Life Of Pie.
I just turned 30. The dreaded milestone for any young...err, any adult. A time where one reflects on where they thought they would be at this point in life and facing the reality where they ended up. Naturally, most of my childhood friends are also reaching the milestone. These are the people that I grew up with, dreaming about the grand adventures we would live together once we left our northern rural community. Ski, bike and see the world, work would come second. At the risk of sounding judgemental, most of them now have a couple of kids, a house with a nice lawn, work at the mine and travel to an all-inclusive two weeks a year. I can't say that the twelve-year-old version of them would exactly be high-fiving this reality but hey, it's a socially responsible reality. Many of us have and will fall victim to social pressures rather than chase our passion. We prioritize status over everything else. Think about it. What's the first question someone asks when meeting a new person? "Hi Tom, nice to meet you. What do you do ? ". Isn't it a little strange that we use someone's career as the main focal point in social interactions? What up with that? This long-winded thought/rant might be a sign of the beginning of my spiral into becoming a senile old man but it was meant to be an intro to the story of these two incredible women who broke free from the pressures of social status and prioritized what was actually important in their lives. Riding bikes and having fun. Oh and then they opened a business and made things work around the first priority. Proving that you can follow your passion and still become a "social" success. I guess what I am trying to convey is you don't need to compromise, you can have it all and in the process create your own social standard and that's contagious.
"In 2002, mountain bikers and entrepreneurs Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller moved to Fruita, Colorado, in search of cheap rent, world-class single track, and free time to ride. Over 15 years later, the two unconventional women have helped reshape one of the state’s most conservative towns, uniting the community through advocacy, inclusivity, and damn good pizza."