The journey is over. Yesterday I uploaded the final day of the descent on #Kilimanjaro. Here is an assortment of photos left over from the trip with @thomsonsafaris .
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I had thought this trip would be challenging for me, both physically and mentally. It was definitely the former. But the conditions I thought would get to me mentally never did. Actually, they may have made me happier than I expected.
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There were times, of course, when I missed the comforts of home. You will never appreciate how wonderfully convenient it is to get up in the middle of the night, go to the bathroom next door then back to bed, until you one day get up in the middle of the night, have to slap on a few layers and a parka, then run out into subfreezing temperatures on lava rocks with a light on your head to find the toilet tent, before making your way back to a sleeping bag.
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But I felt strong, and I felt free. The headaches that plague me at home, from sitting constantly, from stressing, from being indoors too much, never reached me on the mountain, even in the high altitude. The constant incoming e-mails, phone calls, notifications that disrupt my thoughts and my day ceased. Even with little oxygen, hiking up a rocky mountain, there was a tranquility present I seldom feel anywhere else.
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In almost all the photos I look back on, I can see this content calmness on my face. And I miss the freedom that simplicity and disconnection brings.
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I still love my work, and a lot of my technology, so this isn’t me announcing that I’m going to live on a mountain. But I want to find more ways to introduce moments, hours, days to disconnect and live simpler in my life. Because the things we think provide us our freedom now - our phones, our possessions, our technology - can also be the biggest weights dragging us down. We need to use them wisely.
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And yes, I do still miss the mountain. Take me back one day. 📸: @antal.halasz.31 .
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