InjuMay 29, 1953, is a historic day in the mountaineering world. Two mortal souls, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed atop the Mt. Everest, the tallest peak in the world. It was a giant leap for the mountaineers all around the world. It not only proved that humans could conquer the tallest of the peaks but did so enduring every harsh condition the mountain threw at them.
But it didn’t happen in one go. In fact, the attempts to climb Mt. Everest started way back in 1921. The team failed to reach the summit in the first two expeditions in 1921 and 1922. Then in 1924, a miracle happened. Two of the expedition members, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine reached as close as 800 meters away from the peak. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t in their favour and both of them disappeared into thin air.
Another expedition in 1999 found George Mallory’s body. A debate continues in the mountaineering world if they reached the summit or not. But I find it irrelevant. Because even if they didn’t reach the summit they proved that we could reach as close as 800m. Which in my opinion was the stepping stone for Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s climb of 1953.
But we largely focus on Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay but only a few celebrate the attempts of George Mallory. If the climb of 1953 was a giant leap, then the expeditions of 1921, 1922 and 1924 actually built the staircase from where Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay took that leap.
A lot of big things in life also start with baby steps.
The Parallel Climb In Life
I bought the domain name trailsofinju.com in August last year to mark my 25th birthday. I wrote the purpose of this blog here. The whole purpose of this blog was to document the lessons I learnt in life. So that someone else in the future can use these lessons to leap ahead and push the boundaries a little further. In a way, I wanted to share the staircase I built for myself so that others can climb up to reach the peak of their life.
But there were many constraints. One of many was my fear of talking about my perspectives. The second was to talk about my work. The third was to learn digital marketing to share this work with the world. Because if I didn’t do it, no one would. If I didn’t talk about my work, it’ll never reach the ones who need it the most. Even if it is just one person, that’ll be enough.
So I started taking baby steps. I resolved to write one blog post a week, without fail. Come what may. I started implementing just one SEO lesson per blog post. Today, SEO and Social media contribute to 60% of my website’s traffic. And trust me I barely scratched the surface and I don’t even spend hours on this stuff. But I realized the importance of those tiny steps. If not for those tiny steps, my website wouldn’t be in this position today. Although there is a long way to go but the progress has been very promising and exciting.
Similarly, solving climate crisis or the time management problems or money problems seem like giant leaps. But trust me, if we attack one plastic piece after other, if we attack one polluting element after another, within no time, we’ll be taking giant leaps and soon nature will heal.
And similarly, focus on one minute at a time to solve your time management problems. Figure out the issues, one rupee at a time and solve your money problems. And if you’re afraid of taking those baby steps all by yourself, then follow the steps of others who conquered those peaks before. Talk to George Mallorys through books, talk to Tenzing Norgay and find out more about their giant leap.
Because the only way humans take a giant leap is by pushing the boundaries one baby step at a time.
So climb up the staircase that is already built and build it further for the future generations to keep pushing the boundaries and take that giant leap.
Thanks for sticking with me till the end. Hope it was worth your time.
If you liked what you read, you may want to check out my other blog posts. Perhaps you’ll find these blog posts interesting.
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This is post no.28 in the weekly blog post series. You can write to trailsofinju@gmail.com for any feedback or collaboration. Alternatively, you can drop me a DM on Instagram.
Talk Soon!
Inju.
If you’d like to read further on Mt. Everest Climbing History. Click Here.