After a bit of a disappointing start to my 2020 reading challenge, I think my literary intake for February has more than made up for it! After a few weeks on a course in Kingston, Ontario, a week in the classroom, and a week in the field, I managed to add 5 more books to my read shelf. February’s reading haul included the 5th and 6th books in the Sharpe series that covers Lt Richard Sharpe’s adventures at the Siege of Copenhagen and in Spain during the Peninsula War; Jocko Willink’s newest take on leadership and the tactics and strategies learned from the battlefield and in business that can be utilized in many walks off life; Simon Sinek’s leadership philosophy on starting with the “Why” of a group’s mission over the “What” or “How”; and finally James Clear’s guide on the science and art of habit building for the purposes of self improvement. Let’s see what I can read come March! 😊 #febuaryreads #2020readingchallenge #bookstagram #books #bernardcornwell #sharpesrifles #sharpesprey #jockowillink #leadershipstrategyandtactics #simonsinek #startwithwhy #atomichabits #jamesclear @jockowillink @simonsinek @jamesclear (at Aldershot, Nova Scotia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9NZDoop0Sv4JwSsh5z1Ukd9IbehhrhQi1DmDk0/?igshid=1bytu331tsb8a
Rainy summer day just to remember how damn cozy it is in here. . . . . . . 🌿 #barnconversion#barnhouse#barnlife#vermontbarns (at Chester, Vermont) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0PJYtIFltU/?igshid=w06f5czhn4fl
If you spoke with me for more than an hour last year, you probably heard me reference my favorite TED Talk: “Start with Why”, by Simon Sinek. Here, I’ll save you the search:
So if we’ve never met, this may not be a question you’re pondering. But it might be helpful to know that I haven’t always done triathlons. Last year in Chicago was my very first official one. (I don’t count the one time I did Sprint distance with a coworker before driving into work…) In fact I ran my first ever mile in 2014. Before then I couldn’t really go 800m without needing to walk. But see until this point in my life I’ve mostly gravitated towards things I already had a natural gifting for (we’re also not counting beach volleyball here, that’s just fun!) And while this list isn’t exactly small, I have always been a “Jack of all trades, Master of none.” Growing up I never really considered myself an athlete, let alone one “capable” of completing a triathlon. Psshhh I didn’t even know triathlons existed!! I won a backstroke sprint once in high school, and I’ve always played sports recreationally. But racing the Chicago Tri last year was a very different animal And the speeds I will have to hit and maintain throughout the duration of my Chicago race this year exceed any I’ve ever done! So I guess the heart of it is to find an arena to perform and excel in.
Like a number of the things I’ve come to appreciate in life, this sport is one I stumbled into. In the late summer of 2015, I succeeded in snapping my right ACL in two on my third attempt (two soccer injuries, and finally a volleyball injuy that tore the last string). After the surgery that November, I was banished to a life without soccer or basketball or volleyball for a full year. It sucked. I had spent most of my free time the summer before out on the volleyball courts of North Avenue beach. As it turned out, about the only activities the doc and PT permitted were swimming, biking, and running. That’s when I first had the idea of a triathlon (leading to that fateful pre-work, Sprint triathlon I referred to earlier) but it wouldn’t be for another 2 years until my friend David Hall dragged me along for the crazy ride that is swimming and biking and running with 7,500 of my favorite strangers and friends across the city!
Here’s the thing: I am convinced - thoroughly convinced - that anyone can do a triathlon. Maybe not an Ironman, but at least a Sprint distance. What I’m excited about is to apply myself to something that while many people do every year, but in such a way that most people simply won’t. I’m excited to push my boundaries and see, maybe for the first time in my life, what I REALLY am capable of! No, I won’t be competing for an age group podium. At least not yet. Others in the sport have the advantage of years of training and discipline and teaching and gear; but breaking 2:30 is still a feat, personally and in the world of triathlon.
So…why even tri? Because finishing a triathlon - hitting ANY crazy goal you set for yourself - makes you feel like this:
And I think that’s something we all need to feel at least once :)
It sounds like the kind of question that would lead to healthy discussion about the spiritual and physical worlds; or to a face-off between religion and science; or even to a biological endeavour into the mechanics of reproduction and childbirth...
