During Yamabushi training, the conch is our alarm clock. When I first joined training, I would get so nervous waiting for the conch that I could hardly sleep. I would wake up probably an hour or so before the conch sounded, and then try and fail to get back to sleep. All that meant was that I became sleep-deprived and that’s not good for when you need to concentrate out on the mountains.

After a while though, I began to realise something. If you have enough confidence that you can get ready in a small amount of time, you really have nothing to worry about, and you can sleep until the conch.

If you have experience, or confidence in your own ability to overcome any setback, then really you have nothing to worry about. Of course things will get tough, but us humans are more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. Remember that the next time you’re nervously waiting for the conch.