Thankful for Pausing to Find a Solution, Spending Time with the WSU Sales Team, & Running with Music

Day 4,027

Growth:

When we face an unexpected challenge we can choose to flip out and lose our mind, try to ignore the issue and hope it goes away, or take a deep breath and figure it out.

This morning I had to take Leia to doggy day care before work, had a ridiculously tight work schedule that required prep work, and a full day of work going into the evening ahead of me. I got in the car, turned the key, and the car almost didn’t start. It barely turned over, but just enough to get started. I knew that as soon as I turned it off I’d be back to using the battery pack to jump start it like I did the day before.

Of all the days and times to have this happen… ugh… Before I got angry I took a deep breath and used the drive to drop off the dog to figure out a plan of attack. Thank goodness I have a great relationship with the service department at Dahl Toyota, I pulled in at 7:05am, left the car running, and was prepared to do some begging and pleading to see if they could figure out my battery issue. Not only did they get me in, they took care of the oil change, tire rotation, and a few other things that were scheduled for Friday, thus making my life easier on Friday and totally saving my ass today!

There’s usually a fix to the issue sitting out there waiting for us, remember to deal with it, take a deep breath, and calmly find an answer. That process would make so many segments of life easier!

Appreciation:

I had such a great time with the Winona State University Sales Team this afternoon! We covered so many topics from the best ways to determine the right sales careers to interview questions, job seeking tips, favorite travel locations, and shared passions for TV shows. Quite the eclectic conversation!

Spending time with them was incredibly invigorating, hearing their thoughts, getting jacked by their high energy, finding myself seeing just how bright our futures are. Having the opportunity to see the world through their eyes and mindsets was amazing!

As the formal teaching session wrapped up I received one of the best compliments I ever could hav hoped for, a student sharing how this class had helped her see that sales isn’t something to be feared, it’s a legitimate career opportunity she will be exploring.

Mission accomplished, purpose lived into. Well worth the investment of time and energy for so many reasons!

Presence:

This morning I took off on my run with only Leia, due to work I’d switched up my usual running schedule with Becky. With Leia pulling me along I added one of my favorite workout playlist to my headphones and took off in the cool dark air. As my legs warmed up I set aside any concern about pacing, I went with the music. By the last mile I was in a steady interval of jogging, running, and sprinting, all varied 100% based on the music and it felt great! All of me was in tune with the music in the moment, so completely zen even though the musical choices were anything but!

As one of my fellow yoga classmates and I discussed last night after class, running on a trail (or in the dark) is a wonderful moving meditation, an escape from the complexity of life, a reminder of how simple life really can be. One step at a time.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Taking on Conflict, Preparing in Advance, & Lost in Flow

Day 4,026

Growth:

Remember to have the difficult conversation right away when it needs to be had. Prolonging it only makes it more difficult and likely less useful. How many times have I shied away from conflict when I should have just hit it head on the first time? At fifty years old you’d think I wouldn’t need to to reminding myself of this fact, but I obviously still need the reminders!

Appreciation:

I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am to have been prepared. When I left work this evening my car made a crazy cacophony of clicking noises as I tried to start it. For some reason the battery was dead, definitely not ideal when I’m an hour and a half drive from home.

That’s where the preparation prior to needing it came in!

In less than five minutes I had the hood up, my portable battery jumper pack attached to the battery posts, and I was starting up my car with no issues at all. Thanks to some planning I did a few years back (putting a battery jumper pack into each vehicle) there was only a slight delay and zero stress.

Great reminder for me to plan ahead!

Presence:

This afternoon I was deep into a project for work that is something I am veyr passionate about. It was wild to see how slow time seemed to go, yet how quickly the hours had melted by when I realized I had to hit the road. I just kept adjusting, reviewing, editing, creating, deleting, and then practicing over and over. The content itself is something that gets my brain going, the purpose behind it aligns with mine so well, and it’s a challenge beyond what I’ve worked on in the past – put all those together and it was a perfect formula for a pretty wicked state of flow that consumed me. Those moments spent on that were fantastic!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Words to Live By, Gavin’s First Rugby Matches, & a Sunday Morning Hike

Day 4,025

Growth:

Regardless of one’s spiritual beliefs, the concepts shared in the Prayer of St Francis all lead us to love others, to live our lives as better people. Today I felt moved by them, reminded of so much I have to work on.

Prayer of St Francis

Make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek: to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life

    Appreciation:

    It was about three years ago I wrote a blog about how fun it was to observe the joy and passion Dominic found in the sport of rugby. His freshman year students activities fair led him to a sport he’d never before played or paid much attention to. The look on his face, the smiles as he talked about it, it was clear to see he was loving it.

    Catching back up to today…. Gavin found himself in a very similar position, the only difference being he’d had a little experience with rugby through Dominic. This weekend he had his first matches and had a blast! So much fun as s parent seeing your kids doing something they enjoy!

