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Success is usually related by fame and fortune. But... success is not quit the same as fame and fortune, and the path behind success, which is a terminus of a set course, isn't always quite like that. There are so many around us with success whose silent course towards a terminus isn't visible. Which I have seen with several people close to me added alongside the "love of my life" 🙏 It takes a lot of courage… - to be able to hide one's fear and defy setbacks. To share courage with others. - to show rejoicing with the personal successes by others. - to rejoice every morning waking up to a new day. - in reaching out to strangers. Be a help to others by conveying passion. - whether you want so or not, to suddenly turn everything 180 degrees from having been the most active in various fields. Like jobs, entrepreneurship and private engagements throughout the life; with successes and allotted awards. Everyone has a story! With a hidden courage, not seen or heard by others not being in it ❤️🙏🌏. What is not seen and heard by spectators can be the feeling of joy from a freshly picked summer bouquet after bravely fighting through a tough course of illness 💐; in regardless the adversities seeing the light beyond the horizon and not let go of the dreams despite a cancer announcement 🌅; standing on stage again and share knowledge after a brain haemorrhage; being outside in the woods and nature every day, regardless the weather conditions, to deal with Parkinson's disease with a small step of success at a time...☕️🌿; 24/7 using a mobile NC, a nasal cannula device with supplemental oxygen, given a lethal lung injury and repeat walking the four-story stairs up and down, every day for a period with the goal to be in shape for the golden wedding day with a banquet dinner. The latter was achieved successfully, along with the most wonderful reception by Grand Hôtel in Stockholm 💞. The list is long 🙏. No matter how the wind blows, or blew for that matter. The quiet success with courage and a strong belief in oneself as well as everyone else, is the greatest of all successes 👏🙏❤️ . Remember to embrace the silent courage among the people crossing your way. ~Kerstin Hedren  Photo by Claes Hedren (c) 1997 - 2024. All rights reserved.
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Back to the Winning Path
Now I had to trust my inner power to guide me back to the winning path.  Mid-September 2022, after a few days back home I took my crutches and by train I went to an Event in Malmö, …
… catching up a brilliant weekend with collegues and friends. Nothing was allowed to stop me.
For me there were mixed emotions when standing there on the stage with my crutches among others to be congratulated as a Nourish the Children Ambassador. An initiative helping starving and malnourished children around the world.
Back home a long journey started with rehabilitation and hard trainings. Each day clearing my head, getting a few more kilometers day by day under my feet. And for sure I embraced my little world there walking among the paths in the forest.
June, 2023 It´s all about to take the moment to be grateful for the New Day and all the positive things it brings. You will always find the light in the darkness. As long as you only compare with your limits, and no one else.
December 2022, my first power walks without crutches… Finally the day was there, exactly one year later, to get my revenge from when everything went wrong, to step on that rolling stone with a misstep as a result.
The Best feeling in the whole world, …  … when standing there on the top after six hours climb upwards in mixed snow and rain (described in blog 1, March 8th 2024).
Followed by a steep downhill hike, which we thought should take us max. two hours, but ended up by another six hours as the darkness fell and hiking over stones and crossing streams with headlamps.
Sometimes the feet said No - but the head said Move On.
At last we reached the Abisko tourist station at 01.30, luckily open. Can you imagine the happy feelings for this moment, to embrace the warmth and proudness of a completed Challenge? Can you compare that with any of your personal challenges?
Luckily a friendly taxi driver could take us back to our hotel, for a well earned nice sleep and enjoying the best birthday ever later that day. Couldn´t be better to have been given such a birthday gift.
The best feeling of all this, is watching things finally fall into place after watching them fall apart for a while.
So thankful and I think how rich I am, based on my potentials. As far as my personal limits, my time is gold. So far: -wealth to me is health. I want you the same.
 - En Ny Dag, 19th of April 2024.
