On mountains and other elevation
Welcome to Quarantine 15: a spot of joy in your inbox on work, life, and navigating the start of 2021. In case we haven’t met, I’m Nikki Gusz, a co-founder of Lloyd, a career GPS for young professionals. You can follow me on Twitter @nkgusz or subscribe to this email newsletter here.
Today, around here you’ll find:
(1) A little reflection on the week
(2) A poem
(3) An image
(4) A treat from me
(1) A little reflection on the week
I’m lucky to have often lived close to nature, including mountains and canyons. Personally, I find canyons to be more visually stunning, but often more of a pain to hike (the ascent comes second after already finishing one’s granola bar . . .). Mountains, while providing a challenge from the first step, provide a rewarded halfway through with a vista, followed by a celebratory hike down with the benefit of new perspectives. Don’t worry, I’m not forcing some big metaphor on you, rather just pontificating on geography and elevation. This week, we’re focusing on elevating our thinking and perspective. We’ll be engaging in a few different mediums (poetry, illustrations, photographs, etc.) to help us do so.
(2) A poem
To start, check out “The Mountain” by Laura Ding-Edwards. If you prefer it to be read to you, check it out here.
If you’ve read “The Mountain” before or enjoy it, head over to her Instagram account to check out the author’s other insightful words.
(3) An image
Recent Quarantine 15 interviewee Liz Fosslien strikes again with the words and illustration to encourage us to elevate our understanding of “success.”
(4) A treat from me
Here is a photography of when I hiked a hill instead of a mountain. The mountains are beautiful to look at and remember as a challenge for another day (they aren’t going anywhere). I have no regrets.