When intensity becomes the baseline : is the edge ever enough?

December 15, 2025

Yesterday, I was watching a documentary with my friend Stéphane about Andrzej Bargiel, the Polish ski mountaineer who made history by skiing down Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, from the summit all the way to Base Camp. 

It was one of those stories that quietly stays with you.

I have many friends who are constantly striving to get better, to level up, to push themselves further. In many ways, I’m the same. Growth, ambition, momentum… these are familiar territories. But this felt different. Deeper. This wasn’t about progress or achievement. It was about the thrill.

And it made me wonder: when you begin chasing that level of intensity, where does satisfaction live? If feeling alive comes from the edge, are you ever able to recognise fulfilment in the smaller, quieter moments?

Adrenaline sharpens everything. It silences doubt, narrows focus, and pulls you fully into the present. But it’s fleeting. When it fades, what remains? Do you pause, or do you immediately search for the next mountain, the next summit, the next impossible descent?

I don’t ask this as a judgment, but out of curiosity. About them. About us. About the fine line between healthy ambition and the constant need for more.

Perhaps the real challenge for adrenaline seekers isn’t conquering the mountain, but understanding where that hunger for intensity shows up once they come down. 

Is it confined to the extremes they pursue, or does it quietly seep into every part of their lives, their relationships, their friendships, the way they move through the world?

When intensity becomes the baseline, does calm begin to feel empty?

Do steady connections feel dull compared to the rush of the next high?

I ask as someone who recognises that pull, the desire to feel more, to go further, to stay in motion. And yet, I wonder what grounds us when the thrill fades. What anchors us when there’s nothing left to chase.

Because perhaps the most radical act for an adrenaline seeker isn’t moving faster or pushing further, but learning how to stay present, connected, and satisfied in the quiet spaces in between.

With love, from Sophie