Central Alps, Mt. Kisokoma: The First Morning I Welcomed at the Summit - 'I Tried Doing Exactly What I Had Always Avoided'

Just below Mt. Kisokoma,
I was looking up at the sky from inside my tent.

I have been climbing mountains for a long time, but
I had never welcomed the sunrise at the summit.

I could never bring myself to like moving in sync with the sunrise.
Forcing myself to climb in the dark,
waiting while enduring the cold.

I felt it would lead to getting sick or getting injured, so
I had always avoided it.

That way of thinking itself hasn't changed even now.

However, that morning was different.

Looking at the sky from inside the tent,
I thought, 'Oh, I can do this.'

Just like that, I moved.

On the way, a ptarmigan appeared in front of me.
I climbed while watching its back.

Without leaving it, I ended up just following along.

When I reached the summit,
the sky just happened to break open.

Light overflowed from the crack.
The darkness that should have been pushing back dissipated without a sound.

The outlines of the world emerged all at once, and
the mountains, the clouds, and the distant ridgelines
woke up one by one as they were touched by the light.

Before I knew it, I was holding my breath.

I was simply captivated by that moment.

Right next to me, the ptarmigan was also standing still.

Looking in the same direction,
receiving the same light.

Even without words,
I knew that we were both facing this scenery.

After a while,
I finally exhaled.

The world had already completely turned into morning.

I tried doing something I had been avoiding for a long time, but
it doesn't mean my way of thinking has changed.

I don't push myself.
If conditions are bad, I don't go.

However,
when I think, 'I might be able to go,'
I just go ahead and move.

Maybe it's okay to have at least that much flexibility.

I have always made my choices that way, too.

I would line up reasons not to do things,
and I have made decisions that were not wrong.

I think that is fine.

But, if you mix in just one choice to try doing it anyway,

what you see changes just a little bit.

And that is fine.

Conclusion | The moment a single step of judgment changed the world I saw

This was my first sunrise from a mountain summit.

I had been avoiding it for a long time, but
when I moved at the moment I thought, 'I might be able to go,'
I was able to witness the exact moment the sky broke open.

A story about how that one step, taken when I thought 'I might be able to go,' changed things.
When you step into an area you've been avoiding, the reality you see really does change.

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