Thursday, July 18, 2013

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mountain guide! Or at least that's what I thought when my biggest "expedition" had been two weeks of camping with my family in the luscious Olympic National Forest in Washington State! Fast forward a handful of years to my mid teens and again, my answer to this very question was the same...to be a mountain guide of some capacity. This had been my answer anytime anyone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up without the limitations of skill or finances. Fast forward again, and again, and again (I'm getting older even as I write!) My dreams of becoming a mountain guide drifted but never left. I would spend countless hours searching around the internet feverishly trying to find a "quick fix", or a "fast track" to the glory that I thought was being a mountain guide. Many, many, MANY times lack of finances and sub par skills blew me off the mountain and I had to retreat back down from that elusive peak in the clouds, defeated.
 
One day I saw the peak, the clouds had parted and I got a glimpse of what could be! This was the first time I came across the Mountain Training School. I was in my late 20's. I saw the peak I had dreamed of summiting for most of my life and I started running towards it only to get knocked flat on my ass when I discovered I didn't qualify even to apply...the clouds quickly rolled in and it seemed that my dreams of reaching the summit would never be.
 
At this point in my life I had had many trials and tribulations and even knew what it felt like to succeed, to be good at something, to advance. But I didn't want to advance as a personal trainer or wildland firefighter. I wanted to be a mountain guide! Always had and always will! But, at this point my dreams of such grandeur were only a picture on my wall, an idea in my head, a dream of a young boy in love with the mountains, rivers, the wild...
 
3 years passed and I hadn't given guiding another thought other than, oh if only I had had the foresight to do this when I was younger. I began to gain more skills, I began to get in arguably in some of the best shape my body has come to know! And then one day in early 2012 I came stumbling, crawling, and skeptically back to the Mountain Training School website to see what I was missing out on, to see what I could have had, to see what I would have done had I only been a decade or more younger, more of a badass climber and skier...That day I read through the requirements for admission probably a dozen times, quite the feat for someone who doesn't read much! I called, emailed, called, and emailed with Ben and Jaya for the next several months to get a grasp on their program, their philosophy, and vision. I applied to the Mountain Guide School in May of 2012 and got accepted! My dreams were finally going to come true!
 
Find out more about the Mountain Training School and their offerings by clicking here:
 
 
- Seth

A blog? I'll try it!

Beginning a blog, hmmm, this is something I've thought about doing for at LEAST 10 minutes one day in the past! Maybe more! My hope is that someone, somewhere will follow my randomness (if I can keep it up) and be pleased that they can keep tabs on my journeys and adventures as they continue to unfold. I also, at times, need a place to vent, to rejoice, and to grieve. And throwing it out into this world via the world wide web seems as good of a place as any!

My posts could be daily, or they could be yearly. I ask for your patience and understanding as I try to unleash my thoughts on life as they come! I'm certain I won't win any awards for this blog. I'm certain I will make grammatical errors. There will be inevitably some swearing or explicit language used (I'll try to keep this to a minimum as I'm sure this may offend some of you). This blog will be for me just as much as it will be for you. It will be a way to express my opinions, my frustrations, and my fears. It will be a venue I use to help my parents, family, and friends understand more about me and give them a chance to hear some of the ramblings that are my thoughts.

This blog I've entitled (for now because it asked me to title it) "One step at a time." because its the only way I know how to do things. By taking them one step at a time. My life, i'd like to think, a bit entertaining at times! But, living in this world I am fully aware that it will be plenty boring also at times.

So for now (and always) this will be my first blog post! Please, always feel free to comment and give me feedback on what you would like to hear or see on here. This is step one...there are many more to come!

Seth