Managing what appears to be unmanageable

When I relocated from New Jersey to Colorado, I had made the drive ahead of the moving truck. Crossing through Kansas and into the eastern plains of Colorado on Highway 70, I still couldn’t quite make out the mountains in the distance. However, the further into Colorado I drove, the purple mountains’ majesties began to appear in the distance. And even though it was July, I could still make out the snow-capped peaks standing tall against the sunset.

At the time I wasn’t familiar with Longs Peak, Mount Evans or Pikes Peak, just a few of the 14ers in the beautiful state of Colorful Colorado, but I still could see these massive mountain structures in the distance. ey were awe-inspiring for sure, but from a distance seemed much too di cult to think about trying to hike or climb them. And as my family and I settled into the foothills, the views of the mountains in the distance at both sunrise and sunset amazed us, as coming from New Jersey we were familiar with the oceans and hills of the east coast, but nothing compared to the grandeur of what now stood before us.

As newbies to Colorado at the time, we were anxious and nervous yet so excited to get into the mountains and

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com do some exploring. Driving west on 70 those mountaintops didn’t disappoint — there are times along the road where their beauty is only exceeded by their ominous features. I remember my family thinking that maybe we should turn back. And we are all glad we did not turn back, we kept going and nally stopped in Beaver Creek. After leaving the exit, and making our way toward the mountain, we could still not quite see the top, and again from far away it looked like that day’s hike might be more di cult than we had anticipated.

Beaver Creek isn’t even a 14er (a mountain that is at least 14,000 feet in elevation), yet it seemed gigantic to us, almost unmanageable for rookies to the area. But as we got closer, we realized we could no longer see the top, as a matter of fact the closer we got to that mountain, the smaller it became. And when we looked at the trail map and out at the winding trail ahead of us, we realized that what was right in front of us was more than manageable for sure, so we readied ourselves and took o up the mountain.

What mountain are you looking at right now? Does it look ominous and frightening from where you are currently standing? Maybe it’s a new cancer diagnosis, a personal battle with addiction, or a family member or friend ghting addiction. Perhaps it’s a relationship challenge at home. You may be facing a

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“One of the things that we always want to do is talk immediately after about what went well, what do we want to keep, what things do we maybe want to think about changing for the following year,” she said. Jones said the sta members at the Lone Tree Arts Center do a fantastic job and are constantly looking for ways to improve the experience for residents.

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