    Presence:

    Getting an early-ish morning hike in with Becky and the dogs (we’ve still got our bonus dog through tomorrow morning) was exactly the right way to start the day! Fresh air, activity, and opportunity to get my body moving was a great kick off to Sunday. With all the busyness of yesterday, this was the right pace to start the Sunday chill.

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for Perspectives of Time, Combining Friends and Family, & a Day of Moments

    Day 4,024

    Growth:


    “There are so many kinds of time. The time by which we measure our lives. Months and years. Or the big time, the time that raises mountains and makes stars. Or all the things that happen between one heartbeat and the next. It’s hard to live in all those kinds of time. Easy to forget that you live in all of them.”

    Robert Chales Wilson, Spin

    Throughout the “sweatshirt book” I talked about yesterday (Spin by Robert Charles Wilson) there are several themes interplaying all at once. Connections to people. The way we view life and meaning. The shifting of perspectives. One of my favorites is the the various sizes and weights of time in our lives.

    The quote above really encapsulates the concept throughout the book so well. Wilson does a masterful job of shifting between each of those types of time in the story, helping us feel the conflict as we shift uncomfortably from one angle to the other.

    What sat with me today was how often I can catch myself in one mode and completely miss another, forgetting that the others exist while I’m hyper focused in viewing time from one perspective. I’d love to find a way to help keep this quote in front of me with regularity help me remember to choose the appropriate frame of reference.

    Appreciation:

    Very grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my some of my best friends AND Dominic all at the same time today! It was a busy time, loading and unloading the UHaul for a couple of moves in the same day, but so much fun and laughter throughout. So often I’m used to spending time with either my friends OR my family, this was fantastic to blend the two together and enjoy the time. The jokes were all combined, there were a few times when someone was about to hold back and I assured them it was totally okay to let ‘er rip and we all ended up having a blast! I’m sure I’ll be a bit sore from the moving and lifting and whatnot, but that is such a small price to pay for the opportunity to create new memories while also sharing old ones together.

    Presence:

    Quiet time on a long early morning drive. Fun conversation with Dominic as I pick him up to help friends move. Spending time combining the laughs and jokes shared with my lifelong friends with the laughs and jokes shared with Dominic. Taking a quiet moment to create space to share a moment of emotion with a friend going through difficulty. Enjoying the excitement of friends as they move into new homes. Hearing about Gavin’s first rugby matches and all the fun he had via text messages (can’t wait to hear more about it tomorrow on our family FaceTime). Dinner with Becky on the deck with a relaxing walk afterwards. Taking time to jot down notes from books I’ve recently read. All these moments, so much joy!

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for Re-Directing Inward, One of My Favorite Sweatshirt Books, & a Relaxing Friday Night

    Day 4,023

    Growth:

    Throughout the day this quote came up a couple of times for a couple of different reasons. What really sticks out to me on this one is two separate points.

    Life is so much clearer when we know the direction we want to take our lives, and we’re so much more impacted by the gravity and drift of the world when we’re not pointed in a single direction.

    So easy to take the third person perspective and direct the life of another when we don’t have all the details, when we don’t have to deal with the repercussions, and when we have nothing too lose. When the tables are flipped and we have to face reality everything seems to be a bit more difficult.

    When do I need to remember this quote most? Times of lost focus and times of projecting my focus onto others.


    Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

    Paulo Coelho

    Appreciation:

    “Sweatshirt” books are the best! As I pick up Spin by Robert Charles Wilson for at least the eight time I continue to find such a deep state of chill while also exploring the deep complexity of the story and all of its characters. Just as I’ve found in each repeat reading, there have been new insights, adjusted views, and different perspectives. The me who is reading it today is not the same me who has read each of the previous, and when combined with the knowledge of what will happen there is continues to be surprises tucked away that keep my interest.

    This time around it is in a realization of just how much the concept of perspective is mixed in, the differences in the characters and their relation to other portions of the book. So grateful for another read of one of my all time favorite sweatshirt books!

    Presence:

    A quiet dinner at home on the deck. A cold beverage, relaxed conversation, and no agenda. Chilling on the couch to recharge and settle the brain after a busy day. Quick conversation with my brother over the phone, passing a handful of funny texts back and forth. Watching a little football and relaxing. Perfect way to wrap up the week!

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for Empty Nest Adventures – Grocery Shopping on a Thursday!

    Day 4,022

    Definitely a shorter one today, totally exhausted from a very full and productive day. My bed is calling my name very loudly and my 4:37am alarm is looming over me with an evil smirk on its face.

    Becky and I did something totally out of character and kind of crazy tonight… We did our weekly grocery shopping! Not sure I remember any times in which we’ve done our weekly grocery shopping together on a Thursday night during the work week.

