13 Comments
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Marissa's avatar

Im getting this tattooed on myself. Might be cringe later but whatevs

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Kyle Thiermann's avatar

Feel free, Marissa. Feel free.

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Rory Rogan's avatar

Great read! This is something I’ve been thinking heavily recently. Oddly enough, I have notes to write something on this. My older son is 4 and has started becoming interested in who I am or more closely for him what I like. His way of doing this is looking at old photos mostly any that I have digitally (last 18 years of my life).

It’s been a funny 4 year old fueled introspective journey musing over these moments of life and sharing with him stories, people and 4 year old comprehensible anecdotes of this point in time. Note* there is nothing more introspective than a toddler asking you why you camped ontop of a mountain in snow or why you rock climb. A simple answer of “I enjoyed it” leads to another unrelenting “why” .

The more time I spend looking back at old photos with him, the more I recognize that we often fail to acknowledge these former pieces or moments of ourselves have it be intentionally or not. But there is something magnetic about tapping back into that person at that time and place. It serves as piercing cold refreshing reminder that every step matters.

I’ll share more on my page ⚡️🙏🏽

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Kyle Thiermann's avatar

My favorite answer I ever heard about the “why” of adventure was from climber Conrad Ancher. “Why do you risk your life to climb?” The reporter asked. Conrad answered, “The view.”

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Chris Ryan's avatar

Yes, cringe is growth. No doubt.

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Eric Thiermann's avatar

Glad the old creativity rose from the grave. We seem to be everything we ever did, do, and will do; what we thought, think and will think; how we treated others, treat others and will treat others. It never has to be a zero sum game. Thanks for leaving the world a better place than you found it, KT.

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Shilpa Jain's avatar

I personally loved young excited Kyle who galvanized so much energy from a largely non-activist/unorganized community. Thanks for honoring him and all he/you did! :)

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Kyle Thiermann's avatar

Thanks Shilpa. Hope you’re writing tons!

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Shilpa Jain's avatar

I am! Thanks for subscribing. <3

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Juan Baez's avatar

This is pretty cool, Kyle. Love this essay. I recently posted an essay about a similar topic (finding old work and re-uploading it). I hesitated so much doing it but I uploaded it all to my website. It is cool reading about a similar idea from another perspective.

In my essay, I make reference to something I read from you a few years back ("send that fucking email"). If you can, check it out. I'd love to have your feedback. 🖖🏾

https://open.substack.com/pub/juanbaez/p/how-am-i-still-a-writer?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=4gkv

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Kyle Thiermann's avatar

Nice story Juan. Keep clacking.

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Jackson Bouza's avatar

Loved this KT

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Kyle Thiermann's avatar

Thanks Jackson.

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