Author: Michael Kreiling

Thankful for a Day of Long Walks Bookending a Garage Clean Up

Day 3,639

Growth:

Remember to not have too high of expectations and to appreciate something as being different even if it is related to something similar.

The Long Walk by Stephen King is one of my favorite novels, a nonstop story of a competition in which 100 people enter and only 1 survives to win at the end. The boys have both also read it and are big fans.

This evening we watched the movie version of it together and I caught myself remembering to keep low expectations and to appreciate it as being different than the book. Without giving spoilers let’s just say that last piece of advice was very helpful!

We all enjoyed the movie and had a great conversation on the way home afterwards.

Appreciation:

Today’s biggest goal was cleaning out all the old construction and woodworking materials from the garage. It is amazing to see just how much can pile up so quickly! Taking time to get everything deep cleaned and loaded into a dumpster was much more rewarding than I’d expected. Nothing like a good purge to help clear the mind!

My theme for 2025 has been “Less, but More” and this certainly fit that mindset!

Presence:

This is funny, I just realized I’m blogging reverse chronologically today!

My day started off with a walk with Becky and Leia down Fisherman’s Road. I love starting Saturday mornings with a nice long walk, taking in nature while talking with Becky. It’s such a peaceful time of day, and I appreciate the time to be 100% focused on the moment. A wonderful start to my day today!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Outside My Comfort Zone, Looking for the Helpers, & a Road Trip

Day 3,638

Growth:

While I may really appreciate time alone and time with a small group I also need to remember that time with larger groups or with people I don’t know very well is how I best build a sense of community, how I best live into my purpose, and how I best focus on love of others.

Appreciation:

Becky reminded me of an old saying from Mister Rogers:

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping’

Fred Rogers

All around are so many opportunities to focus on those who are helping, who are making a positive impact in the lives of others – especially during times of difficulty and challenge.

Presence:

This evening was full of laughter and fun with an RV full of other football parents. The road trip was invigorating, the food was delicious, the game was fun, and the company was outstanding! Definitely a trip I’ll remember fondly.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Nudges, an F1 Day, & Lunch Outside

Day 3,637

Growth;

When the universe seems to nudge you in s specific direction, pay attention. It’s probably helping you see something you haven’t noticed yet.

Over the past week or so there has been and more nudges to stay focused and to be more social, time to lean into that a bit more!

Appreciation:

This was a very full day! from start to end it seemed as if I were on a mission of doing something at full speed while occasionally slamming the brakes, hitting the hairpin corner, and then accelerating in a different direction. I am exhausted. Very productive, very positive, and all good – just a lot of a lot! Looking forward to pausing to breathe…. eventually? 🤷‍♂️

Presence:

Today I took the advice of one of my teammates and ate lunch outside at the picnic table. Such s perfect day for sitting outside to decompress for a little while!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Love Over Hate, Hard Moments, & Reckoning

Day 3,636

Growth:

No matter how deeply we disagree with someone’s ideas, murder is never the answer.

No matter how much we disagree with someone’s ideas murder is never the answer. There are so many other ways to deal with disagreement, taking a life cannot be the resolution.

Tonight a family has lost their dad due to hate and fear.

There is always a better way of overcoming. As people face fear and hate with more fear and hate there is no positive end to the story, only a sickening spiral of more and more hate and fear. Is it so difficult to face fear with love instead?

Appreciation:

I don’t know about you, but when I think of “gratitude” and “appreciation” I usually think of happiness. That’s not always the case. Sometimes life hands us challenges so inconceivable that appreciation feels impossible. That said, those are so often the moments in which we have so much to be grateful for. We don’t have to be grateful for the tragedy itself—let’s be real, it sucked. But we can choose how to move forward. But we can’t change it once it has happened, we can only choose how to move forward, how to use that as an opportunity for growth.

Today was rough for me, much more than I ever would have expected, but I think it was largely because it caused a very necessary moment of awareness. While I wish Charlie Kirk would not have been killed, I cannot change it. I can remember this moment, remember the lessons learned about the true vile ugliness of hate and fear – regardless of whether you feel the other person is right or wrong – is never the right answer. Love is. Rather than lashing out in anger or in fear, reach out in love.

Presence:

Oof, this one hit hard today. I’m still not one hundred percent sure why this one after so many others, so many that one seems to almost become numb to all of the ongoing gun violence and loss of life. I wasn’t a fan of his—I disagreed with him on so many levels—but the sudden, instant loss of a life was still jarring. I really don’t have a better way of stating it, the clarity of that moment, the awareness of the wrongness… maybe it had more to do with the frustration and anger I’ve felt over so many things related to politics, seeing where it can go if completely unchecked and unhinged to such an insane extreme, made me instantly aware of how wrong my low level anger and fear are, how wrong I am to fight fear with fear rather than love.

