Why do I climb?

People often ask me “Mico, why do you climb?” others would say “what’s the point of making things hard for yourself?”. After looking back of what I’ve done so far I finally figured things out. Let me explain.

Climbing was really something I wanted to get into. This was back in my college days when I joined the CSB outdoor group and the experience of Mount Makiling earlier in my life. I really love to camp out and I got a dose of that with my family care of my Tita Jo’s property in Tagaytay and my Ninong’s activities up there. We got to camp out and all that.

But that was a long time ago, I wasn’t really able to climb back in college because of my ex-girlfriend(let’s leave it at that). And it wasn’t till I got back from the U.S.A. that I took climbing to a serious level. You see, when I got back early from the U.S.A. because I wanted to fix my relationship with my ex-girlfriend that eventually crumbled, my mom invited me to join her on a tour up north which consisted of Ilocos, Vigan, Bagiuo, and even Cagayan. That’s when something lit up inside of me. Problem is, we had to cut the trip short because my Lolo’s condition was getting worse. My Lolo, Coach Tito Eduque, is my hero in life and losing him was too much for me coupled with my Lola from my Dad’s side passing away a week after and my relationship with my girlfriend turning sour a few weeks back. It was all too much.

After months of contemplating, I got back on my feet and started working for Sykes, a call center. I was able to recover and eventually a friend of my mine her name is Cez. She invited me climbing. And there I was, not really sure if wanted to do it but I found excitement and curiosity too much to bear so I agreed. This was the beginning of something special for me but yet I can’t explain why I liked it.

It’s weird that I didn’t know what my reason for climbing is and yet I went on and on. That climb was in Mount Makulot, a fairly easy climb in Cuenca Batangas. As we made our way to the top, we finally reached the summit and found the view breathtaking and I didn’t tell anyone back then it actually made me cry and I didn’t know why it was almost the same feeling when my mom and I climbed the historic lighthouse in Ilocos.

I joined our group for the next climbs and was getting the hang of things thinking that the breathtaking view was enough reason for me to go on climbing but deep inside I new that there was something there that I couldn’t explain. Weird but somehow I felt like a huge load was taken of my shoulder and I’m not referring to my heavy bag.

All in all, I think I climbed 15 mountains not including the repeats and I even took it the next level by joining Habagat which is a well organized climbing group. With this experience and my experience with my prayer group called Life’s Directions…..I finally found out why I climb.

In my eyes, mountains represented my life. The fact that I want to see what was beyond it was my driver. There were easy ones and there were difficult ones and this is how life works. You have to overcome your personal mountains and let you be judge whether that was it you were looking for. In a nutshell, I was looking for something and now I’m proud to say that I found it. I found what was lying on the top of my mountain. As I gazed upon the horizon of my summit, I saw the people who cared for me and who I cared for. In short I discovered that I have a purpose to go on living, I discovered that like anyone out there, I am special.

I climb mountains not just for the adventure or the challenge but also to see how lucky my life is. I have come this far and happier than ever. I even knew what kind of girl I wanted and thank God I found her. I climb because I appreciate life. I climb because it refreshes me. I climb because I want to thank God for making me.