The value of uphill challenges

I was working with a group of leaders from co-operatives yesterday, when I met a man who had cycled the Pyrenees in 100 hours.  I made a joke about 95 of those hours being uphill and 5 being downhill, and he agreed with me.  Then it occurred to me that this is a lot like life and work.

Image by Danny McL via Flickr

We often complain about our challenges and the uphill challenges we may face, but in the end it is these times that provide us with the greatest value.  His sense of accomplishment was from making it through the entire journey, not from those fast downhill rides.

Think back to your greatest accomplishments.  Are they that way because they were easy, or because you came through the challenges?  As Thomas Paine wrote:

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.  It is dearness only that gives everything its value."

How might this perspective reframe your reality today?