Postcard 043 - The Path of Most Resistance
In Postcard 040, I mentioned that Whistler is perhaps my favorite place in the world, and I was fortunate to spend this past weekend there alternating between a spa and "suffering."
It's hard to actually call anything in Whistler "suffering," but choosing to walk up the face of Blackcomb was an experience that I'm proud of myself for completing and also something I'm unlikely to repeat. The three trails that you take to get up the face are appropriately named Little Burn, Big Burn, and Heart Burn.
Regularly throughout the experience I was laughing at myself, thinking about that line which roughly calls out how most tech company off-sites are every day Amish activities. Here I was, choosing to walk up a hill directly under the path of a gondola — a true feat of engineering — which could have zipped me up top in a small fraction of the time (still allowing me to hike on the backside AND with better views).
Obviously though, speed was not the point. At a world class mountain resort, you don't hike up the face because you have to, you do it because you want to — between the many options available to you, you're choosing the path of most resistance.
The three hours spent trudging (cue Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale) gave me a ton of time to think. I thought about how this was a new way to experience my favorite place, which I usually enjoy covered in snow and in the reverse direction. I thought about how I normally dislike hiking, but in the spirit of choosing my stresses, once we took the first steps I committed to the journey. And I also thought about how this could open my eyes to other places in my life where I've avoided taking the path of most resistance, either because I never thought about or am rarely confronted by it.
To be clear, I have no desire to do this hike again, but I am grateful for the rollercoaster of emotions it took me on, especially during a time where I'm feeling particularly adrift professionally.