Day 4,033

When I re-read this line in Meditations this morning I could only smile and I read it again.

“If you don’t have a consistent goal in life, you can’t live it in a consistent way.” Unhelpful, unless you specify a goal.

There is no common benchmark for all the things that people think are good—except for a few, the ones that affect us all. So the goal should be a common one—a civic one. If you direct all your energies toward that, your actions will be consistent. And so will you.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

This year I had three big goals for myself to work towards. All three involved other people, and all three are done!

The first was to be fully present with Gavin during his last year at home. I wanted to be there for all the moments that mattered, and to help some of the minor moments matter too. We made so many excellent memories together before he left for college in late August.

The second was to build my body back into something ready for adventure. In September, Dominic and I went up to Sleeping Giant and knocked out almost 21 miles of hiking with 4,400 feet of elevation gain. My legs felt every foot of it. I would do it again tomorrow!

The third was to start sharing the annual planning process I have been building for close to twenty years. It began with a dream list I wrote alone on the shore of Lake Superior in 2007. It has a name now, Life Topography, and there is some very exciting news coming on that front in the next month or so! If you would like to be one of the first to hear the details, send me a note and I will make sure you get them.

Having three clear goals made so many decisions easier this year. It also made the hard ones harder to dodge. There are so many more “no’s” now, and they have become so much easier to say. This year I said no to a handful of distractions and events which would have taken precious time needed for my goals. A few years ago I would have said yes without a second thought.

There are also new adventures I never thought I would seriously consider. I am not ready to write about all of them yet, so for now I am writing down that they are there.

The best way I can describe all of this is a mountain range. I know the general direction I am heading. I can feel the pull of it. But the specific summit has become less and less important. Some days I have no idea which trail to take. I have a compass and a map for when I drift, and I will drift.

Wow, that sounds super cheesy, but I really don’t know how else to describe it.

I will lose gear along the way. Shoes will break. Some of that will hurt, and I do not want to pretend otherwise. What I have learned is that I am not hiking alone. The people I know and love will show up when I need them, just as I would set my pack down for them. The world is so full of big hearted strangers who might join for a stretch of the trail.

Marcus wrote that the goal worth having is a common one, one that affects us all. The longer I walk, the more I think he was right. The summit matters so much less than being present on the trail and loving our neighbors along the way.

Present on the trail. Loving our neighbors. Each step a moment to live.

Thanks!!!