Aaron McHugh
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Dancing with Dragons on Catalina Island

Unbeknownst to us, our seven-person bio-less crew included one salty pirate captain, a Thai speaking second-time newlywed, a New York Times narrating writer, a kind-eyed tattooed Viking, The Wizard of the Wasatch, Brad Pitt’s stuntman, the oldest freshman lifeguard in LA, and me. 

Our journey was marked by the phrase “Here be dragons” as we departed from the southern California coast, crossing the twenty-two-mile Pacific channel to explore the untamed wilderness of Catalina Island. Once a playground for Hollywood’s elite, the island is now a vacation spot with Airbnb condos and two-hour adventure tours. But that was not our reason for coming. We aimed to go beyond the safety of Avalon’s harbor and discover the island’s rugged terrain and stunning beauty. Our mission was to hunt and dance with our inner dragons.  

Our expedition name, “Dancing with Dragons,” is rooted in mythology. In the past, mapmakers drew dragons on uncharted territories to warn travelers to proceed cautiously and avoid danger. It was a visual cue for journeymen to preserve themselves and their voyages. 

In daily life, most of our crew avoided uncertainty to optimize for more control, making it difficult for us to explore wild places within. To face our fears and transform ourselves, we embarked on a high adventure, stepping outside our comfort zones and confronting our inadequacies.

The adventure idea was hatched years ago from a discussion about taking risks and being in a geographic space without static (no distractions)

Doubting the transformative power of an adventure trip?

Give it a shot. Picture yourself in 50-degree water, surrounded by darkness, with the threat of great white sharks nearby. You’re wearing only a 5mm wetsuit, a mask, a snorkel, and a headlamp. Your goal? To hunt spiny lobsters by freediving, plunging fifteen-to-twenty feet down, and snatching them with your kevlar-gloved hand. We may have seemed quiet and composed on the surface, but internally, some of us were thinking, “This wasn’t what I signed up for! There needed to be a brochure for this experience.” But later, back on deck, the fear turned into exhilarating tales of bravery. This is dragon dancing at its finest.

Preparing ourselves to take a dip and warm up in the water during daylight, we gear up for freediving. Later on, after the sun has set, we will return to the cold water for the main event – the search for California Spiny Lobsters that we will be cooking as street tacos the next day.

The idea of leaving our resumes behind became a powerful tool for our dragon-dancing Adventure. As men, and maybe women too, we often hide behind our careers and the work we do in the world. It’s a habit that’s deeply ingrained. When meeting someone new, the question immediately follows, “What’s your name?” is always “What do you do?”

But we stay on the surface when we lead with what we do. Our ego gets a dopamine hit, and we feel affirmed when sharing our armored version of ourselves. It’s rare to meet someone who doesn’t sound like a superhero when rattling off their career accomplishments. But as dragon dancers, we agreed to scrap that approach.

Instead, we simplified our getting-to-know-you conversations by opening up with questions like “Who and what do you love?” and “What’s keeping you stoked these days?” From the start, we focused on topics that make us human beings rather than our job titles or achievements.

In fact, we went days without revealing our careers or accomplishments, which wasn’t necessary. We were simply a group of boys at play – a pirate, a newlywed, a narrator, a Viking, a wizard, an athlete, a waterman, and me – venturing into the wild.

Our vision was to embark on a trail adventure, covering 30-40 miles of the long-distance Trans-Catalina Trail that winds through Santa Catalina Island off the southern California coast.

Our adventure had four acts. 

“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that’s when Adventure starts.”

-Yvonne Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia

Act 1-The OG route and the sick crew

Act 2-“Less Suffering” Please

Act 3-High Seas, High Anxiety before we depart

Act 4: Depart and Send in the Dragons

The dream & the experiment of exploring a wild place with strangers in hopes of transforming ourselves-postponed! It was very disappointing for everyone.

Act 1-The OG route and the sick crew

January 1st, 2022, we’re making final preparations for our January 5th departure, and disruption ensues as the reports start coming in over group text. Four cases of COVID and one RSV infection, and five out of eight crew members are sick. Bummer. “We’re not canceling. We’re rescheduling.” My favorite line from one dragon dancer “Whatever farts of obligations you have on your calendar, clear those. This matters. We need this. I need this.” Thankfully, we rescheduled for March 2022. 