In an instant, I saw where unchecked fear leads—and it was horrifying. Violence, hate, and fear are never the answer. Sometimes there will be pushback, disagreement, but it should always be with love rather than hate.

A wise man tried to teach us that 2,000 years ago—and we killed Him for it. His response was forgiveness. His response was love. That’s the path we should choose too: love over fear.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Leading, Challenges, & Purpose

Day 3,635

Growth:

What is it about leading others often a causes us to push past the discomfort in effort to help bring out the best in others? How can one muster the confidence to do the difficult even if leadership isn’t pushing us to do so? There’s a magic to be found there for sure!

Appreciation:

One of the things I’m most grateful for today are all of the frustrations, challenges, and mistakes I’ve made that have led me to today. In the moment they were incredibly maddening and humbling, but with the beauty of hindsight I’m able to see that they’ve all led me to here.

Here’s to the bumps in the road, the uphill challenges, and all of the difficulties. They are typically far from joyful in the moment, but they can lead to the growth and grace we need.

Presence:

This evening we had an opportunity to live into our purpose in a small but clear way. The sense of connection, of helping, of being a part of something much bigger than either of us was awesome.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Simple Solutions, Adventure, & a Cool Breeze

Day 3,634

Growth:

Sometimes the most simple small action can save so much future time. A quick reminder of a long term goal can quash a short term desire. The little actions that make it difficult to make the wrong decision, they are the right call every time!

Appreciation:

One of my favorite genres of books are outdoor adventure, stories of people getting outside and exploring the world and themselves. People getting outside of their comfort zone towards a a crazy goal, sometimes achieving it and other times coming up short.

As I start another book along those lines these two paragraphs really caught my attention:

“People need adventure in their lives to give the tedious day-to-day struggle meaning, to create a purpose greater than going to work and paying bills. Most of the adventures in my life were planned. It was easy to forget-and it happened to me-that we must make time for adventure or run the risk of living life without it.

I sought to put my physical and emotional energy into something positive, energizing, and expansive rather than allow myself to dry up and waste away in a life of unwanted expectations.”

Patrick Taylor, Lost on Purpose

Presence:

Our yoga class tonight felt extra hot and sweaty. So many chair poses, so much uncomfortable twisting, I got totally heated up and melted.

As we went into final rest I covered my eyes with my towel and let my brain go. Our instructor opened the windows and I spent the next several minutes trying to figure out where the sublimely chill breeze was coming from. With no vision I was fully focused on the sensation of the cool breeze blowing across my legs.

My mind went from the glacier at Kenai Fjords, the hidden waterfall cave in Thorsmark, the ocean of the coast of Chilean Patagonia, or by the shore of Lake O’Hara. So many different places in which the invigorating cools breezes have felt like heaven. Thankful for each of those moments as well as moments of presence like today, the reminders of the past moments.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for the Journey, Book Webs, & a Simple Task

Day 3,633

Growth:

Two very interesting quotes about enjoying the journey, not just the destination that both echoed in my mind:

But I’d had many great moments in the last few weeks, and I couldn’t help feeling a touch of sadness at the thought that it was all over. – Sir Edmund Hillary, High Adventure

There was loneliness, too, as the sun set, but only rarely now did doubts return. Then I felt sinkingly as if my whole life lay behind me. Once on the mountain I knew (or trusted) that this would give way to total absorption with the task at hand. But at times I wondered if I had not come a long way only to find that what I really sought was something I had left behind. – Thomas F. Hornbein, Everest: The West Ridge

Appreciation:

Throughout the years the boys and I have traded many great books. We’ve all encouraged each other to pick up different titles based on our overlapping interests and have created quite a web of book reading crossover. This evening Dominic was telling us about how far he was into a specific book, one that I’d initially read and then gotten Gavin hooked on. Gavin in turn talked Dominic into picking it up. I then shared with Dominic that I was just wrapping up a book he’d referred to me, High Adventure by Sir Edmund Hillary. So many of the books the three of us have read started with one recommendation from someone else and then expanded within our family. I’m very grateful for the shared taste in reading we all have!

