Month: June 2025

Thankful for Purpose, Campervan Life & Another Day of Presence

Day 3,543

Growth:

Remember your purpose, live your purpose, joy will follow.

Appreciation:

I cannot begin to stress how much I’m enjoying camper life. Disconnecting, discovering, minimizing. More time outdoors, less stress due to relaxed timeliness. Less consumption due to less temptation. More of what I enjoy, less of what I don’t. How do I turn this into everyday life?

Presence:

A day full of presence, from a cup of coffee in the campervan to now typing this blog in almost the same spot. We had an amazing time as a family, enjoying the hiking, nature, sand sledding, and games. Funny how much more present I am in each of these moments!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Tri-pictetus, a Over-performing Vacation, & Shared Family Experiences

Day 3,542

Growth:

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

Epictetus

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

Epictetus

You become what you give your attention to.

Epictetus

Appreciation:

Time away together, shared time as a family. This vacation has already exceeded my expectations!

Presence:

Sitting around the campfire talking. Standing in awe together in a narrow river pass looking up at a hidden waterfall as a family. Eating supper as a family and bolting outside together to take in an epic rainbow. Moment after moment of shared experience together, my favorite moments in life.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Trade Offs, Starting Over, & Loading Up

Day 3,541

Growth:

After getting some distance on the open road I tagged out and we swapped seats. I proceeded to spend the next few hours knocking out a bunch of work I wanted to wrap up Medford shutting my work brain down for a while. Long story short, I traded a few hours of car ride time for a week of vacation and mental chill. Not a bad deal!

Appreciation:

Certain songs just hit a little closer to home when you’re on the road, this was one of them.

Starting Over – Stapleton

Presence:

All four of us loading up into the campervan, heading out, laughing and talking as always, as if Dominic hasn’t been gone for a couple of years, as if it were any of our past family trips. All of us, together, complete. A moment of pure joy lasting all day and likely all week.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for One Question Past Comfort, Vacation Prep Mode, & Smells of Nature

Day 3,540

Growth:

Ask one question past the initial sense of discomfort, it is amazing to see what is hiding in that shadow hoping to be found. Today I trusted my gut, dug just a little deeper, and found something very much unexpected yet very much appreciated!

Appreciation:

The nervous anticipation of getting everything wrapped up before heading out on vacation is electric! It’s also interesting to see how much easier it can be to prioritize and delegate during that time. Everything seems a little more clear, a little easier to work through. Perspective seems to get to the right level, probably where it should be all the time.

One more solid push tomorrow while we’re driving and I should be all set to transition into vacation mode, likely before we get midway through Nebraska.

Presence:

Hmm… seems like I’m all about the smells here as of late! The aroma of the light rain, the blooming plants, the fresh soil, and all the other scents were outstanding on our run this morning.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for a Daily Double

Day 3,539

Sometimes we need those high intensity, supercharged, and borderline ridiculous moments to help us attain clarity and awareness. Being hit between the eyes with successive shots today was quite enlightening.

After the first moment I took time to make a voice note to myself to walk through where my head was at and all that I’d learned in such a short period of time. In that process I laid out another potential challenge that also fit within this scope. Little did I know that forecast was much more clear than I’d imagined. In less than two hours I was facing that challenge head on as well.

Either challenge individually would have been enough, but hitting both on the same day really caught my attention and help me make the decision on both issues very clearly and decisively.

Today I’m grateful for the one two punch that awakens us to the fight.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Leveraging Technology, Humor, & Fog and Soil

Day 3,538

Growth:

Leverage technology when it is appropriate, it helps carry the load! I’ve been very impressed with the way certain resources have almost become a personal assistant in helping me with more tasks than I’d imagined!

Appreciation:

Sometimes it is the little bits and pieces of humor that help us through stress. Today I cannot stop laughing at this specific goofy short video! It keeps popping up in my mind and has kept me giggling throughout the day.

Here’s to the small and silly laughs that keep the sense of levity we often need more than we think!

Presence:

The blankets of fog slowly lighting up as the sun started to rise while the smell of fresh topsoil was thick in the air this morning was remarkable. The combo was quite the way to awaken my senses on our run!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Journaling Leading to Discovery

Day 3,537

Journaling has helped me yet again, this time in a very unexpected way! By spending time answering a few questions on my personal scorecard each night I’m finding more and more insights into how my mind works.

