This past Sunday I enjoyed the day skiing in the picturesque mountains of Colorado with a dear friend. She migrated to Colorado from Minnesota with her family a few years before we did. And just recently found out that they will be moving to Finland in the next few weeks. So needless to say I felt lucky being able to spend this entire day with her before they left. On our first run, we had another skier join us on the lift up and shared an enlightening conversation with him around happiness. A guy whose name I never caught shared that he had worked on the mountain after college but before getting, as he described, "a real job" in welding and fabricating. Soon after he started his "real job" he discovered that it wasn't what he expected (he didn't elaborate and we didn't ask) and ended up back in the mountains because he loved it so much working for the Bureau of Land Management. He then asked what each of us did and we shared, me including the work I do around positive psychology and happiness. He was intrigued and also confirmed my never-ending beliefs that money can't buy happiness. He admitted that while he took a significant pay cut initially to transition back to work in the mountains, his quality of life and happiness at work increased exponentially. He admitted the change was more than worth it and that many respected his decision too. He also shared that from his experience, he has respect for those who take risks in their career and in life in search of what will make them happy. Fast forward a few runs and two growling stomachs later...we enjoyed lunch at the chalet and reviewed the mountain map to make our plan for the afternoon and I noticed at the bottom "Rules of the Mountain." The first one listed was "respect and be respected." I initially chuckled but then thought it was sad that it had to actually be written...printed...so it would be known and not just assumed by others. A curious point to ponder...followed by a hint of sarcasm. "Good thing they noted it, otherwise I wouldn't have obliged." Lol. The next day I was out of the mountains and on my way to the ocean, my work week would be spent in hot (90s!) and sunny Cypress, California. As I headed to my gate at DIA, a guy in the airport tram was talking more than loud for all to hear about how if his employee didn't "unwind" what had gotten wound up that he was going to come and manually unwind it if that's what it would take. The corners of my mouth started to turn up in a smile and then I started to laugh. I just couldn't help it. And it was apparently contagious. The guy got off at terminal B still chatting away on his Bluetooth completely unaware that by then the entire train car had started to chuckle as well. We all stopped and looked around at each other and smiled. I knew it was going to be a good week. I only wish I were a fly on the wall during his week...
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