    We hopped on FaceTime with the boys shortly after getting home from work, ate a quick supper, and then were off to the grocery store. Woodman’s was almost eerily quiet, there were no crazy back ups of people in the produce section, and the aisles were almost all completely empty. It was wild!!! Looking forward to this weekend it’s all the better knowing that we don’t have any errands to run, we’ve already got everything set. Not a bad way to start the last day of the week!

    Empty nester life is definitely different, this is one of the pleasant surprises I’m thinking I’ll really enjoy for sure!

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for Intentionality, Re-Invigorated, & Routine

    Day 4,021

    Growth:

    This quote from The Alchemist hit me between the eyes this past weekend. Dad always talked about his passion for the mountains, his enthusiasm contagious as he’d describe the areas he traveled to when he was older.

    Over my past few weeks I can’t help but wonder why he never took more time to explore more areas more often, why he hasn’t taken me ok trips as I’ve done with my sons. He absolutely would have loved the adventures if these past few weeks.

    That’s when this quote struck me.

    The boy could see in his father’s gaze a desire to be able, himself, to travel the world—a desire that was still alive, despite his father’s having had to bury it, over dozens of years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every night of his life.

    Paulo Cohelo, The Alchemist

    What’s interesting is that in so many ways so many of us see creating experiences as binary – it’s s huge experience or nothing. We capitulate to “it’ll be too expensive,” or “I don’t know how to plan it,” or “there isn’t enough time.”

    The experiences created recently were largely inexpensive (packing all the meals instead o eating out, cheap camp sites and sleeping in rest stops). They were easy to plan (find a place to experience, hop online, less than two hours later a plan was made). They don’t take much time (Dominic and I did a long weekend over s holiday and used only one PTO day).

    Honestly, it seems the biggest obstacle is breaking away from the gravity of status quo.

    All of this is helping me see how helpful it is to live more intentionally, picking out what is most important and choosing to live into it rather than waiting for life to happen to me.

    Appreciation:

    After a long day of work bookended with long drives my brain was feeling pretty exhausted. Largely good stuff, just a lot of it and so many things I would like to take on but only so much time and capacity to do so.

    After a relaxing dinner (more below) I was tempted to chill and relax. I had an urge to pick up my recent project and tackle at least a little of it. I pulled up my laptop and started working away. My brain suddenly surged with energy and got moving. In a matter of no time I’d gone a couple steps further than I had planned and was actually feeling invigorated.

    Super grateful for the Red Bull impact of a passion project!

    Presence:

    Routine can feel amazing when we take a moment to appreciate it. This evening it was in the form of eating dinner on the deck with Becky at home, in doing dishes after we ate. The quiet calm of back to real life after travel was quite splendid!

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for an Epic Send Off to My Forties and Start to Empty Nest Life

    Day 4,020

    I’m totally exhausted and looking forward to being in bed well before 8pm tonight. As I wrap things up and get ready to lock back in for a crazy day of work I took a moment to total up some of the more interesting stat lines from the past month and a half. Here are some fun facts about the past seven weeks:

    • 7,000+ miles of driving in the campervan
    • 100+ miles of hiking
    • 23,300+ feet of elevation gain
    • Five out of Six weekends spent in the campervan
    • Countless memories made throughout a few extended weekends with some of my favorite people in the world!

    During that time Becky and I got time with Gavin as we took him out to Balitmore to start his freshman year at Johns Hopkins University. The two of us then took our time coming back, hiking and exploring in Gettysburg, Shenandoah, and New River Gorge National Park. Dominic and I took advantage of the Labor Day weekend and drove our butts off out to Sleeping Giant in Canada for a hike I gave myself a less than 50% chance of completing – super glad he was there to help keep me going! My little brother wanted his redemption versus a 14’er in Colorado so we took a long weekend to drive straight out, knock out a couple of epic hikes on back to back days, and then haul ass all the way back right afterwards. For my fiftieth Becky and I again headed up to Sleeping Giant and Ouimet Canyon for one last long weekend trip in the campervan before we winterize it for the season.

    Nonstop adventure, tons of work and life in between, and so many memories created. One of my biggest goals for the year was to share eight adventures with loved ones, there were four knocked out in a short period of time!

    Back to reality on a full time basis – Becky said I can’t retire for another handful of years – I’ll be riding high on the memories of this stretch for quite some time! I can’t think of a better way to have wrapped up my forties and kicked off empty nester life!

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for an Experiment, a Perfect Day, & Paradise 

    Day 4,019

    Growth:

    Eleven years ago I started blogging to remind myself to be more thankful for all the ups and downs of life.  The goal was one year of daily blogging and it made such a positive impact on my life that I set the audacious goal of blogging every single day of my forties.

    At done point the goal faded away, though the activity became a part of me, of who I am.  It is now do hardwired in me there is no goal, it has become a rewiring of my brain.  

