Carrying a chair up to the mountain lake - WTF?

Imagine the steepest road you know and make it even steeper. That’s about the hiking route up to lake Oeschinen in Switzerland. A very beautiful mountain lake…the one of the kind where you think this water could get bottled up as the blue body wash. The superblue one with the menthol scent : ).

Anyway, please imagine you are walking up this steep road sweating and pounding AND on top of this, you are carrying a chair. Not a light weighing camping chair, no, a wooden solid chair like the ones at our dining table in Zurich.

Why on earth would you carry up a chair to a mountain lake? That was our question too!!! We were a bunch of scout-leaders (I was 19 years old) and we had a week-long training-camp where we learned about how to organize and how to make camps for the little cub-scouts amazing.

Our camp-leader had the best answer to our question when we arrived at the lake and all sat on our chairs : ) and other hikers looked at us like: WTF are you all doing??

He said: “Ladies and gentlemen, I know this sucked… and you might tell me that we could have done this session about all different kind of “kids-chair-games” at the house we were all staying BUT, in 20 or 30 years, I promise you… you’ll remember NOTHING from this week long camp…ONLY THIS. You’ll remember forever that you had to do the most stupid thing: Carrying a chair up to Oeschinensee.

He was right.

Sometimes doing the CRAZY thing because it’s fun, unusual, totally off of the normal track… will create the greatest memories!

I love this concept which Jesse Itzler teaches so on point in his programs and speeches: Do something every year which defines THIS year. Like for me 2023 will be the year I’ve been to Japan in spring. I hope there will be many more defining memories this year but this wonderful, deep, soul filling, connecting, heartwarming journey through my second homeland will be connected to the number 2023 forever. Climbing a mountain, learning how to dive, running the first 5 mile run, whatever makes YOU happy, brings you JOY and let you remember forever. It definitely doesn’t have to involve a chair and a mountain lake : ).

This is it for today. I’m working on an email where I want to share my very personal behind the scenes aka “what happens in my head” when I manage-coach-take care of myself during traveling. This inner dialog which is going on all day long. I didn’t nail it yet though, so you have to be a little patient with me for that.

Are you following my daily stories on instagram?

I love doing these creative diary entries of our travels and for anyone interested in Japan, you’ll get a lot of “common, normal Japanese life” out of them. It’s not a tourist-sightseeing-show at all. The places we go, I’m usually the only “gaijin” (not so nice word for a foreigner) and you’ve guessed right : ) I love this!

I’m sending you so much love from Fukuoka where we have the BEST time with the siblings of my father in law and their tribes. I am so incredibly lucky to have two wonderful families in law where spending time together is pure JOY.

Let’s make this world more colorful, playful and joyful… if you consider carrying your living room chair to a mountain lake just because of fun memories, please let me know, ok?

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This is a story from my weekly Joy-Letter that goes out every Sunday. Do you want to be the first to hear my personal scrapbook stories? Then sign up below.

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