The kid and the mountains
THERE was neither a lifechanging summit nor glorious sunrise on a mountain top, but only a failure on my first major climb in the tallest mountain of Malaysia with my father that pushed me into becoming who I am today. Everything I am and everything I will be, I owe it to that moment when I failed as a kid, in a place I never thought I would fall in love with — a moment of failure in the mountains that stuck with me until this very day.
It was raining the entire climb with no clear view of anything, but just surrounded by the thick rainforests of Borneo. I was drenched and soaked, and was left alone cold in the cabin at about 3,200 meters above sea level, as everyone I knew carried on. I honestly do not know what stopped me that day from climbing to the summit, but one thing is for sure, it never stopped me from climbing again. It never stopped me from chasing the dreams I had set for myself. The mountains became a place I knew I always wanted to come back to, where I felt at home and connected with the same kid that promised himself on that very same day that he would explore the world, climb higher mountains and find a way to do so.
It was difficult, and it still is. I just did not want to disappoint that kid by giving up on my passions. Do not let anyone tell you that your passion for the arts, photography, mountaineering or whatever your heart yearns for, no matter how different it may be, will not bring you places. Trust the universe; it will.
That’s what I did, I knew I just had to trust in it — much more, have purpose to do so. I tried to find this purpose as we all humans do in everything, always asking the question “Why?” I threw myself everywhere I possibly could, failing endlessly at many things, giving up most times, but always remembering to start anew. I started on different projects, kept on climbing, learned more technical mountaineering, read books, found mentors, met my inspirations, practiced my photography, studied a bit more in my background in engineering, and worked deeper in environmental conservation, where I grew a deeper sense of appreciation and learning of both the beauty and fragility of our world, where I drew the answer to the question “Why?”, as I found my way nine years back in time to the same story of the same kid in the mountains. Only this time, the story was no longer about me; it was the story about all the other kids out there, who have different promises, dreams and passions for themselves, where I can only hope of the same promise for them — a promise of a better future in the planet we have, and a passion for the greater things in life.
As I embark on a new journey in my life today, I come to write a different story about the mountains of our world — a story of hope and action to inspire the youth in conserving and protecting the places where we found home as a kid. And as with all of us today, in our pursuit of our own dreams and goals in life, I guess all I can share is that we should never let what we do become who we are. The stories, the moments, the failures, the promises, the passions and the experiences are the things that can truly make us. Find inspiration in these, draw motivation from these, and have a sense of greater purpose in all of these.