We went to Aspen in 2017, and that's where the spark was reignited.
A few years ago, after spending a week in Aspen, CO, my wife Lauren and I came back revived and transformed. It was like we had a religious experience, and in a sense, we did, as we totally disconnected from the crazy world that we called our "everyday lives."
After spending multiple days in the Elk Mountains, coming back to the East Coast just outside of NYC felt strange. The views that we took in from the 11,000- and 12,000-foot peaks that we climbed and the experiences that we had were beyond one's ability to express.
During that week, there was a certain peacefulness that ran through me as I hiked the massive mountains. Lauren puts it perfectly when she says, "In the mountains, you realize how small and insignificant you really are!" Weirdly enough, that brought an inner calm to me as we would get lost in the views above the treeline. A calm and peacefulness because there was literally no other human being around. The world seemed to stand still, with nothing other than the sound of the wind. Being in such a beautiful and tranquil place, you literally forget about the crazy "hamster wheel" of work and life back home.
After a number of years of long hours at the office, and some struggles from losing my dad unexpectedly, Aspen brought a much needed escape and an energy and balance that I hadn't felt in years! It was if I had hit the restart button, snapping me out of multi-year funk.
I quickly remembered how the mountains made me feel, challenging me mentally and physically, but also clearing and calming my mind as I focused on the views and putting one foot in front of the other, helping to disconnect me from everything else. Ultimately, Aspen enabled me to view the rat race on the East Coast with a different perspective. It transformed me and reignited my passion for hiking and climbing mountains, but most importantly, it reignited me.
The feeling in the mountains of being so insignificant reminded me that killing myself at work for 12-14 hours a day plus weekends, where I sacrificed friends and family, wasn't worth it. Work was stealing my life and experiences from me. As I began to complete other climbs and escaped to the mountains regularly, I came to realize that while I was gone, work survived without me, and ultimately whether I got something done right away or not at work, in a month or two no one would even remember anyway, which significantly reduced my stress. When I was stressed, I would simply take a timeout and look at the pictures of hiking and climbing in Aspen on my phone, or I'd go on a run, allowing me to escape reality for a few minutes.
All in all, Aspen made me a better person. It brought "Ben" back and gave me something to be passionate about. Sign up to follow my journey of life and mountaineering!
Climb On!