Here’s where my Eastern philosophy comes in. Like a cool-sounding job or a morning out of the office, so many things we think we want are really mixed blessings. Such is the nature of life. Here in ‘Merica, we say “The grass is always greener on the other side.” (I’ve also heard “I make plans, and God laughs”… but then again, “Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten,” and “Every time you eat a steak, a hippy looses his hackysack into the sewer,” so who the hell knows what to believe, anyway.) There’s an old Chinese tale with a slightly different angle on things — I’ll paraphrase from memory here:

One day, a farmer’s prize horse broke through the fence and escaped. “Oh no!” the farmer exclaimed. “That was my most valuable horse. I’m so poor; now what will I do?” The other villagers talked about what bad luck the farmer had. Two days later, the horse returned, bringing with it a dozen beautiful wild horses. The farmer rejoiced, seeing his stock multiplied twelve fold, and the villages all commented on what amazing luck the farmer had. A week or so later, the farmer’s son was bucked off one of the wild horses while trying to tame it, breaking his leg. Again, the farmer lamented his terrible luck, seeing that his eldest son was crippled, and the villagers shook their heads in pity. Not long after that, while the son was still in bed, men from the government came, saying a war had begun and they’d need his eldest son to fight. When they saw the son’s leg, though, they left, and the farmer’s family stayed together…

The story continues like this, but you get the picture. So perhaps the lesson is something like: be careful what you wish for. A day spent skipping work at the crag could be disastrous; and a day in the office could lead to a breakthrough moment. You really never know. With this in mind, you can find adventure and possibility in any situation. This is how I endure the paradoxical blessings/damnation of “the most wanted job in the climbing industry that nobody actually wants.”