Things are going quite wonderfully here. It seems I've been learning and photographing something new every week. So far I've had chances to photograph two mountain bikeraces, a triathlon, skateboarding, flower tours, Canada Day, and a whole bunch of other photo opportunities. I've also had the chance to write about a stray falcon, a legendary ice climber, a slack-line festival, and artist profiles. I guess to sum it up I've been learning a lot since I started working at the Chief, and that’s something I wanted to do while in Squamish... However, even though working at the Chief was a big reason for me coming to Squamish, it wasn't the only thing that brought me to this beautiful place. Climbing and the other outdoor activities that this city has to offer are what really brought me here for specific reasons. Unfortunately I may have chosen the wrong summer to live here.
Although the B.C. coast is known for the copious amounts of rain that fall on these parts, the past few months Squamish has received a larger than normal amount of cloud and rain rendering most of my days off useless as far as climbing and outdoor activities go, causing severe demoralization. I've also noticed that my thoughts towards things have become bitterer and it's almost as though I still haven't found that presence of mind I had a year ago. Since this realization I've been making a conscious effort to keep my mind in the present and try not to think to much about everything that’s going on.
For those of you who don't know what I'm speaking of I'll explain a little bit of what goes on, or at least what should be going on as opposed to what's currently been controlling the ever-complicated thing that is my mind. The human mind is constantly moving and analysing every single thing. Unfortunately when to many things get moving too fast for the mind to handle it leads to the one thing that we all dread, stress. At this time last year there were a few major things that I needed to deal with. I had school coming up, something that I was so unfamiliar with having never had any previous post secondary experience. That in itself was a cause for a number of would-be "issues" such as loans, living arrangements for when school started, and the idea of moving to place that was completely new and a few thousand kilometres away from my previous life. Now those are just a few examples of the number of things that would have caused any person including myself, some stress.
Yet, I managed to keep an incredible calm towards it all, I had a mindset that the future didn't matter because it's the future and something that the most we can do to control is plan, and with my experience, planning can only get you so far. I guess the best way to describe my mindset was that I was reacting on instinct. Rather than dwelling on things and trying to think things through I would let my instinct take over and listen to it. In some cases the thought process is certainly needed. For example, trying to figure out what they put in the sauce on your sandwich at the new place in town or trying to make sense of quantum physics, that’s sort of thing. However, the majority of the things we do on a daily bases don't require much thought at all, we're using our brains and thought capacity on things that aren't required. Have you ever gone for a walk and not thought about anything? Or how about right before bed when you’re about to fall asleep?
It seems that our minds are constantly on the go whether we're dwelling on the past and how amazing the counter girl looked, or thinking about the future and what's for breakfast. It could even be both since you forgot to buy milk for your cereal because you were too busy trying to get in the line up with the cute cashier. All of these thoughts aren't necessary and when you add all of them up it take up a lot of space in the ol' melon. This is why a year ago I would ignore all of the details even if it was something I should be paying attention to such as loans or where I was going to live for the eight months while I was in school. Yeah, I may have taken this nonchalant attitude to extreme levels but I was stoked on life. However, since school started I've lost that ability to just toss things a side and not worry about them. This is why I love playing sports. 
With the exception of some sports, physical exertion takes up a lot of the mind space used for needless things. For example, when you’re halfway up a cliff you’re not thinking about how your girlfriend is mad at you because she had to eat her cereal without milk this morning. Your thinking about how your gonna hold on because even though your tied in via the rope, being 30+ feet off the ground can be scary shit. This is why I moved to Squamish, I thought it would help, but with all this rain, it's been a slow process. It's not all bad though, I've recently come to realize some of the issues I've been having and now I'm on my way to correcting them which is why I'm sharing all of this. I recently tried living my life the way I did last summer and beyond. However, it hasn't been the easiest nor the smartest when my profession is filled with deadlines and I'm trying to piece together stories people might actually read, and therefore have to make sense. That’s why I'm trying to find a good balance between the thought process and living on instinct. I guess in conclusion the answer is simply to stay focused when you have a task that needs it, but keep the mind from wondering and dwelling on the past or future. Take things in stride both in and outside the workplace. Whenever you see that cute cashier, grab the milk and remember that you have a girlfriend who's much prettier.
Single? Well then forget the milk... There’s probably some penut butter and jam in the fridge.
Also, I'd just like to note that the whole forgotten milk thing wasn't something that actuallly happened, I was just using it as an example. ;)
Also, I'd just like to note that the whole forgotten milk thing wasn't something that actuallly happened, I was just using it as an example. ;)
Check out some of the work I've done for the Chief so far this summer:
Photo Albums:
Hevy Fest Slackline Festival: http://bit.ly/pzLlwG
Squamish Mountain Festival http://bit.ly/nMBqUo
Stories:
for more stories visit http://www.squamishchief.com/, you can ype my name, Andre Lodder, into the search box and most of the results will be stories I've written.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them below, email me at i-feel-@live.ca, hit me up on twitter @ndreLodder
Thanks for reading,
Andre