Have you got a Sherpa doing the heavy lifting in your life?

I love many things, and a cracking documentary is right up there towards the top of the list. I think it’s because you couldn’t make up some of the things that happen to people in their real lives. That was something I loved most about being a radio presenter – hearing people tell their own amazing stories.

I throw the word “Sherpa” around a bit too. I even used it in my column the other week about my beloved vacuum cleaner d’Artagnan in a comical sense without really stopping to think about the people of Nepal, for whom service is both a way of life and for many of them, the way they survive and earn their income.

Because it’s there…

I am endlessly fascinated by people who want to climb Mount Everest. “Because it’s there” never really cut it for me. I rang my Frusband (best friend/ex-partner) to see if he wanted to see it:

Me: “Hey – have we spoken today?”

Frusband: “Ummm, not that I’m aware of.”

Me: “Well, wouldn’t you know if we’d spoken?”

Frusband: “Not necessarily. All your babbling tends to blur into one long conversation.”

It occurs to me my Frusband is like a Sherpa to me – doing a lot of the heavy lifting, smiling, not complaining (well that’s not true strictly speaking) but certainly not always getting the credit he deserves.

A documentary to see

This documentary about the Sherpa’s is AMAZING. It’s worth it just to see the obnoxious clients trying to summit who now get hot towels and a cup of tea in the morning half way up the mountain courtesy of these incredible Sherpas.

The story centres on the last two seasons on Mount Everest and the dramas that have ensured in the last two years and demonstrates the growing uneasy relationship between these incredible people and their western clients who are desperate to summit the world’s highest peak.

The cinematography is breath taking—I have no need to climb Mt Everest now (not that I ever would have, Mt Warning will do me thanks—because it’s like you’re on the mountain. This film is nail biting and made me think about all the Sherpa’s that I rely on to make my life easier.

We have a society of personal Sherpas

We’ve built a whole society of people who make our lives easier. There’s nothing you can’t outsource these days.

They even have businesses whose whole business is to sort out your business for you! Your personal concierge – they come to home to let the washing machine repairman in, sell stuff for you on eBay, stuff like that; the things you don’t have time to do or really don’t want to.

Selling time

If fact, there’s quite a few businesses in Brisbane that offer personal concierge services. It occurred to me when I was talking to one of these services that what they are selling is time.

Isn’t that perfect gift for the person who has everything? More time.

So find yourself two hours and check out a remarkable story. Sherpa is screening now.