The Journey Within
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/181104033?secret_token=s-xHKut” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]“I’m thirty-years-old, and a complete and utter failure,” writes Chris Kalman. “My mom is a PhD astrophysicist, my dad, a PhD mathematician, and my sister has a Master’s in epidemiology. They all have jobs, children, houses. I, on the other hand, am a dirtbag.”
Earlier this fall, Chris moved away from favorite climbing haunts towards something bigger and more intimidating than giant rock walls. As he helped care for an extended family member thousands of miles from the place he had called home, he had to figure out how to take a journey very different than an annual pilgrimage to climb in Patagonia: a journey within.
You can find more of Chris Kalman’s writing on his blog, Fringe’s Folly, “for the purists, dirtbags and salty oldtimers who live climbing.”
Music: Play by The Henchman School of Shooting • Do It Again by Nada Surf • Now I Wait by Goathanger • Done with Dallas by Bradley Carter
Most music provided by Mevio’s Music Alley. Bradley Carter is a friend of the Diaries.
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Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story. I lay in my bed scouring the riffs and valleys of my own mind searching for something more. I’m working towards making the same commitment to my inner self as I have too climbing so that I can discover those untouched lands in my own heart. You sharing your story has set in stone an action of bettering my self internally. We share the same name which is only a coincidence, but I hope that I also come share the same tenacity, strength, and inner peace you feel. Thanks again for blessing me with inspiration 🙏🌲❄️🗿