For a long time the hiker sought the summit using a similar trail.
Then a friend came along and suggested he try a longer, more circuitous route.
"But that will take me so much longer," the hiker responded, "what if I never make the summit?"
After a bit of cajoling, the hiker decided to take his friend's suggestion and travel the less popular and longer trail.
Over time the trail became more of a lifestyle than a pursuit. The traveler would wake each morning eager to see what this new course would bring that day, and every day was filled with new challenge, surprise, and learning. In fact, the trail became so intriguing and filled with interest that the hiker all but forgot about reaching the summit.
After a long time of travel, the day finally came when the hiker arrived at the summit. He looked around and noticed the rocky, challenging path he had tried to climb so many times only to fail, and he also could see the long, circuitous path that had led him so joyfully towards the peak on which he stood.
Amazed and grateful to his friend, he acknowledged that it is not so much where you are headed as how you travel there. Then he rested for a while and decided to find a new way home, a trail, not unlike the one that had led him to the summit--one filled with a routine of wonder, surprise, challenge, and joy.