Our detailed agenda by day, camping reservations, and logistics for Que Paso (Captain and his ship) to meet us each day at our next campsite was overly ambitious.

Act 2-“Less Suffering” Please

Several weeks after the crew healed from their infirmary, our team member who had contracted RSV expressed his concern about the daily mileage of our original Trans Catalina trail route and our camping reservations. He believed it would require too much time and energy on land, leaving us with limited time for ocean exploration. He pleaded, “Less suffering, please.” In response, we agreed to pivot and reimagine our itinerary, prioritizing ocean exploration over trail miles.

Our new plan was to spend our days and nights freediving and hunting for lobsters, dragging up red-fish from the seabed floor, filleting them for street tacos, cliff jumping, running and hiking portions of the Trans Catalina trail, chasing buffalos, and cowboy camping on the beach beneath the stars of the Pacific.

Brainstorming potential options and theoretical scenarios to mitigate the potential dangers posed by the approaching weather, which coincided with the start of our planned activities. Cold beer helped our best ideas emerge.

Act 3-High Seas, High Anxiety before we depart

As we prepared to execute our new itinerary on March 3rd, uncertainty once again crept in and threatened to derail our plans.

Getting there: The 22-mile channel crossing loomed ahead, but the weather forecast predicted heavy seas and high winds of 33 knots, prompting small craft to take shelter.

Impossible to reach campsites: Finding a suitable anchor point for our night two camp at Parsons proved challenging. The area was very exposed, and if waves pushed our boat too close to the shore, we risked losing gear and being stranded on land.

The trails: To make matters worse, access to the island’s interior, where we planned to hike and run, was in danger of being closed by the Catalina Conservancy due to muddy and unruly trails.

With so many uncertainties, we were left with difficult questions to answer. Should we cancel again? Would the salty pirate captain still take us? Was it safe to cross the channel? And perhaps most importantly, were our fellow adventurers still committed to the journey despite the potential for severe alterations to our plans?

My journal entry March 1st, 2022

Dancing with Dragons

Dancing with uncertainty

with forces larger than me

with an open heart for what emerges

with curiosity for the next track that this trail reveals

-Aaron
Our seven-person bio-less crew first name basis only. Everyone wondering “Will we go?”

Act 4: Depart and Send in the Dragons

Our party of eight was reduced to seven when one of the dragon dancers had to attend to unavoidable obligations on land. Pre-dawn and under-caffeinated, we set out towards the impending storm, trusting that whatever came next would be unforgettable. Letting go of all expectations seemed like the only sane plan.

The salty pirate captain skillfully navigated his ship, Que Paso, through a small weather window to safely cross the channel and moor in Avalon’s historic cove before battening down the hatches. But before we did, it was time to go dragon hunting.

Catalina Island and a greeting pod of dolphins. Photo credits: Dallas Hartwig
We’re here, let’s go get wet and sandy. The nervous laughter begins from us mountain men, “Shit are we really about to do this?!”

As the sun shone brightly and the winds and seas were calm, Catalina’s eastern rocky shores glowed with the greenery of springtime, nourished by the winter rains. The dicey weather warnings had scared off tourists, and we had the private coves to ourselves for unspoiled lobster diving and redfish hauls.

Better than a Yeti commercial.
At the end of the lobster season, we caught more than we kept-the little guys went back into the wild.

Newbies and veterans finding their edge in exploration.

Half of our group were California locals accustomed to ocean adventures. In contrast, the other half were mountain men from Colorado and Utah, more familiar with navigating risks in the snowy terrain. Although our ocean skills were limited (us mountain men), we found comfort in facing challenges together. LA’s oldest freshman lifeguard confidently guided us through every beginner’s task, teaching us how to catch lobsters (called “bugs” by the locals) and encouraging us to dive deeper.

Dolphins and adventurers dancing together. Photo credits: Dallas Hartwig

As a reader, you may wonder how to score an invite on such a trip or find the group too daring for your liking. However, a more valuable set of questions to ask yourself are:

What is your uncharted territory? 

