Financing Healthy Addiction
February 17th, 2010
Meet people who have found a way to support their habits and addictions, yet have never attended 12-step programs to get better.
On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young first saw the vista of the Salt Lake Valley: a vast lake that those before him had once believed to be the ocean, and the awe-inspiring grandeur of the snow capped Wasatch mountain range. This sight inspired Young to make his most famous declaration: "This is the place."
One hundred sixty-three years later, the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City retain their allure, providing something for outdoor enthusiasts of all types. For those whose nightly dreams consist of bottomless snow totals and behemoth trout, Utah is the equivalent a modern day El Dorado. The place attracts pilgrims for the same reasons as in the days of Brigham Young: peace, solitude--now a vacation destination in addition to a state of mind--and a boundless sense of freedom. For many whose lives revolve around hiking, camping, fishing or skiing in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the natural high that Utah offers has become a way of life to which everything else plays second fiddle.
For David Kizer, skiing has been a part of life for longer than he can remember. Last year, he returned to his hometown of Park City after graduating with a degree in finance from the University of Colorado. There, he found an accounting job with locally based Skull Candy headphones that would accommodate his insatiable passion.
"I moved back to Utah so I could ski and work," he said. "[Skull Candy] was the best job I could find. They subsidize my ski pass. I can go [skiing] pretty much everyday--as long as I don't have any meetings . . . I have to get my work done, obviously, but I can come in early and then take off in the middle of the day to go skiing for two to three hours . . . Yesterday I went skiing with my boss."
For Kizer, some fresh air and fresh powder is not only good exercise; it's the perfect remedy for any sense of monotony that might develop in the workplace.
"I feel a lot better [after skiing]. I'm a lot more productive. I can focus after getting the jitters out of my legs . . . and it's definitely kept me active. With the amount I eat, I think that if I didn't do anything I could be really fat."
Even the Salt Lake heat won't stop Kizer's dedication to skiing. He's saving up for a summer trip to the jagged peaks of South America.
Brenton Kuhn moved to Salt Lake from New Jersey almost six years ago to pursue an education at the University of Utah--and as much snowboarding as possible in between classes. Kuhn graduated in 2008 with a degree in international studies and political science, and now manages the Breeze ski shop on Foothill. The perks of his job include free ski passes to the surrounding resorts, discounts on equipment, and most importantly, a flexible schedule that allows him to snowboard everyday. This helps to ease the stress of his job duties, which he said include, "working a lot of hours for not a lot of money." However, he said that being able to do what he loves most, whenever he wants, is something that makes it all worthwhile.
grab pre-season in Little Cottonwood Canyon
This is a concept that firefighter and University of Utah student Eric Maw understands well. Last summer, he fought wild fires with the Elkhorn fire department in Bozeman, Montana, which allowed him to hike and fly fish on his days off. During the winter he attends classes and works as an EMT in Salt Lake. He's able to coordinate his class schedule and workload to accommodate his full-time skiing hobby.
"Being an EMT, you usually work 24-hour shifts and then have a day off that you can head up skiing," he said.
Working that type of schedule while taking night classes and skiing whenever possible doesn't leave much time for anything else, but Maw said that it's worthwhile because it preserves his sanity.
"It feels good to be out there hiking, fishing and skiing because you're getting exercise everyday . . .When I don't get a chance to be out there in nature, I definitely start to get a little stir-crazy."
For Kizer, Kuhn and Maw, Utah's outdoor lifestyle plays the role of entertainer, psychiatrist, physical trainer, old friend, and stress reliever by providing the means to healthy addictions worthy of a little priority juggling.
If you liked this article on healthy addictions, you might also like our articles on Paragliding, Live Action Role-Playing, and Mixed Martial Arts.
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