Presence:

There was an oddly still moment of presence this morning in a very unexpected place. While making lunch I intentionally did not have any music, audiobook, or podcast going, I was working alone and in silence. With the main ingredients slowly cooking on the stove I got into a rhythm while slicing a couple of small blocks of cheese. Without realizing it I became quickly in tune with how focused I was in that moment, how nothing else mattered, and I was enjoying such a rudimentary task with much more joy than one should expect. The task itself was not important, it was the act of being fully present in the task at hand, in the that moment. Wild, so oddly soothing and gratifying!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for a Perfect Weekend Day

Day 3,632 (Crazy to think that it will be a DECADE of daily blogging in only 22 days!)

There is so much to unpack from today, but it is all pretty simple in the overall concept… This was pretty much the perfect weekend day. So much happening, so many moments of presence, reminders of appreciation throughout, lots of personal connection, and so many nuggets of learning mixed in.

Maybe the best way to run this one out is to go with a list kind of day. Additionally, this format provides me an opportunity to walk back through the day in a little more full detail and enjoy it all a second time 😉

  • The morning started off with a mug full of some amazing coffee. Scratch that, it started off with the aroma of freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee while I laid in bed as Becky had gotten up before me and worked her magic.
  • Breakfast was a couple of slices of cold pizza leftover from last night – glorious!
  • To kick off the morning Becky found a hysterical video which caused me to laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. Short and sweet, but nice starting the day with a good belly laugh like that!
  • Becky and I packed up for hiking and a trip to Eau Claire to watch Dominic’s rugby scrimmage. As we got rolling she recommended we fire up a podcast she had recently listened to. The Ologies podcast has been one of her recent go to’s and this episode was focused specifically on the science of happiness. Here were some of the key takeaways and moments of a-ha’s!
    • The concept of “Time Affluence,” the sense of having enough time, is a critical component of happiness. This really hit home with how I feel amazing on days like today (very limited structure) and I feel almost claustrophobic on days when I am planning out my next few weeks.
    • Choosing to view ourselves Objectively rather than Relatively. Consider the studies of happiness levels of someone who won the silver medal versus the bronze medal. The bronze medalist is almost always smiling much bigger than the silver medalist who often looks sad and disappointed. Consider that we are really good at something or that we really enjoyed something, don’t compare it to what others do or what they have. Look internally for happiness.
    • Are we happy both “in our life” and “with our life”? Are we happy in the moment of what we are doing in life? Are we happy with where our life is going towards a purpose? Both are important and and not always related (and sometimes can almost be at odds with each other).
    • Awareness, awareness, awareness! Step outside of ourselves and observe how we are reacting to something, consider why we are reacting that way. Don’t observe with the intent of changing or correcting, rather, observe to understand more fully. We can’t fix what we are not aware of.
    • I’d 100% recommend this podcast to anyone looking to add a little extra joy to their lives (that should be all of us, right?). Check out the episode we listened to here: https://www.alieward.com/ologies/eudemonologyencore
  • The conversations Becky and I got into while listening to the podcast and after the podcast were engaging and insightful. So appreciative to be in love with a fellow lifelong learner!
  • Our hike in Perot was soooooo chill! The weather was perfect, the trails were quiet, so much to observe and take in all around us. Everything was so green it was awesome! The feel of hiking on a fall day is something I will never tire of. Hiking with Becky and joking, talking, and walking in silence, all exactly what I needed.
  • While on the hike I was reminded of an adventure Steve and I went on kayaking on the Black River a while back, it may have spurred on ideas to attempt it again.
  • Dominic’s rugby scrimmage was so much fun to watch! He was one of the starters and got quite a few opportunities to impact the game on both offense and defense. So much fun watching him do something he loves.
  • During the game I was able to make a quick sprint and caught a ball way out of bounds. I know, super cheesy, but it was so much fun to enjoy the fleeting moment of feeling like I was almost in the game, almost a kid again. Super minor, but such a blast regardless!
  • A handful of Dominic’s friends from high school came to the match to cheer him on. They hung out with Becky and I throughout the game and we shot the bull the entire time. so much fun seeing the kids we used to see often grow into the men they have become. I swear each age of our son’s and their friends has somehow continued to be better than the year before.
  • Our ride back was so chill, the dog was absolutely toast from all the hiking and excitement. We stopped by the apple orchard, grabbed some apples, ciders, and maybe a caramel apple pie or two. So nice being outside and having a little mini date with the two of us. Fresh apples off the tree… so deelish!
  • At the grocery store we saw a mom with two small kids which brought back fond memories for us as well as a little laugh as we saw reminders of the happiness podcast concepts in her expression.
  • Gavin was home from his volunteer work and was in an awesomely talkative mood. We shot the bull for a while and then the and I continued the conversation at Dick’s as we picked up a knee brace for him. We may have also had some bonus fun dreaming up a home gym and pricing it out while we were there. Great one on one time with him, nice to have such fun conversation with him.
  • I got a little bonus time to make a quick fix on the grill as it warmed up. Nothing crazy or difficult, but just enough to feel like I got to problem solve, work with my hands, and be productive. A nice little chill moment.
  • There were a couple of awesome brother moments that don’t need detail. Long story short, I was reminded of one of the many reasons I love my brother and how grateful I am for the relationship my sons have with each other.
  • Grilling brats, drinking a hard cider, joking with the family. Throw in eating out of my grandma’s old stainless steel bowls from the 1950’s and it was a wonderful dinner outside on the deck!
  • Game night was fun (even though Gavin destroyed Becky and I in both Catan and Skipbo), another evening spent around the kitchen table, one of my favorite places in the world. The addition of caramel apple pie with vanilla caramel ice cream was a banger!
  • As we wrapped up the night Gavin and I fired up a movie. Sitting on the couch and taking it in we were both making comments on what we appreciated about it. I also look forward to knowing we’ll bring it up in conversation on again off again for the better part of a week or two, reminding us of that time together. Nice and chill to wrap things up.
  • Typing this blog has only increased the size of my smile today! Crazy to see all that happened appear as words on my screen. Each memory has brought back a smile and jogged my memory on other things I was grateful for. This daily thought practice has been proven over and over again over the past ten years to help me sleep with a focus on good stuff in life so much more than the frustrating.