What challenges are you yet to face? 

What dragons await your dancing invitations?

The storm arrives 

With the winds, waves, and knots all picking up as expected, we had no choice but to pitch a tent on deck or squeeze in below. We were unable to go ashore, despite our desire to explore. The only access available was at dawn, with land in sight but out of reach. This topsy-turvy cycle of hoping, planning, adjusting, and pivoting persisted for several days. The most unforgettable moments of our Adventure were the ones that occurred spontaneously. 

With the “storm”, the Trans Catalina trail boasted lush greenery and was devoid of tourists. Our crew is seen running back home to meet Que Paso after spending a windy night on a ridge. One of our members had forgotten his sleeping bag, and every dragon dancer donated a spare piece of clothing to keep him warm. But it wasn’t enough- our newlywed crew member had to endure the cold alone.

What I learned while dancing with dragons

Through this experience, I realized that I possess a rare ability to adapt to uncertainty and devise an action plan as circumstances change. While it’s simpler to make and implement plans in ideal situations, I can take things one step at a time during life’s storms. My buddies also underwent personal transformations during our time Dancing with Dragons, but those are their stories to share.

Wildlife roll call

During our Dancing with Dragons adventure, we encountered a variety of wildlife, including common dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, members of the Ocean Sunfish family, Minke whales, salmon groupers, red snappers, California Spiny Lobsters, American bald eagles, Pacific Shortfin Mako Shark, Soupfin shark, Blood crabs, buffalo, and mule deer.

Tacos for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Que Paso our home, our friend, our safe place to rest our head, our kitchen, our light house in the wind and rain. Thank you Salty Pirate Captain.
Attempting to jump in to swim with a pod of dolphins.
Dancing with Dragons

Friends choose adventure and slow down to embrace the transformation that uncertainty creates. Thank you to one salty pirate captain, a Thai-speaking second-time newlywed, a New York Times narrating writer, a kind-eyed tattooed Viking, The Wizard of the Wasatch, Brad Pitt’s stuntman, the oldest freshman lifeguard in LA
Let’s keep going,
-Aaron

Experiment More

If I had a magic wand, I would give you the compulsion to experiment MORE. Try something new, a tiny step, or a radical idea. Start today. Certainty rarely exists. Let go of the illusion of control and step into experimentation. Holding grace and curiosity as your explorer mindsets. Learn as you go and repeat, iterate as you go.

Why I believe Work-Life Balance is a Myth

Let go of work-life balance and embrace the unforced rhythms of a fully integrated life. I used to think that work-life balance was achievable.
Now I believe it is a myth.
No matter how hard I tried, I could never achieve this perfect moment of everything in my life working in perfect Zen harmony and balance.

I felt so exhausted trying to stay in balance

The way forward isn’t exhaustion. It isn’t juggling, stretching, or herculean gymnastic efforts to come through for others while ignoring yourself. The way forward is an integrated, wholehearted life.

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor, and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he’s always doing both.”

-James Michener

Here’s why I wasn’t able to achieve balance

After the death of our daughter Hadley in 2011, I found myself desperately trying to hold my life together. My marriage was suffering. My kids needed their dad. And my already intense corporate career as an executive was only getting more complicated as responsibilities and promotions kept coming my way.

Our sweet daughter Hadley crossing over to eternity

I was burning out but didn’t admit it.

Anybody else could see the signs a mile away. I was so focused on what was right in front of me that when it finally hit-I was utterly blindsided. And the solution was nothing short of a complete do-over—a “reboot,” as we called it. We sold our house and everything, down to the last fork. We spent the summer serving at a Young Life camp, finding a new normal.

Ringing in the Opening Day Trading bell at the London Stock Exchange, but wondering what’s it all for?

It wasn’t easy. It took brutal months of inner work, therapy programs, tears, and facing the old stories that no longer served us. Stories like “I have to do it all” and “I can’t trust anybody else to get it done.” But out of that, we emerged with a new vision for our life—a new story-A life filled with excitement, ambition, love, rest, forgiveness, and hope.