Your only limit is in your mind…and now I had to handle with new challenges, to come back where I was before this incident. And imagine that you would be so happy for some crutches. Yes, they helped me to move on.
After leaving the Kiruna hospital with crutches in my hand we took the opportunity to have dinner in the Sapmi (Sameland), Nikkoluokta. It was like the end of the world and from here a hiking track could take you further to the Kebnekaise mountain lodge. That´s for another time.
Despite an injured knee, I could enjoy from the car a beautiful evening scenery back to the hotel with the most spectacular Northern Lights suddenly showing up. My first live experience with The Northern Lights. Just speechless and amazing.
Before heading home with assistance by my insurance policy we returned to Narvik. While waiting for the flight departure the staff at the Narvikfjellet Cable Car company assisted me to get onboard the cable car. Up on the mountain station, I could enjoy a beautiful view over Narvik and a little bit walk around with my crutches. A strange feeling.
Meanwhile my insurance policy arranged my home transport, which took a few days, I was accomodated in the nearby city Harstad, and along the highway Narvik-Harstad there are several memorials from the World War II.
Harstad is a beautiful little city along the fjord and as the hotel was next to the fjord, the morning view was when Hurtigruten passed by.
My plan was to be in the Abisko Alps for hiking for a week, but the days waiting with an injured knee turned out quite nice. The Harstad-Narvik region, the entrance to the Lofoten islands, is very interesting.
To be continued….😉 ”Our life is the creation of our mind”.
My goal next time…  …Låktatjåkko Mountain Lodge. Sweden‘s highest restaurant and hut, in the Arctic wilderness. 1228 meters above the sea level.
Rewinding the timeline one year backwards from the previous post, to September 2022, my joy with alpine hiking ended at the Region Hospital Kiruna after two days.On my birthday in 2022 I was surprised in Oslo by my sons with a flight to the Swedish Arctic Mountains.
I fell in love with the light, the colours and the crispy autumn mountain air. With eagerness I wanted to consume it all from my first morning hiking up in the Arctic North.
Being relatively very experienced with mountain terrain from my many years in Switzerland, I never actually reflected the thought that I was mostly doing my tours uphill and had the luxury options to choose a gondola or ”sessel lift” back to where I started in the valley.
Added to all mountain lodges or all benches along the trails which always are present in the Alps and really absent in the wilderness in Swedish Lappland.
Downhill hiking… is much more risky than uphill.When aborting my hiking between Abisko and Låktatjåkko Mountain Lodge on September 8th I realized a big mistake. I thought this was a ”short trail” where I didn’t need hiking poles. :P
Without hiking poles for support, I slipped on a loose stone on my downhill (!) walking back to the valley.
With consequences that also added Kiruna’s Emergency Room as a destination. Kiruna was indeed a destination not planned for me.
Picture 1: Riffelberg Resort, Zermatt, Switzerland Picture 2: Crap Sogn Gion cable car, Laax Switzerland Picture 3: My beloved cable car in Schwyz, Switzerland Pictures 4-8: Abisko, Sweden Picture 9: Chairlift bound downhill in Pitztal, Austria Picture 10-11: The great wilderness of Lappland, Sweden. With its absence from transportation systems. :P Picture 12: A relatively clear difference as to comfort in The Alps. Benches to rest everywhere along the hiking trails. Pictures 13-16: ”Färdledarleden” hiking trail to Låktatjåkka Mountain Lodge with lingonberries and bilberries as ”Alpenstube” substitute along the way. :P Pictures 17-18: The Emergency Room. Pictures 19-21: Kiruna, Sweden (c) Kerstin Hedrén 2022-2024. All rights reserved.
 My first blog on International Women’s Day 2024! |
Author: Kerstin HedrénSenior mountain and fitness inspiration. Sharing my path to Hörnlihütte (Zermatt), Breithorn (Zermatt), Abisko and Låktatjåkko (Sweden) through 2025. Archives
June 2024
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