Month: January 2020

I am a meathead, I like lifting weights.  If I could hangout in the gym all day, every day, I would.  I’ve gone a bit deeper than the average dude with my lifting too.  I have read a lot of information about lifting.  I have always tried to learn more about getting strong and getting big.  I have found many great teachers in my quest for knowledge, injury has been one of the greatest teachers. I am grateful for everything I have learned through the injuries I have suffered to my body. 

My body has suffered its fair share of injuries over the course of 20 years of lifting weights.  I have torn both pectorals, one horribly, one not so horribly.  I have lower back issues.  I have torn my calf.  I have had what I would guess is tendonitis issues in both Achilles’ tendons.  I have issues with one bicep tendon.  I had a stretch of several years where my left arm would have random numbness.  I have had inguinal hernias on both sides, I am still waiting to fix the one.  I think that covers most of my injuries, to be honest that is not a horrible slate of injuries, but I have been through a few.  All of these things have been great teachers.

These things have taught me so much because I never quit lifting any longer than I was forced to.  When I suffered my major pec tear, I was training my lower body the next day.  I just kept coming back and had to overcome all these things.  This is where injuries really teach us.  They force us to learn how to overcome.  These are fantastic lessons. 

From a training standpoint injuries really flip the script on us.  As I accumulated these injuries I couldn’t just go into the gym and bang and clang the weights like young dudes like to do.  I have to learn a lot about warmups and recovery work to keep my body from breaking any more.  I learned how to bench press 300 pounds again after tearing both pecs, which forced me to learn a ton about bench press technique.  I could no longer just lay back and press.  Injuries force us to be smarter about our training, in many cases we can still do cool things. 

In addition to all the lessons I have learned about the nuts and bolts of training, injuries have taught me a lot of mental things.  I have learned how to emotionally and mentally overcome problems.  Every single time I was injured I found a way to come back just as strong as before.  This teaches mental fortitude.  I have also learned so much about pain through injuries.  Overcoming injuries will often mean pain, sometimes lots of it.  Now a lot of times, walking into the gym means I am walking into pain.  I think being able to walk into pain is a skill for life.  Injuries really do offer to teach us so much.

Since injuries have taught me so much, I also have more to teach others because of these experiences.  I plan to do some personal training and strength coaching in the future.  I will be a better teacher after all these exercises.  I am far wiser about when to push and when to back off.  I know more about staying healthy.  I can pass these lessons onto others and help them in so many ways.  A meathead of 20 years with a few injuries under their belt just has a better perspective than someone who has been lifting 2 years and has not yet suffered PAIN.  I hope I can pass my lessons onto others save them some of the problems I have created for myself through injuries. 

Injuries happen to everyone, whether they workout or not.  They are a part of life.  Learning how to overcome them teaches so much.  I am glad I have learned these lessons.  I didn’t seek these lessons out but I accepted them when they were presented to me.  I am grateful I know these lessons, even if I can say I hated the teachers.

Professional networking can be hard.  I think it’s even harder when you are getting started and don’t know anyone at all.  If you’re an introvert like me, networking can feel like a mystery at times.  There are things like meetups out there that demystify things a bit though.  I am grateful that I stumbled into going to meetups and for everything I have gotten from them.

About 8 years ago I went to my first meetup, I found it on Meetup.com and ended up going to a random building to meet some random people.  This put me into some local entrepreneurial tech and startup circles.  I really built up a decent network having had attended a lot of meetups.  I got some jobs from these meetups.  I made a lot of friends from these meetups.  They really helped jumpstart my career a little bit.  In a lot of ways it was pretty easy too.  I just had to show up.

That is the cool thing about a lot of professional meetups, you just have to show up.  That makes networking and getting started networking very easy.  This is what I needed at the time.  I ended up having a bit of a tech career just because of the people I met in these meetups.  I’m grateful these kind of events exist and how welcoming they are. 

Sometimes we want something, but in a different version.  Life would be far more boring if there was only one version of things.  Sometimes later versions are better.  Sometimes later versions are just different.  This is true of songs.  A good song is bound to have many of it recorded and performed at some point.  I am grateful for cover songs, because they make the world more cool.

