Five years ago roughly I took a big step forward in my career and took a job as the manager of a climbing gym in Alberta (Canada). It was the first not-minimum-wage job I had ever held. I had also worked at this climbing gym off and on several times before and had learned from watching those other managers, that time and politics would burn out even the most dedicated and excited workers.
Armed with this wisdom I made a plan to work as hard as I could for five years, and set out to create some goals for my time at this gym: 1) I wanted to create a space where everyone could feel welcome regardless of their abilities. 2) I wanted to help people become good at climbing. 3) I wanted to create a system and build a team that could take over the operation of the gym at the end of those five years after I left.
Now it has been five years. I have left that gym on good terms and feel I have accomplished all of my goals. While I will miss my friends, I am excited to think about them growing as leaders and people. I am also excited about the next stage of my life.
Within the next year, along with my wife and kid (possibly more in the future), we hope to start our own climbing gym somewhere in Canada. We're not exactly sure where yet, but we have some options. In the mean time we sold our house and car, gave away most of what we owned, and moved across the country to southern Ontario to live and work on my wife's family's farm for the summer. We took nothing with us but some carry-on luggage. This blog is about what we will learn and experience as a family from this point forward - our Fresh Start.
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