"You are living the dream."

"Must be peaceful."

“I wish I could just move to the hills and log in from there.”

I hear this often.

And I get it. The idea of working from the mountains has a certain charm. Snow-capped peaks as your zoom backdrop, a warm cup of tea on the balcony, birds chirping instead of honking traffic. But once the fantasy settles and the everyday begins, the view changes.

So let us talk about what it really means to work from the mountains - what holds true, what gets romanticized, and what is simply misunderstood.

Myth #1: You will automatically live a slower life

You won’t. Unless you want to.

Slowness is not handed to you by altitude. Most people who moved to the hills post-pandemic brought the city with them. Same pace. Same pressure. Same obsession with busyness.

If you do not consciously choose a slower rhythm, you will still be stuck in back-to-back calls and doomscrolling between emails. The setting may be different, but the system remains unless you exit it with intention.

Myth #2: You’ll get fitter by default

Only if you put effort in.

Yes, the landscape nudges you to move. You walk more, climb often, and there is no Uber to the corner store. But if your life is still indoors, behind a screen, nothing really shifts.

For me, it helped that hiking and walking became part of the lifestyle, not a separate task I had to carve time for. I do not need a gym when my grocery run involves a steep uphill walk and a backpack full of groceries.

Myth #3: You’ll eat clean and consume less

Again, only if you want to.

Most people still reach for the same chips, the same cola, the same packaged stuff they did in the city. The setting does not undo habits. It only amplifies them.

Personally, I found it easier to eat seasonal, cook more, and reduce what I buy. But that came from conscious effort, not location. The mountain does not make you minimalist. It just gives you fewer distractions to hide behind.

Myth #4: Internet must be terrible

This one is actually not true, at least not anymore.

I chose a place with reliable connectivity. Manali made sense because it offered the best of both: access to nature, and functional infrastructure. Good internet, decent roads, and just a night bus away from a metro city. That balance mattered.

You cannot just pick a random hillside and expect to plug into your 9 AM standup. But if you plan it right, you do not have to choose between nature and network.

Myth #5: You will make less money

Depends on what you do.

I run a consulting practice. It pays less than a cushy corporate job, but it pays in autonomy. I get to choose who I work with, how I work, and where I live. The tradeoff is worth it for me.

Also, lower costs help. You do not need daily deliveries or overpriced distractions. Your money stretches further when you are not constantly compensating for burnout.

What is true?

• You walk more, even when you are not trying.

• The air feels different. Your lungs thank you.

• The mountains do not heal you, but they do hold space.

• There is quiet not the poetic kind, just fewer interruptions.

• You realize you never really needed that much.

Thinking of moving?

I am not here to convince you. But if you are considering a shift, I wrote something else for you.
Read: The Other Side of the Mountain