Just Make it Down the Hill for Starters

The present moment is the great equaliser

Disguised in scavenged orc armour, on their approach to the imposing darkness of Mordor, with their destination, Mount Doom smouldering in the distance, the Hobbits, Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins, are confronted with a seething mass of orcs encamped in the blackened plains before them.

"There are so many of them... so many. We’ll never get through unseen", Frodo utters in despair.

It’s a hopeless scene in the dark shadows of Mordor as the reluctant Frodo suffers terribly under the watchful Eye of Sauron: "It's him - the Eye."

The ever-practical Sam offers his quiet resolve: "We have to go in there, Mr. Frodo. There’s nothing for it. Come on. Let’s just make it down the hill for starters."

With that, they pressed forward into the darkness of Mordor, the weight of their journey bearing down on them as heavily as the foreboding task ahead.

Life often feels like this, trapped by the road behind us, and paralysed by a sense of impending doom about the future.

But we can only start from where we are. Whether burdened by years of self-neglect, struggling with the weight of past failures, or reeling from cruel misfortune, the only way forward is to take the next step, however small. Simply committing to “make it down the hill for starters” is sufficient inspiration.

Making it down the hill will be different for each of us, but it might simply mean getting off the couch to do a single push-up, a single squat, or getting outside and jogging for a couple of minutes.

Ironically it can be easier if we’ve hit rock bottom when we have nothing else to lose. As Tyler Durden advises "It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything."

Taking the uncertain steps ahead can feel terrifying when we have glittering successes from the past to protect. A once-great athlete returning from injury may hesitate as much as a first-time Parkrunner. The fear of falling short, of not living up to what we once were, can be its own kind of prison.

It doesn’t matter how much, or how little effort we’ve made to get here, the present moment is the great equaliser - we are all starting from the same place.