You made it to the top. Check. The scenery is beautiful. Check. Your muscles and your will are taking you places. Check. You’re loving it. Check. Your life is fulfilling. Half a check. What happens when you climb back down? (Multiple choice.)
Peak experience is, of course, lovely and gorgeous and amazing. Into my veins!!
But let’s put more emphasis on the rest of the geography. Why? In the beautiful cliche photo the sun is giving up the night. Clouds may be rolling in. Coyotes in the gullies await your climb down.
Actually, the whole landscape is your life. The lakes you hike around all day, the rock fields you climb through, the path you take to the top.
Also actually, you design much of this landscape. The peaks are actually (for the last time) a product of the rest of the landscape you design.
OK, let’s ditch (ehem) the metaphor. Straight talk: goal achievements are just features of your lifestyle. A beautiful bod is the product of long term actions and attitudes about food and fitness. Wealth comes from a wealth building way of life and a rich sense of what is valuable. Highs of happiness come from generous and vulnerable contributions to meaningful relationships and work over time.
Diets don’t work, lifestyle does. You can’t think and grow rich because it’s more feel and grow rich and default feelings take time to change.
There are no quick fixes, because that would mean your landscape is all peaks and nothing else. (Instead, your landscape is populated by forests to traverse, rivers to cross, and mile upon epic mile of winding roads.)
Love the journey, as they say, because achieving your most important goals is a product of your way of life. Not the other way around.
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