Alas, it’s none of those things.
What that question actually leads to is an answer about why I’m writing this post, or rather why I’m writing a blog at all, and it’s infinitely more interesting than any of those age-old debates.
I say debates, and, I’m not sure there is one around the mechanics of reproduction and childbirth, but I am happy to hear anyone out with evidence to the contrary (storks anyone?).
I’ve always liked writing so it won’t surprise you to know that this isn’t my first attempt at a blog. It may be the third or even the fourth.
My previous attempts have included: a daily journal that I started when I was 14, as an outlet for my pent-up teenage angst, detailing the kind of universal shit that matters so much to boys; a humorous take on local new stories, titled Braking Nooz (good use of puns, not so much on the phonetic spelling); and a well-meaning-but-largely-lacking-in-sound-medical-advice take on type 1 diabetes, drawing from my own experiences (I know what you’re thinking - this guy loves a pun, he probably called it ‘Diabeaters’ or something ridiculous like that... you can see a theme emerging here, can’t you?)
There are some differences this time around though.
Firstly, I’m not a 14 year old boy anymore and it’s much easier for me to see what the bigger picture is, having now lived through the subsequent 13 years realising what a winy little bitch that kid was.
Secondly, I didn’t have the tools or the knowledge to realise what was necessary to make those ideas grow from nothing to something. I’m not saying I have the blueprint for success nailed right now either, but I have learnt a lot.
Finally, the motive is different. The only purpose of the other blogs I wrote was to boost my own ego - even if trying to help diabetics seems like a noble cause now, ultimately it was just so I could be famous. And rich. And loved by all.
This is probably one of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt:
The purpose has to come first, and it has to be about something bigger than you as an individual.
This is why I’ve started out with this as a topic - so you know what I believe, what I want to achieve, and so that you can decide for yourself whether you’re on board or whether actually, this is not for me you winy-little-sugar-dodging-faux-journalist.
The last 3 years of my life have been the best, without question. I’ve developed an appetite for knowledge that I lost somewhere along the line; I’ve become socially more adept, taking on new hobbies and physical challenges that I never thought I could and ultimately; I’m a damn sight happier.
The purpose of this blog then is this:
To provide you with the stories and sources that I’ve benefited from to give you the possibility of increasing how happy you feel about your life.
I realise this is a bold aim and that there are thousands if not millions of sources out there offering some variation on the statement above and I also realise that some of these sources are exceptionally good, but these are the ones I want to draw from because I believe that they have changed my life and they can for you to.
I can hear them now, the cynics among us, “Hang on, if you really do achieve that, you will be famous. And rich. And loved by all. You sell out! I thought this was about us, not you!
For me, that’s all secondary. I know with the way that the world is that authenticity matters, and to betray peoples’ trust in your motives is unforgivable. This is why I’m telling you this now. If I make one person’s life better as a result of the information I’ve curated and presented, then I will have achieved what I wanted knowing I’ve been true to my principles.
Anyway, ignore the cynics and carry on regardless - so let’s get this diabeaters-braking-nooz-happiness-show on the road!
My first recommendation would be to go and watch Simon Sinek’s TED talk Start With Why. The messages in that video underpin everything I’ve said today and it really was the catalyst for me to get started in changing my life.
Don’t forget to dry the hydrangeas. (And process the tomatoes and freeze the corn and plant this perennials you bought on sale last week with no plan for them...) . . . . . 🌿 . . . . #vermont#theartofslowliving#barnhouse#slowliving#creativespaces#everydayelegance#visualsoflife#seekthesimplicity#creativityfound#mybeautifulmess#seasonalshift#stylingtheseasons#acolorstory#creativityfound#seekinspirecreate#stillswithstories#vermontlove#startwithwhy#hygge#aquietstyle#slownaturemoments#doingneutralright#modernrustic#vermontlife#hydrangeas#driedhydrangeas (at Chester, Vermont) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ohxKVFgjm/?igshid=j5yvb7xg3qro
