There are two mountains we climb in life.
1️⃣ THE FIRST MOUNTAIN
THE PRIORITIES ON THE FIRST MOUNTAIN: Everyone starts out climbing the first mountain by getting a degree, developing a craft, pursuing a career, launching a business, or starting a family. It’s what culture teaches us to pursue.
Some people manage to reach the peak they believe they are destined to climb: to be a doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, or whatever career or profession they choose to pursue. Through hard work and paying their dues, they have accomplished much and are considered massively successful. They provide well for their family.
The emphasis on this mountain is reputation management, the priorities of which are to:
- establish an identity
- cultivate their talents
- gain respect
- make a mark in the world
As the psychologist James Hollis puts it, at that stage of the climb we have a tendency to think, “I am what the world says I am.”
THE GOALS ON THE FIRST MOUNTAIN is the American dream. It’s the pursuit of happiness.
- to be successful
- to accumulate wealth
- to be well thought of
- to get invited into the right social circles
Mountain 1 climbers are always keeping score. How do I measure up? Where do I rank?
I mean… I have a nice home. I drive a fast car. I take my family on nice vacations. We eat good food. The business is doing good. Life is good.
But, then something happens.
It’s subtle. It's in the quiet moments in the car, or after saying goodnight to your spouse when you're left alone with your thoughts. And you get this nagging thought of…
🌄 THE VALLEY
IS THIS ALL THERE IS? Some people get to the top of that first mountain, taste success, and find it…unsatisfying. At first, to them it feels so self-indulgent to ask this question because they have everything that everyone else would want. Yet, they sense deeply in their soul that "there's got to be more to life than this."
For some, reaching the peak of Mountain One leads to a moment of clarity. The fog clears, revealing the disillusionment they've been living under while singularly focused on just reaching the top.
DISILLUSIONMENT: The climb to the top is never a straight shot. Different types of battle scars have been sustained in varying degrees along the way…
- untended physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health
- neglected relationships at home
- distanced friendships
- missed opportunities to enjoy the journey along the way
- And the atrophy of unfulfilled passions.
The climbers who are questioning, "Is this all there is?" or experiencing feelings of regret due to disillusionment, have both ascended Mountain One. However, not all Mountain One climbers summit before being awakened to a bigger reality. Some Mountain One climbers fall off the mountain completely.
TRAGEDY: For some climbers, they’re blindsided by the unexpected: the death of a child, a cancer scare, an affair, divorce, addiction, some life-altering tragedy that was not part of the original plan. They find themselves confused, lonely and in pain. Despite the success they’ve gained from climbing the first mountain, they realize they’ve been knocked down to the valley.
- Is this all there is?
- Disillusionment
- Tragedy
Regardless of how they arrived, these mountain one climbers are now experiencing The Valley.
These seasons have a way of exposing the deepest parts of ourselves and reminding us that we’re not the people we thought we were. People in the valley have been reminded that they’ve ignoring another aspect of themselves. It's a place where their deepest hurts and strongest desires exist.
Some shrivel in the face of this kind of suffering. But for others, this valley is the making of them. The season of suffering interrupts the superficial flow of everyday life. They look within and discover that at their core is a:
- longing for deeper meaning
- need to love and be loved by those who matter
- capacity to help those in need
- desire to live beyond themselves and make the world a better place
- heart longing to submit to God and for him to say the words, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
And when they have encountered this yearning, they are ready to become a whole person. They see familiar things with new eyes. They are finally able to love their neighbor as themselves, not as a slogan but a practical reality. Their lives are shaped by their responses to this profound adversity. This is when the second, larger mountain in life's journey comes into view. For the first time, they "see" this mountain that demands more of them than the first one did. This second mountain represents the deeper significance they seek, transcending superficial success. It could be what they have been seeking all along.
2️⃣ THE SECOND MOUNTAIN
For those who choose to fight back, the valley is a time of transformation, preparing them to climb the second mountain. However, before starting this new journey, they must instigate two small rebellions.
