- August 15, 2018 -
I just finished the book The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom.
Fascinating read!
It's the gripping account of a Polish officer's torture and imprisonment in 1940 by the Soviets, his escape (along with six other inmates) from a 25-year forced-labor sentence in a Siberian Gulag (prison camp) and...
Their year-long 4,000 mile trek on foot across Mongolia in sub-zero temps, across the scorching Gobi desert, through Tibet, and finally over the Himalayan mountains to India where they're rescued.
The half-staved but determined motley crew started out with no supplies except for a knife, an axe, and the clothes on their backs.
They exist in spite of...
...going weeks at a time without food.
...eating snake when no other life form could be found on the desert.
...constant lice.
...sucking the frost from stones just to get some moisture in their mouths.
...making moccasins from deer skin.
...suffering from frostbite and cracked, swollen feet.
...complete exhaustion.
...relying on the kindness of the few Mongols and shepherds they came across along the way.
...developing scurvy and having to pull their own teeth from lack of hygiene.
...losing and burying three of the original 7.
When they were finally rescued, they were emaciated and suffered from nightmares for months and ongoing health issues.
But during the entire ordeal, never once did any of them give in to the fear and hopelessness that they carried with them mile after mile.
Internet issues.
Merchant account fees.
The A/C breaking down.
Software glitches.
Accidental double-bookings made by staff.
All the inconveniences that we as business owners deal with every day...absolutely frustrating but not life-altering.
I've gotta share one portion of the book right before they're rescued:
"I was tortured with the fear that the exertion of one more great climb would finish me. I feared the onset of the insidious sleep on the heights from which there was no awakening. I could not banish the spectre of bitter failure. With all of us the resources of body and mind were drawn out thin. One shining, incalculable asset remained - the tight, warm friendship of men together in misfortune. While we remained together hope could not be quenched."
Not unlike the fear you deal with at times.
This is why I commit to these daily emails.
(Not because I love writing them...can't type to save my life.)
Owning and running a business is not for the faint of heart.
It can drain our souls if trying to go it alone.
But if rally around each other when things gets tough, we can push through the crap days.
Because the freedom is worth it.
Geez, this is sounding too much like a sappy Hallmark movie.
And I've got a manly reputation to uphold here.
So carry on, people and make it rain!
Or you can just let us give you a hand.
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