01

Several times as a romantic figure in history, Xu Xiake can be said to be a person who achieved success because of "walking".

Xu Xiake's name was Hongzu, his courtesy name was Zhenzhi, and his nickname was Xiake. Because he was born with a golden key in his mouth since he was a child, in his family of scholars, the young man who was influenced by culture read many books and had excellent knowledge, but he especially loved the Dijing Tuzhi.

22-year-old Xu Xiake started his own journey. Before leaving, he was afraid of returning later. Before leaving, he put on the traveling hat made by his mother. His luggage was simple and without redundancy, and he took the first step to travel the mountains and rivers.

The thirty-sixth year of Wanli to the forty-first year of Wanli was the first stage of Xu Xiake’s visit to the mountains and rivers. During this preparation stage, Xu Xiake focused his main energy on studying the geographical and cultural heritage of his motherland. We also took the opportunity to visit places such as Taihu Lake and Mount Tai. In the forty-one year of Wanli - the sixth year of Chongzhen, Xu Xiake visited many famous mountains such as Songshan Mountain, Hengshan Mountain, and Wutai Mountain. However, in this second stage of his life, he only wrote one volume of travel notes, accounting for only about one-tenth of the whole book.

From the ninth to the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Xu Xiake visited the mountains and rivers of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Yunnan and Guizhou in four years. In the last stage of his travel life, he wrote nine volumes of travel notes. The distance and breadth of his travels are the most extensive in history.

In the later stages of his career, Xu Xiake was unable to walk due to foot disease, but he still persisted in completing "Travel Notes" and "Mountain Chronicles", basically completing his life's work - "Xu Xiake" with a total of 600,000 words Travel Notes". This masterpiece is of course the final accumulation of Xu Xiake's life. It can be said that without twenty or thirty years of down-to-earth walking and quiet thinking, the final masterpiece would not have been born.

In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Xu Xiake, who had difficulty moving, was still in Yunnan and was sent back to his hometown by car and boat by the then Yunnan local official. The following year, 56-year-old Xu Xiake reached the end of his life and came to a brilliant end.

Nearly 400 years ago, Xu Xiake used actions to interpret his unremitting exploration of the unknown world. He also completed his legendary life with a diligent and positive attitude towards life.

"The road is long and long, and I will search up and down." Qu Yuan's immortal saying is perfectly suitable to describe Xu Xiake's life.

02

Compared with great figures like Xu Xiake, most of us ordinary people’s life journey can only be regarded as an ordinary road. But isn’t such an ordinary road the most valuable experience in each individual’s life?

A few days ago, at the author’s school, a 40-kilometer hiking activity was launched. One day, 11 hours, 40 kilometers of walking, and more than 60,000 steps were the itinerary data for this event. 3-4 bottles of water, three steamed buns, two pieces of cake, one egg, and a pack of mustard per person are the supplies for the entire journey.

Ordinary people will definitely be surprised when they hear this. Are you crazy? How can this go down?

In fact, at first, I was a little doubtful whether I could persevere. Although I had the successful experience of 30 kilometers last year, this time the mileage data increased not only 10 kilometers, but more. Attrition and challenge.

Of course, the result was a success, and thousands of teachers and students achieved success together.

The most enlightening thing is this sentence: "A person can go very fast, but a group of people can go very far." Undoubtedly, in such activities, we gain more than just personal The power of self-confidence and perseverance, and more importantly, the help and support of each other along the way, especially the last 10 kilometers.

I am very happy to see that after a year, we have grown a lot and become stronger and more mature.

03

After walking 40 kilometers, now looking back at the 30 kilometers a year ago, it seems that it is no longer worth mentioning. But without the accumulation of those 30 kilometers, it would be difficult to say what the concept of 40 kilometers is.

Two days before our sophomore year of high school officially walked, I saw the scene of the first year of high school returning from the hike. When I saw the joy on their faces when the first batch of teachers and students entered the school, I couldn’t help but He choked up and once wanted to cry.

I was moved by them, moved by their perseverance, moved by their achievement of a leap. At the same time, I am also moved by myself, because I have had the same experience and can relate to it. I thought about my hard work during the 30-kilometer journey last year. At that time, I not only had to walk, but also had to drive the students forward. From time to time, I had to run back and forth, shouting to urge them forward. I thought of the scene when I was teaching many years ago. It was the first time I experienced long-term walking on a mountain road. I thought of the story of the research during my graduate school, etc...

Whether it is 30 kilometers or 40 kilometers, or the next 50 kilometers or even longer, the only way to face it is The solution is to bite the bullet and go on.

Because, life is not a road in vain, every step counts.

04

The earliest long-term hiking experience I remember was probably in the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan when I was a graduate student in 2014. At that time, the hiking team spent more than ten hours, starting from the morning When it gets dark at night, the journey is difficult and dangerous. It rains and clears sometimes, but there are constant surprises along the way. The scenery on the horizon is ever-changing and beautiful.

During the Qingming Festival in 2017, I went hiking alone in Baishui Village, Zengcheng, Guangzhou. The scenery of Baishui Village is very beautiful. What is unique is that it also has a 9999-step ladder known as the first ladder in the South. Even better, every 100 steps you take, there will be a step number reminder on the stone steps.