For instance, Tuesdays are typically the least joyful days of my week (lower joy, decreased sleep, less physical activity). Mondays are usually my days of most intentional eating. Days with time spent outdoors rank more joyful than days without.

One of the biggest shockers was in the analysis of my response to the daily question “if I only had 10 years to live, what would I stop doing?”

In those results I found a slowly compounding reservoir of wisdom, of themes repeated, of lessons to remember. Consolidated I was able to create my personal 2025 Stop Doing Manifesto:

✋ My 2025 Stop Doing Manifesto

“I give myself permission to stop…”

🧠 Mental Noise & Overthinking

Obsessing over things I cannot control.

Worrying about what others think or whether I’m doing “enough.”

Running from discomfort by filling space with screens, snacks, or scrolls.

Letting the urgent crowd out the important.

🧹 Emotional Clutter

Comparing myself to others or my past self.

Letting guilt, obligation, or resentment steer my decisions.

Carrying stress instead of naming it, sharing it, or releasing it.

Ignoring moments that need closure, clarity, or courage.

🕹 Busywork & Distraction

Saying yes to everything and wondering why I’m burned out.

Keeping time-wasting apps or defaulting to entertainment instead of creativity.

Chasing productivity when I really need rest or stillness.

Doing everything myself when I could ask for help or delegate.

🏃‍♂️ Overdoing

Overcommitting, overscheduling, and under-resting.

Thinking one more meeting, message, or task will finally bring peace.

Sacrificing my presence in the pursuit of more progress.

Mistaking motion for meaning.

🌱 Growth-Limiting Patterns

Avoiding honest conversations to preserve comfort.

Doubting my instincts and dimming my clarity.

Dismissing nature, movement, and rest as luxuries instead of lifelines.

Living by drift rather than by design.

🔁 Instead, I will:

Choose clarity over clutter.

Allow joy to be enough.

Use presence as my metric of success.

Create space to breathe, connect, and be.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Difficult Lessons, Awareness and Growth, & Yoga and Running

Day 3,536

Growth:

This memory from 14 years ago had me cracking up!

Here’s to remembering that sometimes the most kind thing we can do is lead others to growth, even when it is uncomfortable to do so. It’s easy to always be a friend, to make exceptions, but that’s not always the right answer. Sometimes the most helpful thing we can do causes discomfort which leads to growth.

Appreciation:

Once we have been made aware of something it is so difficult to “unsee” it. This causes challenges and discomfort, but it can also be the fuel needed to grow forward. Throughout the day I was surrounded by reminder after reminder of finally being in the right track and it was borderline maddening, but also a motivational reminder of why I’m doing what I am, what I am growing towards.

Presence:

Yoga and running – the moments of the most chill presence of the day. Exercise, motion, breathing, no stress. Perfect presence. I’ll have more of that please!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for The White Darkness by David Grann

Day 3,535

Based on some recent favorites, I picked up a recommendation to read The White Darkness by David Grann—a gripping true story of one man’s modern-day expedition into the most unforgiving place on earth.

The book follows Henry Worsley, a British explorer and descendant in spirit of the great Antarctic pioneers. In 2015, Worsley set out to achieve something never before accomplished: a solo, completely unsupported and unassisted crossing of Antarctica. His route retraced the one Sir Ernest Shackleton had hoped to complete in 1914 before his ship, Endurance, was trapped in the ice.

No spoilers here—the suspense of not knowing how Worsley’s journey unfolded made the read all the more powerful.

A few quotes stuck with me:

Passion for something can easily tip into obsession, which is a dangerous thing, especially when those affected are the very people who so loyally stand and wait.

Henry Worsley

Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are actuated simply by a love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others again are drawn away from the trodden paths by the ‘lure of little voices,’ the mysterious fascination of the unknown.

David Grann

This book is a short but profound reflection on ambition, endurance, legacy, and the blurry line between courage and compulsion.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for “The Classics”, Time with My Brother, & Walking Leia

Day 3,534

Growth:

Seems like many of “the classics” are that for a reason. 😉

I just finished rereading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and am still surprised that I read it for the first time in my life last year. Such a thought provoking book, one that has left me thinking deeply both times I’ve read it.

Appreciation:

One on one time with my brother today was truly outstanding. The time we spent was engaging, entertaining, and totally chill all at the same time. As we both run in different directions all the time I am grateful for the times when the planets align for us to hang out.

Presence:

Walking Leia, taking in the stunning sunset, and enjoying the perfect weather while in motion. Awesome!

Thanks!!!