    At no point she I began did I see this becoming such cornerstone of my personal operating system, it was a short term goal to fix something.  Now it is just me.

    Wild how little actions can have life changing impacts on our lives.  The most important part is setting the goal, the second is putting in the reps.  Today I’m grateful for a one year experiment I expected to realistically last a few months, that went for over a decade, and has now become a part of me!

    Appreciation:

    So many miles of hiking, so much outdoors time with Becky.  A perfect day to ease myself into my next decade.

    Waking up after nine and a half hours of sleep without an alarm clock.  Enjoying a cup of coffee in campervan with Becky.  Happening to drive by an epic view of Sleeping Giant at golden hour with a little dawn fog on the lake.  A big cup of gas station coffee and a wonderfully scenic drive framed with autumn leaves, especially the fiery maples.  A view leading to a thought of “huh, I wonder if there’s a way to hike over there” that turns into the Presence section below.  Hunting for agates and rocks for hours on the shore.  Eating dinner in the campervan before 4:40, having a beer, and taking a quick nap.  FaceTime with the boys, relaxing and reading with Becky, and off to bed early (& being beaten there by an insanely worn out dog).

    Great way to kick off a new half century!

    Presence:

    Getting off the beaten path, finding a trail hidden in plain sight about 10 miles off the highway.  Disappearing down a dirt road, parking at the dead end, and following what was quite possibly the most tattered trail sign ever.  A dirt trail overgrown with roots, rocks everywhere, and a couple of ropes to help up and down a sudden twenty foot tall mud and rock pile.  Rock hopping the end of the trail as you suddenly appear at the shore of Lake Superior, surrounded by giant basalt cliffs, forested islands, countless giant rock rock formations, and Isle Royale smiling at you from afar.

    All alone. The only company being three mergansers in the lake, loons calling from far away, and two grouse caught in the act. 

    A slice of heaven on Earth, a garden of Eden, tucked away to be discovered.

    Thanks!!!

    Thankful for Positivity, My Forties, & Ouimet Canyon

    Day 4,018

    Growth:

    I’m so many ways this quote from Speaker for the Dead hits home today:

    “No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one’s life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.”  Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

    Today I was reminded of how easy it is to look at the life of another in a binary fashion – they were good or they were bad – when we know our own lives are across the spectrum of those two ends of the spectrum.

    Throughout my life I’ve made mistakes, but I’d like to think I’ve made a more positive impact.  That said, if someone was to focus only on my biggest mistakes they would likely be accurate in saying I am a terrible person – and I would not be able to disagree if that was the only point to argue.  I would find it very unfair and would be so frustrated – “but what about all the good I did???” – why don’t you focus on that???

    And then I realize that is what I do when I judge others.  I focus on only one or two key things.  Who am I to judge when I have not been in their shoes?  When I have not been their ugh their life?  When I don’t know the positives they have done?  How dare I judge?  What if my judging of them was the only thing someone judged me by?

    Mike – remember to pause, remember there is always so much more to another person.  Do not judge – listen, love, help, support.  How much better will my fifties be if I lived this lesson?

    Appreciation:

    The last day of my forties being spent doing another ridiculous hike with Becky, a return to Nanabosho atop the chest of Sleeping Giant.  While it may have been a little longer than expected it was about as perfect of a way as possible to wave goodbye to my forties as I move on to the next stage.  We were outside for hours and hours, spent time talking and enjoying each other’s company while knocking out the miles.  So many stories remembered, some new ideas and adventures planned.  

    Crazy to think of all that has happened in the past decade, so many positives, a many challenges, a lot of learning, and so much time shared with loved ones.  This decade of life has been one of the best, even the most difficult times led to more love, intentionality, and joy.  The memories made in this ten year span alone were a lifetime’s worth, so grateful for each of them.

    The memories made who kicked off the big Four Oh had no idea how much there was to learn in life, how deep love could be, how full one’s heart could be.  I can only imagine and look forward to the big Five Oh and all I’ll continue to learn and grow through.

    To my forties, thank you for working through the discomfort, for finding the power of gratitude, for intentionally living into what was most important.  Thank you for all of your beautiful stumbles and mistakes, your painful life lessons, and all the other events that helped shape me into who I am today.  May my next decade do you honor by continuing that journey, by continued learning, and by better closing the gap between who I am – who you grew me into – and who I should be.

    Presence:

    Standing atop a 300+ foot vertical drop down a rock cliff, looking over 400 feet across at an equally sizable drop.  The Ouimet Canyon did not disappoint, the sight of it shut off all in my brain except the focus on its beauty.  The views towards the end of the valley, the views of the cliff walls, the rock formations defying gravity and standing vigil over the canyon floor.  Everything in that view grabbed my attention and left me completely captivated!

    Thanks!!!