A Tale of Two Mountains

There is a mountain in my basement. It is made of out of all sorts of stuff. Papers, parts, tools, toys, widgets and knick knacks. I could go one of two ways with this mountain. One option is to add to my collection of stuff until the mountain is so big I end up featured on the show “Hoarders”. The other, more preferable option is to get rid of the stuff I don’t truly need, and organize the stuff that remains.

The other mountain is Mount Monadnock. Famous for being the most hiked mountain in North America: http://www.theheartofnewengland.com/travel/nh/mt-monadnock.html And it’s about a 40 minute scenic drive from home for me.

This week is my company’s summer shutdown, so I decided to take advantage of the time off and make an assault on both mountains. I’m happy to say that the view from the top of Monadnock is spectacular, and there’s free watermelon on the summit. Or at least I was lucky enough to be at the summit on the same day as a guy training for Mt. Ranier who decided that a 23 lb melon was a good simulation of the load he’ll be carrying on that hike.

On the other hand I’ve barely made a dent in clutter mountain.

And now for the inspiring portion of today’s post. Reaching the summit of Mount Monadnock is not something I did on a whim. Okay, back in my 20s I did go with some friends on a whim and climb the mountain. But I was younger and exercising regularly back then. In my 30s I became a lot more sedentary, and as a result my hikes started ending well short of the summit. Usually I had a convenient excuse involving the weather or impending darkness. But it’s an unavoidable fact that sitting at a desk does not a mountain man make.

I’m now in my 40s and back to regular exercise, and I noticed the difference on my hike. It wasn’t an ideal day. In fact it was the hottest day in several years with oppressive humidity. But a combination of conditioning and an adequate supply of drinking water made for a successful hike.

And so it is with clutter mountain. While I was “busy” allowing my body to atrophy I also allowed the clutter to build. It’s taken several years to get back part of my physical conditioning, and I expect it will take years to fully organize myself. A large part of both is simply developing the correct habits that will lead to fitness and organization.

Habits are built by repeatedly making the same choice again and again. It’s very easy to choose watching TV instead of putting things in their proper place, especially if some things don’t have a proper place yet. I’ve done quite well at developing the exercise habit, now it’s time to build some better organization habits.