Mountains. Let's Go.

For anyone who follows this blog, you might have noticed that I changed out the header graphics.  I did this to more accurately reflect where I want to be, both literally and figuratively.  The image shown is from a photo I took on a trip to the Smoky Mountains last fall with my beautiful wife.  We expected the trip to be a good time, and we were looking forward to the challenge of the difficult hikes we had planned.  What we didn't expect was the overwhelming feeling that when we were in the mountains, we had finally come home.  It was a feeling unlike anything I've ever felt before; a longing to be able to stay there and be surrounded by the beauty and simplicity of nature.

Literally, we want to live in in the shadow of the Smoky Mountains, and we have begun the process of aligning our plans and actions to make this a reality.  We will most likely always have a residence in Fort Wayne, IN, as our roots are here and we have friends and family here, but we look forward to calling the mountains home.

Figuratively, the peace and simplicity of the mountains is extremely appealing to me, and having an image from that place as a daily reminder helps me stay focused on eliminating unnecessary stress and complexity from my daily life.  A simple example of this came from simply changing my approach to a task that most men do on a daily basis, shaving (I wrote it about it earlier today, so it's still on my mind).  But, it is a great illustration of making a simple change to introduce simplicity into my life.

So, the main image on my blog now prominently features mountains.  Let's go there.