The Call
They say in life, there’s the family you’re born with, and there’s the family you choose. Same goes for homes. Neither Justin nor Jordan were born in the mountains, but they each made very intentional choices to build lives there. It’s not the kind of place you’re drawn to for the great food scene or the nightlife. It’s somewhere you end up if the mountains have called you — and you have the guts to answer.
Justin was at a golf tournament reconnecting with an old friend when he first heard that call. He was living in the Boston area at the time, not far from where he grew up. During this period, Justin was in his car a lot: commuting to his sales job, visiting clients, seeing family, and almost every weekend, driving for hours up to a buddy’s house in Vermont to chase gravity on his snowboard.
These weekend trips to do what he loved kept him going for a good while. But just as his “living for the weekend” lifestyle was getting old, a friend showed him photos of the powdery snow that falls in the mountains around Park City, Utah. He was transfixed.
“My buddy told me about how close he lived to the ski lift, and how he would pop out of the house, run a few laps, and then go back to his computer to work, and a switch of some kind went off for me. Before long, I’d packed up my car and said goodbye to Boston. Thirty-six hours later, I was in the mountains, and I knew it was the best decision I'd made in my entire life.” – Justin
Both Justin and Jordan critically considered their relationship to work while making big choices about their lives. They’re not alone in this examination. Many Americans are taking a hard look at these things in their lives right now, often rejecting the default ideas around what work/life balance should look and feel like. For Jordan, this aspect was especially important to her as she answered the call of the mountains. A choice that was just as much about taking care of her mental health as it was about chasing gravity.
“I went back to school to get a master's degree so that I could make enough to only have to work part-time. I love my job being a therapist, but I love my freedom more. In order to take care of my mental health, I've formed my life to allow me to do what makes me happy.” – Jordan