- First, they rebel against their ego. On their first mountain, success and pleasure were the primary goals. But when they were down in the valley, their priorities shifted. They still have selfish desires, but they understand these won't fulfill the deepest parts of themselves they've discovered. As Henri Nouwen said, they are, “much more than their ego ideal.”
- Second, they rebel against the mainstream culture. People are often taught to chase self-interest—money, power, fame. But when they were in the valley, they started caring about what God wants for them not what people want from them…
- to care about things that truly matter
- to make an eternal difference
- to love people well
- to be more generous
- to be part of a bigger cause
- to intimately worship God
READY TO CLIMB: At this point, they realize, “The second mountain is not the opposite of the first mountain.” To climb it doesn’t mean rejecting the first mountain. Rather, it's the journey beyond it towards a more generous and satisfying phase of life.
The key motivation shifts between climbing the 2 mountains:
CLIMBING MOUNTAIN 1 CLIMBING MOUNTAIN 2
The crucial way to tell whether you are on your first or second mountain. Where is your ultimate appeal: to self, or to something outside of self?
WHICH MOUNTAIN ARE YOU ON?
The mountain of me. The mountain of us.
If the first mountain is about building up the ego and defining the self, the second mountain is about shedding the ego and losing the self.
- If the first mountain is about acquisition, the second mountain is about contribution.
- The first mountain is about rising above others, while the second is about being there for others and working together submitted to God.
- You don’t climb the second mountain the way you climb the first mountain.
You conquer your first mountain, setting a goal and reaching for it. The second mountain conquers you. You respond to God’s call, doing everything needed to tackle the challenge or right the wrong in front of you. On the first mountain, you are driven, strategic, and self-reliant. On the second, you are connected, close, and dependent on God.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG SERIES
The first purpose is to show how individuals move from the first to the second mountain, to show what that kind of deeper and more meaningful life looks like, step-by-step and in concrete detail. Everybody says you should serve a cause larger than yourself, but nobody shows you how.
The second purpose is to assist you in living in radical alignment with your Guiding Principles. It's crucial to adopt a lifestyle that protects and directs your life towards the transformation you seek. This involves a schedule, practices, and relational rhythms designed to arrange your life around your guiding principles. A purposeful way of living. A thoughtful, conscious, intentional plan for our every day lives.
We all live by certain rules for how we live our lives - the question is whether these rules lead you towards the outcomes you desire. Is your rule of life working for or against you? Are you making progress towards your goals? If you're not becoming the person you desire to be, it's not due to lack of will. It's because your systems are perfectly designed to yield the results you're currently getting. The issue isn't that your rule of life isn't working, it's that it is.
The second purpose is to assist you in living in radical alignment with your Guiding Principles. It's crucial to adopt a lifestyle that protects and directs your life towards the transformation you seek. This involves a schedule, practices, and relational rhythms designed to arrange your life around your guiding principles. A purposeful way of living. A thoughtful, conscious, intentional plan for our every day lives.
We all live by certain rules for how we live our lives - the question is whether these rules lead you towards the outcomes you desire. Is your rule of life working for or against you? Are you making progress towards your goals? If you're not becoming the person you desire to be, it's not due to lack of will. It's because your systems are perfectly designed to yield the results you're currently getting. The issue isn't that your rule of life isn't working, it's that it is.
The third purpose is to help you identify and overcome mindsets and limited beliefs that act as deterrents from you embracing a second-mountain lifestyle.
You're not going to be able to embrace your future if you haven't dealt with the issues from your past. We need to discuss your relationship with hurry, your phone, and your calendar. Your coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, the tendency to check off your to-do list but ignore the nurturing of your soul, need attention. The way you manage your thoughts, or how you think about yourself when you're by yourself, your desire to uphold an image of how others perceive you, your craving for control, these are things that can hinder progress towards living a life on the second mountain.
More tomorrow,
Hunter