As we began this journey creating a new life

I realized my software executive career no longer aligned with the person I had become. For so long, I had tried to find the fabled work-life balance.

The problem was I didn’t want my life to be compartmentalized anymore, with each area staying separate from the other. I wanted it all integrated into one wild, beautiful mess.

Once I stopped trying to achieve work-life balance, I discovered a third-way rhythm, “a repeated pattern of movement” where work, life, play, relationships, rest, finances, friendships, and adventure could co-exist within my experience of each day.

I began to experience my life as a complete whole where every valuable aspect was connected and worked together. I discovered more of God’s presence and meaning in ways I had never noticed. It radically transformed my life for the better-my mission now is to share that discovery with as many people as possible (like you).

Aligning the work I do, with who I’d become

Ultimately I left my corporate executive career behind. After eight months of living off of savings, pursuing work that fit the person I had become, and taking our checking account down to $1500, I discovered a new career doing work that I truly loved. That fit within this new integrated life we were architecting. (Fun fact, my first client meeting in my new career as an executive leadership coach happened less than 1 mile from where I resigned from my old gig just months before. Talk about coming full circle.)

Taking an inventory of the assets of my life. Dashboard lights from Green (going great), Yellow (watch this), to Red (needs attention now)

Loosening our grip on balance

My story isn’t about making millions, retiring early, or living a carefree “work 2 hours a week” lifestyle. That’s all great, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. Like you, I still work a full-time, 40-50 hour work week.

I’m talking about loosening our grip on perfection and balance by living a more meaningful, fulfilled, and wholly integrated life in your current environment- In the career, relationships, and body you’re in-resulting in a life full of adventure and meaning.

I’ve discovered another way to operate in the world. I am at choice. I no longer live under the “shoulds” and “ought to’s” of my creation or the expectations of others.

Fully alive and without knowing where it’s all heading. Trusting this is the way forward.

Living a life true to myself

Three closing wisdom invitations, starting with “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.” I believe you see this within your experience.

Bronnie Ware is a palliative care provider and author The Top Five Regrets the Dying. She captured her results over years of sharing the last weeks and days with her patients who’d moved home from the hospital to die. In their final conversations, the patients discussed any regrets they had or anything they wished they would have done differently. Here’s what she heard. Take a good listen, keeping in mind work-life balance vs. wholehearted living.

The Top Five:
1) I wish I’d dared to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2) I wish I’d not worked so hard.
3) I wish I’d dared to express my feelings.
4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5) I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best with your own life.

-Saint Paul

I used to think that work-life balance was achievable. Now I believe it’s a myth. Let go of work-life balance and embrace the unforced rhythms of a fully integrated life. Embrace the mess, the beauty-the imperfection of integration.

Today, I coach global executive leaders on how to be more effective. It starts with being more human.

And now, here is the invitation for us all:
-To do your best work
-To become wholehearted
-To play and live adventurously

Will you accept it? I hope you do.
Let’s navigate a well-lived life together.

Keep going
-Aaron

How to move forward amidst tremendous uncertainty

I’m thinking about how to start something when you only have a small piece of the map-unable to see very far into the future. Which for most of us creates a lot of discomfort. How can we learn to move forward, begin, and take small steps amidst tremendous uncertainty?

I discovered this small piece of a topographic map in London’s Royal Geographic Society Map room. Take a look at the photo- see the beauty of the colors and the possibilities in the shapes of the contour where the green landscape meets meandering streams. Is it from Ningi, Nigeria? Possibly. Or maybe it’s from Korini, Greece? I don’t know.

I discovered this small piece of a topographic map in London’s Royal Geographic Society Map room, London. 51° 30′ 4.932” N 0° 10′ 31.296” W Where many a new beginning, first track, first steps began that changed the world we know.

First Tracks

What’s more interesting to me now is the metaphor of how frequently our life and career journeys begin with only having a small piece of the map. A hunch of an idea, the first step, what Boyd Varty in the Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life calls “First Tracks.” On the track of a lion in the bushveld of South Africa, he narrates his mythical and specific experience,

“I don’t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there might be the motto of the great tracker. Track. Track. Track, Ren (his mentor) has said to me at other times. I understood him to mean find the first track, then the next track, then the one after that. He does not set out into the unlikely chance of finding a lion in the future. He works with what he has now, in the moment. In the bush and life, we don’t get trails fully laid out. We get tremendous unknowns and, if we are lucky, first tracks. Then next first tracks.”

