Just get up and move.

I learned that a new landscape doesn’t make me a different person. Even in Iceland, I was prone to staying in the chair— or in this case, the car — rather than getting up and moving.

But since signing up for Kilimanjaro, I can’t escape the nagging question: How do I expect to climb that mountain if I won’t get up and move now? It followed me out of the car, onto the trails, and up the steep climb at Skaftafell. I watched my step count, reminded myself what I was preparing for, and kept going.

I couldn’t leave my old habits at home. Fortunately, I couldn’t leave that question there either.

Photo: The waterfall I was trying to get to.