The Stone in the Backpack
Ethan loved hiking, but lately the trails felt heavier than they used to.
It wasn’t the mountains that had changed. It was him.
For years, Ethan carried memories of his failures everywhere he went. The job he lost. The business idea that collapsed. The friend who told him he wasn’t good enough. Each memory sat quietly in his mind, but somehow they weighed on him like invisible stones.
One weekend, he joined a small hiking group led by an older guide named Kenji. Bef