-Boyd Varty

New beginnings started here

Back at the Royal Geographic Society, trackers we know by heart hatched plans that transformed the world we know today. The map room was the meeting place of their First Tracks and “tremendous unknowns-I imagine their explorers’ mottos something like this

“Despite the tremendous unknowns, we must begin. We must go and see for ourselves.”

-Explorers, Pioneers, Trackers

Members of the Royal Geographic Society

  • Charles Darwin (Naturalist, Biologist)
  • Robert Falcon Scott (Led two antarctic expeditions)
  • Richard Francis Burton (Explored Asia, Africa, and The Americas)
  • John Hanning Speke (Searched for the source of the Nile)
  • Percy Fawcett (Lost city “Z”)
  • Ernest Shackleton (Three expeditions to Antarctica)
  • Sir Edmund Hillary (The first confirmed climbers to summit Mt. Everest)

We must become like a lion tracker, an explorer, a poet

Friends, like a lion tracker or explorer, we must become more comfortable with tremendous unknowns, not having the whole path laid out for us and beginning by taking action, which the poet David Whyte calls starting close in.

“Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take. Start with the ground you know, the pale ground beneath your feet.”

-David Whyte

However tiny your piece of the map you possess, start, begin, track, and look for the next step to emerge. Certainty will not increase, but your ability to keep moving forward amidst the uncertainty will.

Small edges of the map.
First Tracks.
“Start with the ground you know, the pale ground beneath your feet.”

Keep going-

Aaron

Trip Report: Backpacking The Weminuche High Route

Deep in Colorado’s largest wilderness area, our adventure trio, Chris, Dave, and I, were hunting “spectacular plateaus of rolling tundra, ripsaw ridges, cliff-ringed lakes, and lush midsummer wildflowers” on The Weminuche High Route.

A quick snapshot: The Weminuche High Route (WHR), a 50-mile adventure hike, launches outside of Durango, CO, atop 11,000-foot Endlich Mesa, navigating endlessly north, zig-zagging up and down alpine valleys, passes, elk trails, stitching together old prospector claims, while overshadowed by behemoths peaks like The Guardian, Storm King, Silex, The Needles, Leviathan Peak, Jagged Mountain.

Thanks to our internal Swiss army knife of readiness, a handful of printed maps, and previous pioneer Steve Howe for the GPS tracks. We set out to explore this obscure backpacking high route.

“Leviathan Peak is the 236th highest peak in Colorado and is rarely climbed.” reads one website. No shit. High route veterans, even our party felt the intimidation factor. There is a gentler third class approach on the southwest ridge.

What drew us to this backpacking exploration

Previously, we’d underestimated our Colorado homeland opting for other more isolated mountain ranges like The Wind River of Wyoming and The Brooks Range of Alaska. Although in our home state, the Weminuche remains a six-hour drive away, further limiting infrequent exploration and miscalculating her renowned steep, jagged, and lonely alpine terrain.

The plan was hatched: 1) Explore more of our Colorado home. 2) The route is point-to-point. It starts south on Endlich Mesa, outside of Durango, CO, meandering north, dancing in the high places finishing 50 miles later by descending right into downtown Silverton. 3) The alluring size and scale of alpine giants-hundreds of summits.

I remember the legendary late alpinist Alex Lowe saying, “You can’t tell from down here what it’s like up there. You have to go see.” Our “crux” of the route looked much worse from far away. A spine of Weminuche boney crumbles midfield across a thirty-five -forty-degree slope. Once face-to-face, a pleasant ramp revealed itself with a simple class III move up. All good.

Sizing up the Weminuche High Route

How long will it take? Plan on five to eight nights. We packed food for six nights and finished the WHR in five nights-six days.

How many hours were you on the move every day? 7-10 hours each day. 

