I grew up in central Mississippi. It is hilly in places but is basically a flat state. During family travels, as a child, I was always awestruck by mountains. I love them. My love for mountains partially drove my life goal of moving to Virginia.

This week I learned that according to peakvisor.com there are 231 named mountains in Mississippi. The highest peak is 804ft. That made me laugh. Upon further research, I learned that there has been a considerable amount of disagreement over how to define a mountain. That took me by surprise. I feel like a mountain should be an easy thing to define. Whoever decided to call anything in Mississippi a mountain, clearly, had never traveled west.

Hubby Guy grew up out west where no one can question the legitimacy of the mountains. He considers the mountain ranges where we live to be mere foothills. Certainly, if we were to drag the Blue Ridge or Appalachian Mountain ranges out west and park them next to any of the mountains ranges there, they would appear far less grand.

Last week I wrote about the ups and downs to progress. The post compares the mountaintop experiences of new ideas and big dreams to the valley experience where all the work happens. I promised this week I would talk more about the valley experience.

I live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I had lots to learn when I moved here. It was a big change from Florida, where I moved from, and Mississippi, where I grew up. I love that I have lived in three very different states topographically speaking. There is such variety in nature from region to region. Each place has its own unique set of pros and cons.

The word valley in my mind conjures images of dark, dismal, low places. It carries a negative connotation for me. When I moved to the Shenandoah Valley, I was struck by how gorgeous it is. There are peaks to the east and peaks to the west, but the places between are filled with rolling hills. Naturally flat spots are pretty hard to find. The valley is also painted with a gorgeous palette of green and gold. The contrast against the blue sky is stunning. It does not match, at all, the picture in my mind.

I did some research and found that there are different types of valleys. It seems to me that valleys are as varied as people. It stands to reason, that is why our mountaintop ideas are worked out in the valley. There is space there to work things out.

Mountaintop experiences are easily understood. We like the feeling of big dreams and bird’s eye views. For some reason, though, we improperly transition from our high places. Heading down feels wrong, so it is easy to take a negative stance on any direction but up.

Hoofing it through our valleys is where all the good stuff happens. We breathe deeply on the peaks and wides. Then we steel ourselves for the flats and narrows. Growth happens by default. Our culture just screams a different message.

In the United States, media is saturated with mountaintop images. The highest of highs is what is for sale on every channel. Commercials have us trying to run up the down escalator. If you have ever tried, you understand the difficulty involved. It is the antithesis of progress, and we fall for it. We would rather chase mountaintops than brave all we may have to walk through in our valleys. That is exactly how the enemy of our souls wants it, too.

The valley represents all of the natural variety that exists in living. It is not realistic to be at a high point all of the time, and we all know that being at any kind of low for an extended time causes big problems. Our best lives are lived all over the peaks, flats, wides, and narrows of our lives. We need variety. Whether we realize it or not, we depend on the variety. The highest of highs is exhilarating, the lowest of lows is debilitating, and neither one is sustainable.

Somehow, no matter my age, I’m still prone to grumbling when my path slopes down. Can you relate? Whether we are headed down from a Mississippi-sized mountain or a Colorado-sized one, we need to learn to expect great things from the valley. Our mindsets may need work. We could all benefit from a nice big breath and an attitude adjustment with regard to how we handle our downs.

The next time you start charging up a mountain, remember that feeling is temporary by design. When it is time to start your down, I want to encourage you to keep putting one foot in front of the other. As we each live out our unique valley experiences, we are guaranteed to encounter good, bad, and everything between. Those things are necessary to make progress.