Good songs end up having so many versions of them made its crazy.  There is a magic to these cover songs.  Sometimes a different person singing a song can totally change the song.  It’s some sort of magic that one version can really resonate with a person when other versions just don’t.  Maybe this is because every person has a different way of receiving a message.  Different deliveries mean different people can get the message of a song which is cool.  Since people can change and become different people, it also means we can rediscover songs with cover songs.

 Rediscovery is a little bit of magic of a cover song.  Sometimes we become numb to a song.  Hearing a cover song means we get to enjoy it all over again.  Being able to enjoy old things all over again, that is a beautiful.  This is why I’m grateful for all the good cover songs out there.

I am a member of society and participate to some degree in the discourse of our times.  I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of topics.  I feel strongly about some of these thoughts and opinions.  Since I am seeking enlightenment I am starting to reevaluate my thought processes and opinions in general.  My default opinion is starting to become having no opinion.  I am grateful I am learning how to have no real thoughts or opinions about a great many things.

I used to have thoughts and opinions about most everything that crossed my path.  I think this is a pretty normal thing.  I also personally don’t want this to be my default behavior.  Having thoughts and opinions on everything is cognitively exhausting.  I feel as though I must control my energy, and not waste that energy where I do not want to.  I am training myself to only have thoughts and responses to things I choose to.

I think it’s a trap when we feel we must respond or have a thought about things.  First of all it’s a lot of work to have a good opinion.  You must do research and understand a thing first to have a good opinion.  In all reality who has time for that?  Even if you don’t have to research on some particular topic, what good does it even do to respond to it?

If you hop online, or read the news, or watch local news there are a lot of things you could respond to and put a lot of energy into.  I don’t know what good it does to have a response to these things.  If something horrible is happening, but you can’t do anything about it, what good does it do to get all wound up?  I feel like you can be aware of events without an investment of your energies.  That seems to be the best path forward to me. 

It’s wonderful not to have the mental clutter of having thoughts and opinions of things that have nothing to do with me.  Most things in this world have nothing to do with me.  I still have a lot of opinions.  I am trying to have fewer opinions though.  I want to put my energy where I want to put it, and I’m learning how to do that.  I have not always been that way.  This path of not having opinions seems to just be calmer to me.  I’m grateful I am learning how to just have no opinion, no response, and just let things be.

I have screwed up just about everything I have done in life.  I’m not the sort of guy that gets it right the first time.  People that get it right the first time, I wonder if they are wizards.  It takes me a few tries to do most things.  I’m grateful I’ve been given so many chances to get things right in life. 

If we had to do things right the first time around in life, I would be screwed.  Excessive persistence is just about the only way I get things done.  I’m glad we get to do things over and over again in most areas of our lives.  A lot of my failures were because I didn’t take advantage of another second chance.

If something it worth trying, I think it is worth trying until I get it right.  In most cases I see little reason not to take every second chance I’m given.  Repetition usually means we stumble into something good.    

Weather is really good at transformations.  Rain transforms the fields into crops.  Wind sweeps away the heat.  A storm can destroy.  For me snow seems to bring a little dose of quiet.  Things seem to slow down and get a bit quieter for me when it snows.  I am grateful for the cool quiet of a snowy day.

I have always felt like life is a bit quieter and more relaxed on a snowy day.  Maybe its because we cut out a lot of our extra tasks for the day and just do what we need to.  Maybe the snow just forces us into the present a little more.  We must shovel the snow.  We must be super aware of the road conditions and weather that is on the way.  This snowy weather does force us into the present a little bit.  Being present in the now is a path to more quiet and peace for sure. 

None of that being present stuff may be true.  I also think that maybe snow just is an inherently relaxing thing.  I find there to be something calming about watching snow.  Snow definitely looks very pretty draping itself across trees.  Whatever the mechanism is, I am glad I find snow to be relaxing and quieting.

Don’t we all like finding things that quiet and relax us?  Life can be very chaotic for many people including myself, so anything that calms the chaos is good.  Snow changes the pace of things, and that calming effect is good for a lot of people.  Some people get mad at the snow, but I try and welcome it.  Snow brings some good things, I try and drink in those good things.  As it snows outside today, I find myself grateful for this change of pace.

I have been watching a lot of volleyball on TV the past couple years.  I really enjoy watching the Purdue Volleyball team, because I am all in on all things Purdue.  I like the pace of volleyball a lot, it just seems to keep moving fast.  I am however very grateful that I don’t actually understand anything about volleyball.