How many miles did you cover each day? Daily average: 8-14 miles daily, with 3200 to 4500 ft of vertical ascent. At some points, we were going SLOW when we were Off-trail, e.g., talus ascent, carefully at one mph. At other points, with a good trail underfoot, we could cruise much faster: e.g., on the Colorado Trail, for a tiny bit, we averaged 3+ MPH. But that never lasted long.

What was the vertical ascent/descent for the entire route? 16,291+ vertical ascent and 18,239+ descent.

Jagged Peak in the distance with a team of mountaineers descending from the summit. We could hear their voices, one of the few human contact moments we experienced all week. Inspired by a Hyperlite shelter promo ad, I brought along a pirate flag to remind us to stay playful. Guaranteed for a laugh out loud moment daily.

What can I expect and when should I go?

The WHR isn’t marked. No trail signs say, “go here, turn left.” It might look like we’re on a trail -just wait-ten feet later, it peters out, and you’re hunting for a new option. Losing the trail on a high route is par for the course. Scanning for game paths, old prospectors lines, elk hunters use tracks and bushwhacking up-down-across deadfall (down timber), creeks, spines, ravines, scree fields, talus, loose boulders strewn precariously descending alpine runouts. The rules of life on the WHR: walk softly, triple-check before committing to a turn.

The Pirates of the Weminuche High Route

Season: High summer promises the greatest ease of weather, no snow, river crossings are tame, and temperatures are moderate. Start as early as late-May and plan for snowy passes. September-October promises cooler temperatures and dry Indian Summer conditions with the risk of snow showers in the high places.

Fording Vallecito Creek was rumored to have a bridge, possibly swept by an avalanche in 2004. We never found it. Easily manageable in August, but beware during spring run-off (May-late June). The Weminuche High Route provided plentiful water sources every few hours-miles. Our team’s individual water treatment preferences range from Aquamira drops to Sawyer filters.

My Journal entries during our adventure

Day 2: Pirate flag makes me laugh. Each day, new guy carries on his pack. At night to signal happy hour begins at camp host’s tent
Day 2 evening: Deer walks into camp as we listen to Resilience meditation together
Day 3: Not everyone on our team thinks talus walking is fun
Day 4-5: Spontaneous shower in an alpine waterfall coming off Leviathan’s shoulder
Walked into Silverton: Swollen feet-a bit tired, but full. Sun-stained and wholehearted

Helmets are new to our packing list. With a brain bucket, we increased our summit dreams optionality. Although we resisted summit fever, we chose to wear our helmets when the terrain got precarious. Much of the Weminuche High Route travels where few people go. Those few souls we did encounter were climbing the summits, helmets required.

Getting there

From Durango: Plan to drive two-hours up to Endlich Mesa 4×4 vehicles required for the last 10 miles. After Arriving in Silverton, a preplanned shuttle recommended. No reliable Uber service.

Happy hour ritual started on our Alaska Brooks Range Trip, with homemade VIP ticket invites. In the Weminuche during a brief hail storm and “high’s-low’s” recap.

Gear worthy of mention:

I’ve upgraded the backcountry equipment I carry on these expeditions with a focus on ultra light. I’m no zealot over ounces, but I do appreciate stuff that works, stuff that holds up and reduces my base weight of 13-14 lbs (my pack weight including everything but food and water).
Hyperlight’s 4400 Southwest Ultralight backpack | Endlessly comfortable & simple
Hyperlite Ultralite Pyramid Tent | Weighting 1lb simple and roomy for two
Trail Design Sidewinder Tri-Ti 900 ML bundle Alcohol stove | Quiet minimalism
Footwear: Hoka’s Speedgoat 5 | Best support I’ve had in a decade

Resources:
The National Forest Service does not require permits for entering the Weminuche Wilderness Area. From the NFS, “The Weminuche spans the Continental Divide, North America’s geological backbone, with its headwaters diverted to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom peaks rise above 14,000 feet, while many others reach above 13,000 feet. With an average elevation of 10,000 feet above sea level, the Weminuche is rugged country, but its ecosystems are fragile.”

Backpacker article with GIA GPS waypoints. Another perspective on the route, access details, and specific route details here.

