Find Your Mountains!
July Leadership Blog
“The Mountains are calling and I must go,” The infamous line by John Muir rings true for any mountain lover. Whether you are a skier/snowboarder, a hiker, or a mountain biker… Whether you climb 14ers in Colorado, just enjoy 4-wheeling all the passes, or camp in the Tetons… you connect instantly with this quote.
Early on in our lives, growing up in Western Oklahoma, we always had to get the cotton fields chopped at my father-in-law’s farm in July so that we could go on vacation to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. In those early years, this quote was planted in our hearts and minds and grew exponentially over the years.
When our kids were small, we traveled about every summer to Melanie’s Aunt June’s place in Mosquito Gulch, a small community between Fairplay and Alma. Over the years, she had allowed anyone in the family to use her place, an old mobile home they’d placed there many years ago with a generator and outhouse for having some of the comforts of home… 🙂
One of our family trips to the Rocky Mountains when our kids were small.
We have many memories of good summers there, fishing at Montgomery Reservoir and exploring the beauty of the mountains, streams, and old gold mining towns! No TV, no internet, no electricity, and no running water. I learned how to fish the “spillway” at Montgomery from a friend that lived in Arapaho, Oklahoma, by using a clear bobber and tying on a spinner fly about 3 feet from the bobber. When the spillway was running, you’d either catch or lose a fish on every cast! That was heaven to me, an avid fisherman. The bonus was the incredible view from the spillway – looking into the valley towards Alma and enjoying being surrounded by mountains on all sides. So incredibly beautiful and peaceful. The place where you could forget about the hustle and bustle of busy city life, crazy work life, and a break from the summer heat in Oklahoma.
Me & Taylor fishing at Montgomery Reservoir
I could probably write a book on all the memories and fun times we had in Colorado – and early on in our lives, Melanie and I “DREAMED” of someday living full-time in the Rocky Mountains, not NEAR the Rocky Mountains, but IN the Rocky Mountains.
Our dream came true in the Winter of 2015 when I landed a job with a startup Natural/Organic Grocery chain, Lucky’s Markets, headquartered in Niwot, CO. We were so excited to find our home in Coal Creek Canyon and start this new chapter of our lives.
Now that we are semi-retired and live back here permanently, there isn’t a day that goes by that neither of us doesn’t comment about how much we love it here. Again, the views, the endless wildlife that goes through our property, the quietness of just sitting on the deck, enjoying a cup of coffee, the peaceful silence, and the smell of pine trees in the summertime!
So, the leadership and life lesson in this story
– is for you to “find your mountains,”
whatever and wherever that is.
One of my semi-retirement learnings was all the time I spent working full-time, completely stressed out, in constant meetings and conference calls. Looking back, many of those were unnecessary or, at a minimum, went too long, and we had too many of them. That’s why everyone is drawn to their “mountains.” We find solace and peace there!
Do whatever you must to “live” in your “mountains.”
It’s where your brighter days exist!
