In Ranger School, military orienteering, and planning combat operations, the goal is always clear: gain and maintain the high ground. It’s about strategy and control. But in life, the terrain is different. Life is more like backpack hunting, thru-hiking, or peak bagging. To reach the next ridge, the next summit, or the next objective, you often have to give up elevation. Staying in your comfortable, elevated position isn’t an option—you’ve got to descend, reset, and start the climb all over again.
Real growth happens in the valleys. Progress requires sacrifice, humility, and the willingness to leave behind what’s familiar. It’s about starting over, putting in the work, and climbing to greater heights, again and again.
Here’s to 2025: new relationships, new hunts, new adventures—and the courage to go back to the bottom, start from zero, and reach the next summit. Let’s get after it.