It seems that I have been reading more books than writing blogs lately. Not only that, but I have been plunging into several books at once and even finishing a book, and without pondering its conclusion investing in the next.

For the latest books, I delved into C.S. Lewis’ prequel novel, The Magician’s Nephew from The Chronicles of Narnia series. As that book concluded on a train ride from Daegu to Seoul, I quickly opened another book that strangely related, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods.

Not long ago, before there were any thoughts of marriage or a definitive commitment to spending the majority of my adult life in Korea, I did consider pooling my money into an adventure account and plunging into various natural landscapes for the challenge and to keep me from curling up in a bored ball.

The winter seems to put into me a sense of future adventures that I never do overcome. In the winter I always imagine the warmer months to be times when I would tread mountains and camel ride through deserts, but I know those types of adventures are mostly beyond my reachable goals. Not to say I can’t. I just won’t.

I live for imaginative adventure. In my mind, I have experienced amazing things, and that has driven me to dream to really be a writer. And, I am a vivid dreamer whose dreams have become a part of my memory bank. There’s a lot to go on.

Despite everything, though, I am infinitely lazy when it comes to doing. I can be pleased with my imagination and have stories lined up ready to be heaped upon the world’s lap, but I just can’t muster the will and way to actually write out those adventures. So how could I even dream of seeking adventure? In all, I can’t.

In Bryson’s account of the Appalachian Trail, he concludes his non-fiction book with his failure. Though he planned to climb the entirety of the trail, a trail that spans from Georgia to Maine, he actually spanned less than 40%. On the negative side, he did not complete it. On the positive side, the majority of people who attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail come nowhere near finishing 40% of it.

Reading the book gave me more perspective. Now, I don’t look upon the book as any great lesson of life; each person gains his own knowledge from each experience. What I find here, though, is that Bryson’s adventure was not a loss but a learning point. He confirmed a few things that he thought he knew, but he also surprised himself.

I don’t know if any of us need to start swearing at mountains in frustration when trying to climb them, whether those mountains are literal or symbolic. Each day is an actual struggle for survival in this violent universe within which we live. Just think of all the people in our lives who lost their lives for any various numbers of reasons: poor health or accidents or murders. We all have to struggle through things. At the time of those struggles, they seem daunting and overwhelming. However, after the hardness has passed, we can see that, though that particular moment of life was a struggle, we can have a moment’s peace. Then the next mountain presents itself.

As humans, we will always have to climb mountains. Some are steeper than others. Some are full of jagged rocks. We know that. There is no way around trying circumstances. We just have to trudge on, swearing and all.