“Everest”, A Tragic Factual Film That Can Still Inspire

There are some movies that are truly uplifting and I love writing about them. But there are also a few that are truly tragic that I occasionally like to write about as well and “Everest” is one of them.

Everest is the true story about an expedition up the famed mountain and centers around Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and his climbing company, Adventure Consultants. On May 10th, 1996, him and a team he’s leading are making their final ascent to the top when tragedy strikes in the form of a sudden and violent storm. Faced against some of Mother Nature’s harshest conditions imaginable, each fight for survival hoping to make it off the mountain alive.

I’ve watched plenty of similar movies over the years about the sport of climbing that include Touching the Void, Cliffhanger, and K2 to name just a few. But Everest was a little different for me given that I knew the fate of each of the climbers ahead of time, with their story being based on actual events. Yet watching it I still found myself hoping somehow they would all survive and wondering myself what I’d do if I ever had to face those incredible odds at such high elevations.

While I’m pretty sure I’ll never know, seeing that I don’t ever plan on ascending Mt. Everest in this lifetime, I do have to say that throughout the movie I found myself comparing my own journey in recent years to what was unfolding on the screen. Over the past five years or so, I’ve been climbing my own Mt. Everest of sorts, one that has been all about ascending out of the darkness, despair, toxicity and life of addiction that I lived for most of my life. There have been plenty of times though when I’ve wanted to give up, just like many climbers have done when ascending Mt. Everest. But even when those tumultuous weather conditions have battered and tore so many of those climbers apart and when the lack of oxygen beckoned many of them to give up, a few have still defied the odds and made it to the top and back down. I see this so similar to my own journey as of late as there have been far too many days when the conditions of my life have done the very same to me on the ascent of my own Mt. Everest. But so far I haven’t given up and neither did several of those climbers in the movie.

Take Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) for example. It was his thoughts of his wife and kids that helped him to survive, even with all the odds were stacked against him. In my case, it’s been my constant thoughts and connection to my Higher Power that’s kept me going. Now I feel I’m right there just at my own summit, with only a few steps left before I begin my descent and although the “weather” has been battering me day in and day out telling me to turn back, I know my Higher Power is absolutely going to help me finish this journey.

In the end, I found the movie Everest to be somewhat inspiring, even in the midst of the tragic ending it had for several of the climbers, as it helped me to see that even though so many have failed to make it to the top of the magnificent mountain, there have been those who did defy all those unbelievable odds and experienced triumph and glory because of it. I’m going to be one of those with my own Everest, all thanks to God. I just can’t give up and I’m thankful that this movie reminded me that some do make it, even when facing the worst of odds.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Author: Andrew Arthur Dawson

A teacher of meditation, a motivational speaker, a reader of numerology, and a writer by trade, Andrew Arthur Dawson is a spiritual man devoted to serving his Higher Power and bringing a lot more light and love into this world. This blog, www.thetwelfthstep.com is just one of those ways...

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