With the lofty ambition to climb to the top, I walked from about nine o'clock in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon, 7 hours, and finally completed the task. However, the journey was not smooth. After passing level 999, level 1999, level 2999, and level 4999, the steps no longer displayed data. Probably because few people continued to persevere, right? All we can do is keep going forward, keep going forward. The feeling of suffering and no hope is very miserable. Coupled with hunger, I was temporarily in trouble.

Fortunately, thanks to the encouragement from my friends on WeChat, I persisted. When I finally saw the funny finish sign, I couldn’t laugh or cry. The end sign, level 9999, is actually made from an extremely simple billboard. After that, I went all the way down the mountain. Although I was tired and hungry, I was full of motivation because I succeeded.

05

During the Qingming Festival in 2018, I went hiking in Danxia Mountain in Shaoguan. The Danxia landform is simply breathtaking. I have to marvel at the uncanny workmanship of nature to create such a magical scene.

The climbing process of Danxia Mountain is also very tiring and arduous, despite the convenience of vehicles in the scenic area. But it still cost a lot to reach the top of Elder Peak. There were many vertical climbs along the way. Standing at the top of Elder Peak and overlooking the mountains of Danxia Mountain, a sense of confidence, pride and joy arises spontaneously. At this time, it is probably the moment when I admire myself the most. I proved myself to myself by hiking, reaching the finish line, and completing my goals.

Therefore, whenever I encounter difficulties or frustrations, I want to go out for a walk, walk a long way, climb a mountain, restore my self-confidence and prove myself.

06

In addition to these tourist-style walks, there is another special kind of walk for me, which is to participate in social surveys.

During my undergraduate studies, what impressed me most was the volunteer teaching activity during the summer vacation of my freshman year. I was 17 years old at the time, following the school’s volunteer club in a small village deep in the mountains of Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi. For 15 days, I was basically isolated from the rest of the world. There was no mobile phone signal. During the hottest months of July and August, I didn’t take a shower. I remember I only washed my hair once. Walking more than 10 kilometers every day, the conditions were very difficult and very tiring, and I wanted to give up at one point.

There were 10 people in our team at that time. We cheered and encouraged each other, and our inner beliefs pushed us to persevere. We finally achieved the set goal. When we left, the more than 50 primary school students who participated in our volunteer teaching were reluctant to leave, and some even cried. This left a lingering impression in my mind.

This activity also condensed my friendship with my friends Wang and Yuan. Later, I used this volunteer teaching activity as a clue to write a three-volume novel of 200,000 words. This shows how deeply it affected me.

During my graduate studies, I participated in multiple research projects and social surveys, such as the Enshi Comprehensive Poverty Alleviation Observation from 2013 to 2015, the 2014 Summer Summer Observation of Hundreds of Villages in Jilin, and the Observation of Ten Thousand People in a Village in Anhui Village surveys, 100-village observation and poverty alleviation observation in an Anhui village during the 2015 winter vacation, as well as oral history research, went as far as the border area of ??Jilin Province.

According to preliminary calculations, from 2013 to 2015, I visited more than 20 cities and counties in more than 10 provinces, including Jilin, Hebei, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Yunnan, and Guizhou. village. These investigations and practices not only allowed me to truly feel the current social development reality, but also greatly enriched my own experience and broadened my horizons.

Although I did not continue academic research later, these practical experiences in social research will inevitably become the most valuable asset in my short life of more than 20 years. It has accumulated my life experience and structured my comprehensive quality. Every step I took while participating in the research was an integral part of my personal temperament in reading, writing, being a person, and doing things in the future.

07

Whether it is traveling, research or daily life, through walking, I can know myself, position myself and grasp myself well, and at the same time, I can also know others and recognize myself well. Know the society. In short, in my opinion, walking is a good way of life and a good life practice.

Just like the saying that has become popular in recent years: "Life is not just about the present, but also about poetry and distance." This has given many people confidence and yearning for life.

Yes, life is a long journey. Sometimes there is a clear goal, sometimes the direction is uncertain, sometimes the road is twists and turns, and sometimes the flowers are dark... On the way, we sometimes walk quickly. Walking fast, sometimes walking slowly, sometimes stopping to rest, sometimes admiring the beautiful scenery... What's more, we will think about life, understand life, and accumulate ourselves...

< p> During walking, the soreness of legs and feet, physical fatigue, hunger in the belly, and anxiety in the heart are all tests. But when we reach the top of the mountain and see the mountains, all of the above will disappear and we will be happy and joyful. , an indescribable sense of accomplishment. The people and things we encounter on the road are all imprinted in our minds and hearts, becoming the most inseparable imprints.

We should be grateful to the friends and classmates who have accompanied us on the journey at different times. It is precisely because of each other's participation, support and encouragement during the walk that the journey becomes more exciting.

We also want to thank ourselves for our persistence, be moved by our hard work, and be grateful for the help given by people around us. I believe that we will set off again with sunshine, confidence, and luck.

About the author: Li Zihou, an ordinary teacher and self-media author. He is good at telling stories, singing, and loves writing. He has written over a million words of various works and is currently engaged in a long-lasting sacred career - teaching and educating people. Account: Wenqu Bi Tan, welcome to follow.