Cory Richards has an incredibly exciting life. He’s a National Geographic photographer and a North Face athlete. The man climbs mountains and takes amazing photos of places that most will never see.
But interesting doesn’t always mean good. At the age of 14, Cory was a homeless drop out with not much to look forward to in life. Through passion, dedication, and sheer will, he carved out a niche for himself that most can only dream of. “My education came from observing what was happening around me,” he says. “Observing that richness that came with struggle.”
And struggle he does. A large part of his life is dedicated to struggling–it’s ironic that the act of struggling seems to be what keeps him going. In 2011, he went to Pakistan in the middle of the Himalayan winter. After climbing to the top of an 8000 meter peak in the Karakoram, he and his climbing partners were hammered by a massive avalanche and nearly died. “That trip changed my life forever,” he remembers. After the avalanche, he took a photo of himself. It is one of the most arresting selfies ever taken–so arresting, in fact, that National Geographic put it on the cover of their magazine.
Part of the human experience is the struggle. We spend far too much time working to avoid it–and perhaps we should spend more time embracing it. Perhaps we should spend more time outside our comfort zone. Because, after all, the comfortable place in the world isn’t always the best place to be. “I’ve never been comfortable in the place that I’m in,” says Richards. “I can’t stop and sit. It’s a constant engine that just keeps driving me towards the things that are unknown to me.”
