“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustains life, not the top.”

—Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Image from Unsplash by Charlie Hammond

I’ve never climbed a mountain but I’ve learned through watching plenty of nature programs that very little lives at extreme heights.

For the tallest of the world’s mountains, climbers enter the “death zone” when they are over 8,000 meters above sea level. At this height, oxygen is about one third the concentration it is on the ground below.

When one examines more modestly sized mountains, we can readily see the tree line only goes so far before things shift to the cold frosty stuff.

EXERCISE:

How often do you take the time to fully explore and appreciate all the steps on your journey to the top? Where might stops along the way and even deciding not to climb all the way be the wisest approach to take?