Writing and Mountains

Two weeks ago, me, Kyle and Yoshi – along with Kyle’s momma, Sharon, and uncle Jimmy – made the 24-hour drive to our new residence, San Tan Valley, AZ. A common question we’re getting from people we meet here and friends back home is what drove us here?

Kyle and I had no guarantees when he started looking for work out here, no family or close friends in the area. But there were two main attractions: sunshine (for me) and mountains (for Kyle).

Until we actually moved here, the mountains to me were an added bonus. Kind of like my thoughts on tacos – if they’re there, great, but without the margarita, I could care less about the tacos!

That was mountains and sunshine. Give me sunshine all year long and I’m a happy girl. Mountains are nice, too.

Then we drove through the mountains during the last three hours of our never-ending journey. Yoshi and I followed Uncle Jimmy who followed Kyle and Sharon in the moving truck. With caffeine flowing and music blaring, it hit me that mountains are the prevailing theme of life!

Every song that came on my Pandora seemed to reference a mountain (and yes, I switched it out from Taylor Swift from time to time!). Climbing them, moving them, standing on top of them, uphill battles, blah blah blah. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Because mountains are everywhere. They’re the margarita AND the taco. The meal AND the dessert. The goal AND the reward. Because when you climb a mountain, you dream, struggle, persist and rise to the top through the journey. You get there and experience a reward – gorgeous view of the world, euphoria, liberation.

And of course, mountains are in writing. Not only in the story plot – rising action, climax, falling action – but in the process of sitting down to write – immediate excitement over your idea and the journey ahead, struggling over random points, suddenly doubting that you have the ability to make it to the end. But you keep going, trying different paths, and finally, you get there. You finish that blog post, article, story, etc.

And you nail it. Liberation. Euphoria. Relief.

The mountains have always been there – figuratively when I lived in Iowa, and now literally, one after another, right in my back yard. They represent everything I love about writing and being a business gal – seeing an opportunity, rising to the challenge, suffering and growing in the process, and reaping the reward.

Let’s face it – from the top of a mountain, I can get even closer to the sunshine I crave.

I’m curious, what are the mountains in your life? What are the biggest rocks in your way? Leave a comment and let’s talk about conquering them!