A lot of new folks are moving to our beautiful state, for good reason. The gorgeous landscape, the aerospace, tech and outdoor industries, the skiing, the biking, hiking, the can-do attitude of the people here. But as I talk to more and more of our new residents, I find myself yearning to tell them about our heart. About what’s beneath the beauty they see with their eyes.

How do we explain to them what’s below the surface, in our state’s soul? How do we teach them about the spirit of Colorado?

I’ve asked that question to podcast guests as I’ve traveled the state interviewing Coloradans for Heidi’s Colorful Colorado this month. There’s definitely a common theme among the 20 or so folks I’ve asked. It’s about living in a state of mind, not just a state, that supports living a life of opportunity, living a life with no limits.

Coloradans have a yearning to go big, to pursue their dreams and to imagine achieving things that are just not possible in most other places. It’s living with our eye to reaching those Colorado mountaintops, whatever that means for each of us.

The other theme I hear from many podcast guests is that they are worried this is slipping away. Whether it’s COVID, collectivism or cancel culture, Coloradans are feeling that opportunity, that lifestyle of “no limits,” is getting harder to hang on to.

How do we tap back into that rugged individualism, that spirit of the Wild West that our state was built on, to keep opportunity — the American dream — alive and well for our kids? And grandkids?

I think it’s pretty simple. We keep those mountaintops top of mind.

Here’s what I mean: When people come to Colorado, whether conservative, liberal or in between, they come here thinking, “No limits. I climb when I want. I buy what I want. I sell what I want, say what I want, shop, worship, build, learn — Colorado is about every person reaching that mountaintop in their lives. It’s about living, not submitting.”

When you drive in from Nebraska, and you see those mountains rising in the west, do you think about low ceilings? About living life with limits? No.

Do you think about a government that mandates how you should run your business, ignores your votes to tell them how they can spend your tax dollars, keeps schools and sports closed when science says the opposite and tells you when you shouldn’t eat meat? No.

When you see those mountains rising up, do you think of a place where you’re told what to think in college, how the color of your skin defines you or who you should or shouldn’t love? No.

This is Colorado, it’s the edge of the West, of the frontier. You come here for adventure. For pushing your boundaries. You come to build a business, raise a family, and climb higher in life.

We don’t live here for low ceilings, or ceilings at all…we live here to reach the mountaintops! We live here to be free. That’s the spirit of our great state.

When I’m with the students at CU, or the entrepreneurs I help, I see mountaintops in their eyes. I see potential, not limits. I see my role as a regent, mentor, mom to remind folks of those mountaintops — to remember why we all live here.

In one year, Colorado’s employment rate went from sixth in the nation to 35th. Our gas prices are exploding; it takes hours of sitting in traffic to reach those mountaintops; young people can’t afford to buy a house or even rent for that matter. Colorado moms can’t get back to work because our politicians are giving them whiplash on whether kids can live their normal lives or not. College kids can’t even get back in the classroom. Small business owners can’t find workers because of government incentives, doctors are leaving the state because of the looming state takeover of health care, and property taxes are about to go sky high.

This is what low ceilings looks like. The people of Colorado want their mountaintops back.

It’s time to unite all of us, especially the folks in the Capitol building, around a key reason we live here, the opportunity — no limits. That’s how we’ll get the Colorado spirit back.

So don’t look down, Colorado. Look up! Look at the mountaintops. Tap into that spirit of the Wild West, that rugged individualism that has defined our great state for generations. Tell our state leaders we want those mountains back. And let’s get back to living a life with no limits.

Heidi Ganahl is a businesswoman, entrepreneur, author and at-large member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, to which she was elected as a Republican in 2016.