A speck on a rock face

Check out this picture below. A climber scaling a vertical face. Then click on the picture to see the full scene.

The bigger picture almost made the final cut of yesterday’s Gallery post. Instead I decided to use it to illustrate how we often feel we are mere details against a much bigger canvas.

What does it symbolise? Whatever you want it to symbolise. Your job. Your family. Your relationships. Your parenting. I want it to be symbolic for whatever you feel you are struggling with or against. From a climber’s perspective, nose against the stone, it is all struggle. Where to place the next foothold, what dangerous outcrops lay immediately ahead.

Whatever the backdrop, it was here before us and will be there long after we think we’ve conquered it. Immoveable. Eternal. Waiting for the next adventurer to set foot on it. In the midst of the struggle we fail to see the full picture. Why? Perhaps we’re frightened at the enormity of our endeavour. Perhaps it helps to “chunk” our efforts rather than contemplate their entirety.

Whichever, we climb, we traverse, we hope our footholds are strong and don’t crumble. But sometimes, just sometimes, we should step back and drink in the landscape.

————————————————–

This post was inspired not only by the unintentionally startling photograph (I didn’t see the climber when I took it) but also by the good bloggers at Blognonymous, a group of dedicated and creative people* who are lending their writing spaces to anyone who wants to pour forth their hearts and minds into cyberspace.

If you feel you are stuck against a sheer face with no route up or down, Blognonymous is an outlet for your thoughts and a conduit for help, advice and compassion. It is someone on the other end of the rope, to take your weight or mete you some slack.

Most of all, it is blogging without prejudice.

*The good people of Blognonymous are…

Paula at Battling On

Jay at Mocha Beanie Mummy

Nickie at Typecast

Emily at Mummy Limited

Bumbling at Bumbling Along

Sandy at  Parent Confidential

and can also be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blognonymous

note: the photograph was taken at Malham Cove in North Yorkshire.

About these ads