Netflix lessons

I know we are behind the times when it comes to technology! After all we've only had a cell phone for a year and a half now, and I've only had an mp3 player for about 3 years. Well, we were looking at the budget and decided that even though we don't rent movies every month, we were still spending more than $10 per month when we did the math. So we signed up for netflix. It's been fun watching movies and shows whenever we want and having them delivered at the door.

Some of the shows I watched were documentaries on Mount Everest. (Yes, I'm looking forward to summer and more hiking! But I've decided that Mount Everest won't be on my hiking list.)

It takes several months just to prepare to climb Mount Everest, and it can take 2 months to achieve their goal. For example: I never knew that to climb Everest they leave base camp and climb to Camp 1. They stay at Camp 1 for several days getting used to the elevation. Then they move to camp 2 for a night and then camp 3 for a night. Then they hike all the way back to base camp for a few nights before they start over. With wonderful weather and perfect health, the trip to the summit and back can take a couple weeks, and by the time they actually reach the summit they have climbed Everest at least twice. Finally, when they reach camp 4, they rest for a few hours and then start climbing again at 11 pm. That allows them to reach the summit and return to camp 4 all in one day.

The part of one show that caught my attention was this:

Once people are on the mountain they can't be stopped. They are focused on the goal. Even when there are accidents and bad weather it is hard for them to turn back knowing that they may never reach the summit in their lifetime. It's especially hard when they know this is their only chance to do it.

Those in base camp can only give advice. They cannot enforce a direct order and it does no good to give them. They can't say, "The weather is bad, get back down here." All they can say is, "The weather isn't looking very good. Maybe you should turn around." It's up to the climber to use his judgement.

I've been thinking about how that lesson can be applied to life. We all have our goals and dreams. We work on them and make progress in them daily. The closer we are the more excited and focused we get. If someone were to give us a direct order, we probably wouldn't listen. All they can do is make suggestions and let us decide.

It's amazing what you can learn from Netflix...lol.