I don’t feel my pacing improved at all. And I still rest for like every 3 minutes. I swear. I feel like a weakling.
But still, the question is why I succumb myself in excruciating pain? I should have been soundly sleeping on a Friday Night. So ladies and gents, these are the reasons why I went on.
FIRST REASON: Gusto ko lang mag picture-picture. In Search of Great Moments To Capture with My Camera. Now this might be a superficial reason to you but my strongest driving reason is photography. I just want to take pictures. And I know, there’s a bountiful of beautiful subjects in mountains. Not only because of nature but the people who ascend with me. I want to capture the hardship, exhaustion the joy of the people around me. It might be a shallow reason but guess what, it pushed me to my limits and brought me to the top of three mountains this month.
Here are my favorites from my camera so far.
2ND REASON. I want to have epic pictures of myself creating epic memories. I want to deviate from the usual selfies and ootd’s. I want to have pictures of me doing what I thought is beyond me. Me doing the uncomfortable. Me doing something new. Me meeting new people. Me going to unfamiliar places.
Photos by: JP Duro
Photo by: Manong Baby
Photo by: Serniel Barbosa
SPECIAL THANKS to my co-photographers. Bilang ganti, may pictures din kayo sa akin.
At pari rin si tour guide na dinala na gamit ko, naging instant photographer din. Thank you Manong Baby! (Yun talaga name niya haha)
THIRD REASON: MEET NEW FRIENDS!
This is a company organized event. There were 97 participants. Although they are my officemates, I haven’t seen or talked to most of them until this event. Some of them also, I already talked by Skype meetings quite a few times but haven’t know their faces until now too. Ilang beses akong “Ay putek, ikaw pala iyong nakasama kong mag troubleshoot ng blah blah blah hahahaha” . In digital times, even important meetings can be done thru internet. Thanks goodness for this event, we had the chance to actually meet and interact personally. And have fun together.
My Hiking Group: Group Three. May nagpahiram ng gloves, namigay ng pagkain, nagsiwalat ng hugot quotes, at higit sa lahat, naghintay sa kabagalan ko. But they turned that into a joke. When I finally catch up with them, they would say “Ayan na ang Alpha natin”. Sarcasm overload. Tawa ako ng tawa. Thank you guys!
Photo below: Serniel Barbosa
After the climb, we finally shared the proceeds of this climb thru an outreach program. We gave school supplies and groceries to the locals living with the mountain. and that would be the FOURTH REASON why I joined this event. And has a big part of why I decided to climb again.
Photo below: JP Duro
As much as I want to write a full review of my climb, I think this post is long enough already. WordPress is loading so slowly now maybe because of too much photo overload. I think I should save that for another blog post.
And that’s my reasons ladies and gents. How about you? Do you have something you don’t actually like doing but do it anyway? What keeps you going?
CREDITS:
SPECIAL THANK TO My Co-Protographers
Serniel Barbosa
JP Duro
Manong Baby
1. No matter how hard it is, no matter how long the struggle, as long as you make that one step forward, you’ll get to your target destination no matter what. In climbing a mountain, you’ll get overwhelm with slippery mud. You’ll get dirty. You get hurt. But it doesn’t mean you’ll stop. Its okay to rest when you feel exhausted. Its okay that you are the slowest climber. But as you keep moving forward, you will reach the top. If you think about it, it applies so well in our daily life. I have a goal this year, to finish a novel. But lately I got overwhelmed again. With the feelings of insecurities and not feeling good enough to write. But climbing a mountain refreshed my perspective again. I will write everyday keep moving the story forward, even I can only do one sentence in some days. I will appreciate any step I would take. 
2. It’s not the summit but the journey. Why do we like to reach the summit? It’s on the top. It has the nicest view where it would be great to take selfies. Reaching the top felt like earning a bragging badge. But you know what, summit is nothing compared to the journey and the memories you had with your friends or evwn strangers while climbing it. Whenever you help each other in a muddy trail. When you share food and drinks. When you have a conversation with someone while walking along the trail. Or sometimes you sing together. When you get hurt and someone will help you. The laughter you share. The bond. The new friendship. It was so hard to get the top. Frustrating. But you keep on moving because of the people with you. There’s so much lesson from the journey than the summit itself. Just like in real life, we see successful people who reached the summit of their lives. We see pictures of them having luxurious lives. But I think people should always look what they went through to get there. They must have sacrificed a lot, shed a lot of tears, had multiple failures and regrets. If we encounter a successful person, I think its best to not concentrate on their success, but the story of their journey. There are.more learnings from there. 
(The Fault in Our Blogs family) 
GUREZU 