Dad Bud

There is a campaign going on for the next 3 days (March 4-6), Imperfect is Normal to shed light on the FACT that #imperfectishuman. It’s a campaign targeted at women, but us men share the same needs to grasp for perfection and show our better sides rather than our faults or our realities. It’s human instinct to hide our problems, protect our faults, and ensure no one gets to see our weaknesses as this will put us below others in this hierarchical society we live. Imperfections! Man, I have them. Lots of them and everybody does. It makes me human, it’s what makes me real, and what makes me unique. Do I grasp them and live them fully, hell no! Like everyone else I protect them as I don’t want to appear weak, incapable, worthless, or un-human. It’s about fitting in right?! Here’s my confession of the real me. All the tips I post, the reminders, and the suggestions on how to live life better, those are my faults and my weaknesses. These post are not suggestions for you, t

“The whole future lies in uncertainty; live immediately.” It’s been 4 weeks since I posted here. 4 weeks that I needed away, needed separation from writing and a break on doing this blog in order to think through some of my own priorities. A chance to practice living immediately and not wait on the uncertain future. I had a dream last night. Likely due to a couple things being on my mind of late, primarily the notion of living immediately has been top of mind for me.  I dreamed I was given 3 days to live. It was scheduled, timed to the exact moment of my demise from a disease. I was entirely healthy to live my regular life, how I wanted to but only 3 days left. Morbid, I know! The intriguing part is how the dream played out. I didn’t panic to really live this extraordinary life over those 3 days, I went about my regular plans through the weekend. Nothing out of the ordinary, I simply went about my days with the worry in mind but no change to the schedule. I know, I b

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Finding the light in the dark. Last week I wrote about not being afraid of the dark, frankly because were too old to be afraid of the dark. Darkness being a struggle, difficult time, or an unknown. Before you start heading into the dark and truly pushing yourself there, you’ll need to equip yourself with the ability to find some light. We all have darkness and we all need to practice finding the light. Practice, practice, practice. You’ll need to practice this as much as possible, for if you struggle finding the light in any situation in your current life it’ll be a struggle to step out of your comfort zone to embrace the darkness of the unknown. I’ll give an example of how I practice finding the light and remind myself weekly. I write this blog on Monday evenings, probably one of the most hated days of the week for many people. General society dreads Monday’s. Monday means back to

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. - Seneca Difficulties, struggles, darkness.  The former two often emerge from darkness, from the unknown, from being in a vulnerable state, and from stepping out of the light into uncertainty.  We generally hang ourselves up on the difficulties and struggles of life. The tough times, that deep down actually serve to strengthen us overall. Stepping out of the light, what is working and what doesn’t need changing can also create a very uneasy feeling. Disrupting what is functioning to experience and grow in life can be unsettling. Vulnerability and doing it with purpose isn’t easy, it exposes you to possible failure - difficulties and struggles. The more we begin to understand how the darkness can not only lead to lessons learned but to some amazing places, the more often we’ll be willing to step out of the light into the darkness.  We’re too old to be afraid of the dark, avoid difficult times, and fail at so

“It’s mind over matter.” That’s how I recently described running, long distance running, and particularly marathon running. I said this on live TV and truly do believe it.  Really, this pertains to most, if not all, physical challenges or goals. I’ve written much about this, focus highly on the mental aspect as I know that as humans this is where we struggle most. Our mental state or ability to control our mind is really the biggest aspect to achieving amazing things in life. Your body will tell itself it’s done much sooner than it reaches anywhere close to done. The mind protects ourselves from pain, that’s how the body works. One of the greatest aspects of running, or endurance activities, is being able to confront the little person inside who wants to quit. When you are struggling the most to continue on, learning how to talk ourselves through that physical pain threshold is exactly where greatness starts to happen.  Everyone hits those spots, EVERYONE. The “I

Non est ad astra mollis e terris via. There is no easy way from the earth to the stars - Seneca It’s that time of year.  All kinds of ambitious New Years Resolutions and goals to live by for the new year. Amazing as it is to see so much positivity and willingness to achieve great things for the year ahead, I can’t help but get disappointed in the whole process. I’ve mentioned before, I love the idea of making positive steps in your life but dread the fact that most people wait until a new year to make these necessary changes in life.  I’ve come to accept this time of year and the process of setting goals for people, I’m ok with it and actually have begun to join the party myself. In thinking further about it all, I do believe there is one element, or many, that is likely the culprit for my frustrations with these in most people. “I want to give back or volunteer more”, “I want to get in better shape”, “I want to exercise more”, “I want to eat healthier”, “I want