Lucky to Be Alive
Above: Sunrise over Lady Lake in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, our home away from home basecamp location for our Ansel Adams Wilderness Basecamp and Pints & Peaks trips.
As we head into March and closer to Spring, there is a noticeable shift in the energy. The light begins to linger a little longer, snow begins to soften at lower elevations, and rivers begin to swell with new snowmelt. Beneath the surface, life stirs yet again. New growth, harnessing the stored energy from winter, begins to unfurl. And with it comes that quiet, invigorating pulse of renewal. A reminder that life is always returning, always beginning again.
This month, with St. Patrick’s Day, we hear a bit about “luck”, four leaf clovers, pots of gold, and good fortune. However, historically, the term “luck of the Irish” wasn’t about effortless blessing. It emerged during the American gold rush, when Irish immigrants- most of whom had endured hardship and displacement- found success in mining towns across the West and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. During that time (peak discrimination 1840s-1880s) there was a strong anti-Irish prejudice in the U.S., and the phrase implied that Irish success and prosperity couldn’t possibly be due to intelligence or hard work- it must be “just luck.” Yet, behind it was courage, resilience and the willingness to begin again in unfamiliar terrain. Over time, that sarcastic undertone faded, and the phrase became more celebratory. So, originally the “luck of the Irish” wasn’t about shamrocks and blessings but about resilience in the face of prejudice and discrimination.
Which made me think- maybe luck isn’t random after all. Maybe it’s what happens when perseverance meets opportunity. When we show up, when we keep walking, when we trust the path beneath our feet. What if luck is something we recognize and become aware of. Every breath, every heartbeat, every sunrise we get to witness. The simple fact we are here at all, moving through wild places, feeling a gentle breeze kiss our skin, watching alpenglow drape the Sierra- is its own small miracle. What if being alive is the real good fortune?
Being in the mountains brings us closer to that realization and gratitude seems to come easier. There’s something about getting out in nature, stepping on the trail, and doing something challenging that strips things down to the essentials. You feel your lungs working, your legs carrying you, and your body doing exactly what it was designed to do. That awareness, that aliveness, feels like luck to me.
This month, we’re reflecting on a simple question:
What makes you feel lucky?
Is it being able to step away and have the time and means to do something for yourself to bring you back to that essential awareness? Is it cold alpine water on sun-warmed and dusty skin? Is is laughing with new friends who were strangers only days before? Is it falling asleep under a blanket of stars in your toasty warm sleeping bag? Is it the courage to begin something new?
Spring is an invitation, not just to do more, but to feel more. To notice. To say yes. To honor the life force moving through you. And maybe, to do something that reminds you just how lucky you already are.