Special thanks:
Ben @ Backcountry Experience in Durango for your stoke, support and last minute gear items we forgot.

As newlyweds, my wife and I worked for YoungLife’s Wilderness Ranch, each 1930’s rustic log guest cabin named after a Weminuche peak. Decades later, witnessing for myself Storm King’s prowess, sunrise glow, and Silex’s sheer intimidation (left).
Walking in a postcard, the Weminuche wildflowers abundant, vibrant, endless.
Alpine rock: Wham Ridge on Vestal Peak and Arrow Peak, the Weminuche Wilderness version of the Swiss Alps. Ultra-aesthetic twin towers for a future trip. Ropes required.
Rarely did we find three flat spots lushly welcoming our trinity to shelter so close to one another.
Alpine UBER: Thanks to our new friend Ben and fellow adventure enthusiast, he shuttled our trio up the ten-mile 4×4 jeep road to the top of Endlich Mesa to start. The skies unleashed minutes after this selfie capture. With the monsoon weather pattern proceeding our start, it turned out to be a rare storm shower all week.
Hyperlite Ultamid 2-Hyperlite Pyramid Shelter. Large enough for two, roomy for one person. 1 lb weight and pitches with two trekking poles lashed together. Easy setup. Bomber. No bug net in this configuration. Not cheap and no regrets.

Dropping the rock

I’ve been thinking. I am thinking about dropping rocks, not seeing clearly, and being led.

By rock, I mean being stuck in the past, beholden to an old story no longer serving you, an old unresolved grievance costing you joy today.

My son and I were in Barcelona, Spain, waiting in line to explore La Sagrada Familia one-of-a-kind temple.

I’d just been grumbling, a well-rehearsed old-narrative regret I’d carried for nearly three decades. I’m sure I’d bored him ten times before. Here’s how it went, “I regret never taking that study abroad summer course in Guadalajara, Mexico, before mom and I married. I wish… I can’t believe it… If only I had…”

The story I was telling him there, on the threshold of one of the world’s most holy and sacred spaces, was how different my life would have looked without this life-altering mistake that “I blew it-this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” The punchline was always about how I would have traveled internationally, learned a second language, and become a more sophisticated world citizen.

Anecdotally Holden, shared with me about their recovery community’s Drop the Rock meeting format.

Bring your rocks in with you. Drop the rocks you’re carrying. Leave empty-handed. Lighter.

The Sagrada Família is a one-of-a-kind temple, for its origins, foundation and purpose. “God’s Forest” the columns and canopy are the forest inside the cathedral.

Standing in line, my heavy rock became apparent to me.
What a load of crap I’d talked myself into.

Not seeing clearly
The saying goes, “We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” Now Fifty years old, I’d retold this regret story so many times that it’d become unnoticeable, outside my field of vision. It was the interpretive lens, the way I saw and witnessed my life.

Here I was standing in Barcelona, Spain, (international travel) with my son (deeply connected in the relationship), practicing duo-lingo Spanish (learning a foreign language), working abroad professionally, returning from a week in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains (a more sophisticated world citizen HA!).

HERE I AM! I couldn’t see any of that. I’d convinced myself my regretful decision thirty years prior would forever suppress my future.

I dropped the rock. I let go of the regret and the life-less interpretation of my youthful choice. I’m radically allowing the voice of Love to heal me on the inside, unlocking more freedom.

Listen to the stories you’re telling yourself on repeat. Drop the rock. See clearly. Allow the eyes of your heart to be enlightened to see clearly-to see ALL of Reality. Remind your soul we’re being led. God’s with us. Thru us and in us.

You can do this.
Keep going,
Aaron

The Sagrada Família Fruit of the work of genius architect Antoni Gaudí.

Working Vacations: Why we do it and how to stop

I received a desperate email that read, “I’m in leadership, working crazy hours, working through my vacation last week instead of resting, and the story goes on.”

The gravitational pull is to always be connected, always available, and always responding- even on vacation. I’ve done it too-taken calls on the beach while the kids swam, squeezed in a few emails before breakfast, dialed into a “quick” call during dinner, returning seven days later, tired and frustrated.