I have made the conscious decision not to learn anything about volleyball.  I have proactively avoided learning anything other than the most basic of rules.  I think this makes the viewing experience much more enjoyable for me.  This means I can relax and watch a volleyball game without my brain trying to figure everything out about it.  I approach watching volleyball with no thoughts and no preconceptions.  I wish I could watch basketball like this still.

I feel like I understand just a little about basketball.  That can make watching basketball infuriating.  I can see the chess game being played sometimes and see how my team can win.  Then my team rarely does the thing to win.  This is kind of irritating to me, I don’t want to experience that kind of thing with volleyball.  I want to just enjoy watching the game with volleyball.

My watching of volleyball is something I am trying to keep pure, innocent, and light.  I have a proclivity to add weight to things in life.  If I do anything too many times I am going to try and learn about to get better.  I’ll read books about it, and listen to podcasts about it.  This can be exhausting.  I think its good to keep some things from becoming obsessions and pursuits of glory.  I have done this with volleyball, I should do it with more things.  Being an idiot about the game of volleyball seems to make watching volleyball more enjoyable.  I am beyond grateful I am dumb about the game of volleyball and can just watch and enjoy it.

I woke up today feeling rather good.  I did not feel like a zombie.  I was not falling asleep in the shower.  I had gotten a lot of sleep the night before.  I feel sort of good today.  I find myself being thankful every time I decide to get a good long night’s sleep.

Sleep is something we have a free unlimited supply of.  Even with this abundant supply, I under-sleep.  I too often choose not to sleep.  This never serves me well.  Every time I make the smart decision and get good sleep I am thankful I did. I just feel so much better when I make this smart choice.

I think we can be grateful for all the smart choices we make along the journey of life.  We can be grateful that there was something inside of us keeping us on the right path.  There is gratitude to be found in many things.  We can find it in God’s gifts, our possessions, in our friends, and in the choices we have made.  For me gratefulness is a lens through which to view things.  I think the trick is to make it a more present lens.

Our pasts follow us around.  Who we were is part of who we are.  The bond with our past selves is something we get to define.  Our past can define us.  Our past can also be almost meaningless.  There are lots of choices each person must make for themselves around this matter.  I am grateful that we get to make these choices.  I am grateful that if I choose I can be an entirely different person. 

Reinvention is one of the coolest things a person can do.  Becoming a different person when we want to, or are forced to is so cool.  We are not stuck as we are.  These changes come in all varieties.  These changes are not always easy or fast.  The fact that we can change means we can overcome our pasts, or take advantage of our opportunities for the future. 

Some people are good at this reinvention, it is almost like a skill to them.  I think once you do it a couple times these changes get easier.  I have reinvented myself before.  I no longer see it as a problem.  I can just do it.  The big changes are hard, but it does not feel insurmountable any more.  I am so happy that most people can do this, it makes the world more fun.  I am glad I can reinvent, because it is how I have survived and it is how I win going forward.

I try and go for a long walk every day.  It is scheduled on my calendar every day.  I try and go if its raining, snowing, or just downright cold.  Somedays I do miss my walk, but it has become such an important part of my day I try not to miss it.  I am thankful for all that these long walks give me.

Long walks give the gift of exercise first and foremost.  Walking is exercise that doesn’t hurt me.  For a beat up weight lifter this is awesome.  Long walks are a way to get some cardio in without the risk of injury.  I like milking some mileage out of this easy kind of exercise.  Trying to be fit and healthy is important to me, and walking is a piece of this.  The fitness benefits of walking are great, but the mental benefits are far greater for me.

I have found long walks to be one of the best things to do for my mood and thinking.  Coming back from walking I always seem to have a boost in my mood.  Getting outside and getting some endorphins going help with that.  When I walk and its quiet I also seem to have a lot of ideas come to me.  I take a notepad with me every time I walk, I usually come back with a good idea or two.  On top of this sometimes when I’m stuck on an intellectual problem and come back from a walk, the problem has solved itself in my head.  If this is not magic, I don’t know what is.  Going for these walks isn’t magic, but it can feel like it sometimes.

Walks do sometimes feel like I am unlocking magic.  Things go better after a nice long walk.  That is magic enough for me.  That is probably why I’m so disciplined about getting my walks in.  I need that magic in my life.  I am thankful to have found this special kind of white magic.  When we find magic, well we would be smart to lean into that magic.