Whew!!! What a day!!! Seriously, so many moments of joy throughout the day. I grew. I appreciated. I was present. Throw all of those together with the connections with those I love and it was pretty epic. To all who played a part in my today, thank you!!!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Unbecoming, Choice, & Stunning Sunbeams

Day 3,631

Growth:

“Maybe the journey isn’t about becoming anything.  Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so that you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”

Paulo Coelho

Appreciation:

When I am unhappy, who do I blame? How do I move toward joy?

The truth is, the source of my frustration, guilt, or anger isn’t another person—it’s how I choose to respond. My unhappiness grows when I react without intention, instead of pausing to choose my attitude and my next step.

I can’t demand others change how they think or act—that’s their work, not mine. What I can do is decide how I’ll respond. I can coach, encourage, or adjust my interactions. If needed, I can create distance. But the choice is always mine.

They control themselves. I control me. My unhappiness doesn’t come from what they did—it comes from my resistance to their choices.

So I remind myself: choose wisely. Choose joy.

Presence:

Our morning run was great, engaging conversation, running through the 20+ mph winds, and very invigorating. As we wrapped up and got close to home we could see the tops of the eastern clouds glow a dark orange.

On my way in to the office the sun had come up but was firmly seated behind a thick dark gray cloud. Fortunately for my visual enjoyment there were a couple of very small gaps in which the sunlight blasted through and lit up small pockets of the woods on the bluffs. It was such a stunning and sharp contrast, certain areas absolutely light by the sunlight while the majority was held in dark shadow. Stunning!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Cleaning the Clutter, Learning and Growing, & Sleeping In

Day 3,630

Growth:

Once in a while it is so important to pause and clean up all the clutter surrounding us. In my case it was taking a moment to pause and clean up my completely cluttered home screen on my computer. Over the busyness of the past few months there have been more and more files placed on the desktop as a way to hurry through a process. While transitioning between activities today I realized how this extra clutter was getting in my way and causing completely unnecessary stress. As soon as the clean up was completed I could feel a sense of satisfaction and a lightening of my shoulders. From that point on I was able to work with more focus on the specific tasks at hand rather than losing small amounts of concentration on the mess.

Appreciation:

One of my favorite parts of my career path is the opportunity to get to know so many different people and learn about the how and why behind what they do for a living. Quite often this leads to conversations about purpose, motivation, and how they work towards their goals.

Today this was focused on a couple of specific conversations which were very eye opening. We quickly found common ground in how we enjoying leading and helping others. There was an engaging back and forth as we learned from each other and shared ideas and compared notes. I’m very grateful for opportunities like this to learn, grow, and connect!

Presence:

Sleeping in a little bit, taking my time getting up and moving, and still getting to work early. Not ideal to take a few extra zzz’s instead of working out, but it felt like exactly what I needed this morning!

Thanks!!!