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Balancing Act

Portland Magazine

May 1, 2023

Nate Lynch ’19 likes that when he's mountaineering, his mind can't wander. He has to focus only on what’s in front of him: the next step, the next move.

balancing-act-2.jpgNATE LYNCH ’19 LIKES that when he’s out in the elements climbing, his mind can’t wander. He has to focus on the next step, the next move (and whether he has the necessary amount of feeling in his fingers and toes to make that move). “There are so many things that you’re navigating that your mind is nowhere else,” he says. He finds this freeing. “It’s an escape from the stress of everything else.” At a time when we’re all talking about techniques for avoiding burnout, paying attention to mental health and work-life balance, Nate seems to have figured something out. An acute-care nurse in the cardiac intensive care unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Portland, Nate does not have a low-stress, low-stakes job. Some of his patients have received transplants and his job is to keep them alive. The work can be intense, and he’s found he’s suited to it. He works in concentrated shifts, so he has time to get out, climb, and come back refreshed. You could say that he learned his high-stakes-career and high-stakes-climb balancing act here at UP. He was a nursing major, and he also started climbing through UP’s Outdoor Pursuits program. He loves that climbing has taken him to new places—Spearhead Traverse, British Columbia, pictured above—and has allowed him to meet so many new people. And amidst the high-stress climbing moments where he must have a singular focus, there are also the lower-stress moments of immense beauty that encourage him to reflect.