Surely That’s The Summit Just Ahead, Right?

drawing of climber on mountain with text: one day a while back, I started hiking up a mountain

drawing of climber on mountain with text: I was a bit optimistic about how difficult it would be

drawing of climber on mountain with text: like the mountaineering saying goes, it was further than it looked, taller than it looked, and harder than it looked

drawing of climber on mountain with text: I kept my head down and kept moving, and after a few hours, the summit was in sight. my patience and persistence would pay off in mere minutes. I could almost taste it.

drawing of climber on mountain with text: except: what I thought was the summit turned out to be a false summit

drawing of climber on mountain with text: the real summit was higher up the ridge. I was *a bit* demoralized

drawing of climber on mountain with text: but I took a minute, got my shit together, and started hiking

drawing of climber on mountain with text: after a while, I was almost to the summit

drawing of climber on mountain with text: except guess fucking what, that's right, it was another false summit. The real summit was a couple hundred feet higher.

drawing of climber on mountain with text: would I ever get there? I had to

drawing of climber on mountain holding sheet of notebook paper

notebook paper reading: possible tactics: feel bad, complain, snacks, blame someone, give up, find someone to validate my feelings, take a nap, keep going, some combination of above tactics, then keep going