When you are yourself, you always create a win-win situation. Not only do you have more fun and attract people who are just like you, you also inspire others, even if you don’t realize it until much later. So the most important thing you can do for yourself and the world at large (yes, I’m going big here) is to be you.
I learned this lesson over a decade ago while I travelled around New Zealand. Twice. On two hikes within a couple of weeks from each other I was just myself and inspired six people. It is one of the most important and uplifting lessons I have ever learned. Make yourself comfortable and let me tell you what happened.
Hike 1: Aoraki (Mt. Cook)
The year was 2012. I had 10 weeks to explore New Zealand and one of my stops was the Aoraki National Park. When I arrived, the weather was chilly but dry. The snow started in the evening and fell heavily all night. The image below is a before/after view. The snow was high! But I had just heard of a three hour hike to a glacier lake and was not going to miss that.
So I put on my waterproof pants, jacket and trusty hiking boots. I was waterproof from head to toe which turned out to be a great idea because the first part of the trail led over a meadow. I sunk into the snow until it reached my hips. Here’s where being me comes in. I’m determined and headstrong, especially when it comes to hiking. What I’m saying is, I ploughed on.
Nothing stopped me. Not a snow-covered ridge, not the hanging bridge (although I did move slowly, kicking the snow off as I went because I was worried it would snap under the weight) and not even the “path” that turned out to be stones interspersed with puddles, hidden underneath very thin ice. I stepped into a couple before I noticed the rabbit trails and decided to follow in their paw steps. Totally worked.
I had so much fun figuring out I could follow rabbits, kicking snow into a ravine and taking a ton of pictures of icicles. And the view at the end (the pic at the top of this post) was absolutely worth it. And then it got even better on the way back. I met two groups of hikers. The first were three very young people, definitely underequipped for the weather conditions and the trail.
I warned them about the frozen puddles and told them to step where I’d stepped. I was also really glad I’d cleaned that hanging bridge! The next people I met were a couple. They wore hiking gear. I repeated my tips and moved on. When I got back to the meadow, I was speechless.
The trails we leave behind
When I set out in the morning, I was so busy ploughing on that I never took the time to look back. I had seen the previous day that a wooden platform led over the meadow but it was buried deep under the snow so I’d just walked somewhere. My trail was hilarious. I’d gone straight for a bit then for some reason turned leftish. It wasn’t exactly a slalom but it looked weird.
The stunning part as I stood there grinning to myself was that it was the only trail. Five people had followed exactly in my footsteps. Not one of them looked at my meandering and thought “There’s a much better and faster way to cross this plane than that!” Or if they did, they didn’t look for it. While I was having fun in the snow, I created a trail five people found reassuring enough to follow me through hip-high snow. Win-win.
Hike #2: Franz Josef Glacier
As so often with epiphanies of the stunning kind, they get re-inforced almost immediately. My second hike led me to the top of Alex Knob. That’s the name of a mountain close to the Franz Josef Glacier with a fantastic view on the glacier and the valley. But it’s not just the view from the top. The hike itself is spectacular!
It’s also strenuous. It took me four hours to hike up the pretty steep trail. I started off in the cover of trees. Then, as I climbed the vegetation changed to shrubs, heather and eventually snow-covered rocks. I added layers of clothing as I went up too. It was so steep that I actually thought about turning around once or twice but not really. Headstrong and stubborn hiker, remember.
When I reached the top, now fully dressed and once more waterproof, I basked in the view and took a ton of pictures of the glacier. I also ate and caught my breath. As I munched my lunch, a guy suddenly appeared. I don’t remember his name but I do remember what he told me next. He had thought about turning around many times on the way up.
His clothes were pretty thin too which must have made the last bit even more difficult for him. But he saw my footsteps on the trail and later in the snow. He thought to himself, if someone else could do it, then he could get to the top too. And he did. He took the picture for me, and I returned the favour before he headed back down.
You matter
We rarely think about all the things we do in our lives but they matter. We matter. I was just having fun and making the most of my holiday, no matter what the weather was like. But what if I hadn’t gone? Would the young people who weren’t wearing waterproof pants have ploughed their way through hip-high snow or would they have stayed indoors instead? Would the guy have made it to the top or turned around and missed the view?
These might seem like small things to you but to me they are just examples of all the times throughout the day when we inspire others. Maybe you write blog posts, maybe you create art, maybe you fix websites. Maybe you spend your spare-time with a hobby you really love. Or you keep your environment tidy and clean. Maybe you cook delicious and nutritious meals for yourself and others.
No matter what you do, people see you. Some learn from you and are inspired to follow in your trail. When you are a Scanner it’s most likely a weird meandering trail you forged while you had fun. No matter. What does matter is that you keep going, that you follow your bliss. By being you, you offer the world a new option. You create a new path and lead the way. Win-win.