I really like the mountain range analogy. That is just what it's like.
Some folks love it and some hate it.
It's The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck. He talks a lot about the fact that we spend so much time and energy trying to avoid necessary pain, but in doing so we create far more pain for ourselves, and it's pain that doesn't help us grow. It's still in print, and I have seen it in used bookstores a lot.