Beaches or Mountains?
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Anagha Saagar 24JPEA06 BA JOPYEN A, Department of English Kristu Jayanti (Deemed to be University) |
We’ve all been asked this age-old question at some point in our lives. Though people often prefer one over the other, there is something undyingly magnetic about both beaches and mountains. While one moves with the soft, splashing rhythm of the waves, the other thrives amidst the clouds. Beaches, in a way, relax you, making you feel serene, placid and reinvigorated, stripping away all your maladaptive emotions and replacing them with pleasant and euphoric sensations. And then, there are the mountains, standing tall and mighty, with their audacious grandeur.
However, if you ask me, my response would be obvious – the mountains.
Why?
Mountains don’t just soothe the soul; they challenge every fibre of one’s being.
While it is essential to unwind from the rollercoaster of emotions, it is equally important to feel them truly. To experience every single emotion that courses through your being. Mountains teach you that. They remind you that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. When you trek up a hill or a mountain, your body surges with adrenaline, much like the feeling you get when riding a roller coaster. Your mind turns completely blank, and you become highly conscious of your own heart beating rapidly against your chest and the pressure of the gradual shift in altitude buzzing in your eardrums.
Mountains are like a realm between the heart and the mind; when you are there, at the summit, the air gets thinner, and all you can feel is your muscle nerves and accelerated pulse. There’s also something very primal about being in the mountains. You know that feeling when you’re in a forest all by yourself and hear a branch break somewhere behind you, or notice a movement in the bushes? That fear, that sudden emotion, is your survival instinct. It’s the only thing humans were intended to fear. The fear that commands attention, sharpens senses and ensures our survival and safety. Not people, not success or failures, not careers or losing a job opportunity, or failing an exam. Humans were meant to experience fear only in the face of real danger, as a survival mechanism. Everything else is temporary and fleeting. Mountains strip away those materialistic fears and make us experience something far more real; far more worthy. It instils in us the realisation that there is so much more out there to see and so much more to learn.
So, yes, beaches are beautiful; they allow us to slow down in the fast-paced world, but mountains offer growth, resilience, and strength. I think that one trek to the mountains can change everything. It can strip away the illusions we build around our lives and make us realise that life is far simpler than we often make it out to be. Every climb lifts a little of the weight we carry deep within us. It unveils that life is not just about reaching a particular destination. It’s also about the journey, the choices we make, the obstacles we encounter, and ultimately, personal growth.
So, if you haven’t experienced it yet, then trust me – the mountains are calling and an entire new world is waiting for you out there.