Why do we struggle to step away, trusting that others can and will find their path to good outcomes?

Reminds me of the children’s book, “If You Give A Pig a Pancake” A cautionary tale of saying yes once, the Pig never relents from her requests.

Excerpt from the book
If you give a pig a pancake, she’ll want some syrup to go with it.
Pig: May I please have some syrup?
When she gets all sticky, she’ll want to take a bath.
Pig: May I please have some bubbles and a toy?
When you give her your rubber duck, she’ll feel homesick.

Book by Laura Numeroff

Your working vacation and The Pig

Sticking with our Pig and a pancake analogy, here’s the version of the story you’re familiar with from your most recent holiday break. The new requests are like the Pig-never fully satisfied.

(Sunday night email) If you can join the call on Tuesday morning at 630am, I promise it will be a quick one.

(Monday text) After the call, May I please also receive a written summary and go ahead and put it into a few PPT pages?

(Tuesday email & text) There is an RFP we’re working on that just came in-quick deadline. I would love for you to answer just a few questions on pages 12-28. Do you mind? It would be super helpful-its due before you return from holiday.

(Wednesday email) May I please have only two more hours of your attention, during that family dinner you’d planned, the RFP client has a Q&A-the only time everyone is available. You can make it, right?

-You get the picture. It’s not a vacation. It’s what my friend calls “PTO-Pretend Time Off”.

Florence, Italy at sunset Photo Credits @Averi McHugh

“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”

-Greg McKeown, Essentialism

Here’s my advice for how to enable real rest

In the modern world, rest is vital to replenish the nutrients in our creative engines. Prioritize your rest and recovery. Operationalize your values with better choices. Take responsibility and do your creative best with your own life. In your absence, trust that others will step up and in to solve the challenges of the day.

For your next holiday, borrow my out-of-office auto-responder. Here’s the one I use, (Thanks Well-being thought leader Jen Fisher for the inspiration)

“I will be out of the office on vacation with my family beginning Monday, July 3rd, returning July 17th. I and my devices will be resting, replenishing my creative engine. I look forward to responding upon my return.”

Out of Office autoresponder

Recover your life and enable yourself a real rest.

You can do this.
Keep going-
Aaron

Soulful Exploration Requires Wilderness

The modern world is a hindrance to soulful exploration. The naked soul of man is too timid, too armored to disclose whole truths quickly. Step slowly into the quiet, spacious places to explore the courageous questions that lay in wait beyond your full-throttled Life.

Maybe it’s been a while since you had a bold conversation with yourself. Get out there. Forget the map. Get lost if you must.

With God as your guide, explore and whisper your questions. Stay out there. Then return with your heart forward and your spirit attuned to mapping the edges of your frontier.

Abundant, vibrant Life awaits. You can do this.


Keep going-
Aaron

Staring into the wild places beyond the modern world in the Weminuche Wilderness, CO

We are not human doings

Can you remember? Can you remember the last time you walked out your front door and wandered-no plans-no reservations-and explored your own backyard, the simple spots, maybe even the lost places?

Adventure awaits the curious-hearted, an escape hatch from the mundane and predictable tyranny of screens and mindless routines.

Rambling infuses joy into your life and reminds your soul that productivity and conquest are not your primary purpose here.

We are not human doings.

We are human beings intimately created to connect.

You can do this.
Keep Going-
Aaron

Transmissions for the outsiders

If I stopped writing for a while, a pause from publishing and promoting, I’d more readily find the words below the surface.
I see now I may never catalog the anthologies of my soul while in silence.
I believed the world’s volume and density were too much to puncture.
I broadcast on a lower frequency for those beyond the crowds.
I used to believe I needed to understand what I was trying to say; who’s it for? What’s it about? how will it help?

Now I know the grounded substance of my Life, my rooted strength, transmits “wake up to your Life. God’s with us.”

I’m puzzled by five-year plans, same-day shipping, fresh strawberries in February, Alexa, and how humans claim to love while radically excluding.
Call me a zealot of simplicity, sustainability, and radical love of outsiders

It’s Love who wrote the play.

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