Finding Home

Why is the focus on getting to the top? Summit Mount Everest. Be the top in your field. Be a leader. Isn’t the top only the halfway point? Wita is the actual goal? Is it not to come home again? Aren’t there fewer people who return home than made it to the top?

Giant’s Head Mountain - Summerland, BC - 09/06/23

I’m a snowboarder. I admire Jeremy Jones, who has pioneered backcountry riding into the mainstream. In one of his videos, he stated that when he is in the backcountry, the goal is to “Get back home.” The top is only a part of the journey, and if you don’t get there as long as you get “back home,” the outing was a success. Fewer backcountry skiers and snowboarders return home every year after heading out.

I don’t want to go backcountry snowboarding as the risk outweighs the reward. I prefer to admire the athletes who put themselves out there for the ride of their lives. As I go through this journey of discovery, I am applying the concept of “Getting Back Home.” I don’t have to be at the top to consider myself successful. Success to me is the ability to do what I want to do every day. If that takes me to the “Top,” then so be it, but that is not the goal. I don’t want to sacrifice my relationships, health, or well-being to be number one. I want to help others every day. Bring clarity to their lives. Share my struggles. Take accountability for my actions. Sleep soundly. Don’t put on a facade to get me “through the day.” For some, that is what they want, but not me.

I am reframing my values on success at work and material gain to success by relationships. Make time every day to make one connection with a friend, a colleague, or a contact. Share my purpose of helping the community by facilitating discussions to find solutions for problems. This last sentence gives me goosebumps as I have been searching for my purpose in this dark time, and now, by writing my thoughts, I have found it. The sun has risen. The air is fresh. I breathe in the fresh, crisp air. I had this thought as I sat not at the top of the mountain but in the middle somewhere. It didn’t matter if I made it to the top.

It’s the process.

It always has been.

I’ve found my home.