Oportus blog March 2023

In last month’s blog, I looked at our need for human contact, and opening doors to enable us to meet other people. It’s very hard to travel a long and difficult path alone, especially when hard and challenging things confront us. At times these can loom up in front of us and appear like impossible mountains to overcome.

The word “mountain” comes from an old word meaning “to project”, and could apparently be used to describe even fairly low projections up until the 18th century. Even now, there are no hard and fast rules that define the difference between a hill and a mountain. Up until the 1970s an uprising had to be 300m (around 1000 feet) above the surrounding area to be called a mountain rather than a hill, but those distinctions have been acknowledged as unofficial since then, even though many continue to suggest that, if it rises less than 300m above the surrounding landscape, it’s a hill and not a mountain.

One thing that can be agreed on, however, is that a mountain projects, sticks up or out and is hard to ignore! Because of the variety of ways mountains are formed, some are sheer cliffs of rock, while others are home to trees and other lush greenery – some are treacherous and have claimed many human lives while others are walkable and provide breathtakingly beautiful views for tourists.

The common feature of all mountains seems to be that they are formed from some kind of upheaval – retreating ice, tectonic plates colliding, or volcanic activity. They change the landscape – and therefore the creatures that can live there – irreversibly. Problems can appear like mountains, uninvited, unexpected and immoveable…and they change the landscape of our lives forever. What should be our strategy when this happens? Levelling mountains is not usually an option. Blasting a path through them is also rarely possible for most people. So, apart from flying over a mountain (literal or not) which apart from not being an option for most of us – and kind of feels like cheating to me anyway! - the remaining alternative is to climb over it to get to the other side.

Everyone is going to be faced with a problem that appears like a mountain in their way at some point in life. The perception of the problem as a mountain may be accurate or not, but either way, without taking action, you won’t get to the top of that mountain without taking steps; and there are times when we all need someone to help us on the journey.

For the next few blog posts, I’m going to be focussing on mountains – living in a place like this, there are plenty of peaks to look at and consider, and plenty of lessons to be learned from them. I hope you enjoy the blog, pictures and learning and would love to know what you think over the coming months. Please consider your own thoughts on mountains, whether real ones or those problems in your life that feel like mountains to be overcome…and share this blog with anyone you think it could benefit.