About awesome

Don't wait for awesome.
Make awesome. 

Some people wait until Friday to breathe.
Some people wait until the weekend to convert from the weekday square role they play and transform into their preferred circle being. 
Some people wait for a middle manager to notice them in the middle of the road.
Some people wait for the middle of their trip to get moving.
Some people wait for the right project to arrive to advance to the next conveyor belt of their life.

Some people wait to see how their life story will look 20, 30, 60 years from now. 

Don't wait to see how it'll turn out. 

Show up. 

Live your life's story.
Life isn't a calendar.
Life isn't "maybe next time..."
Life is moments. 

Don't wait for something awesome to come around.

Make something awesome
for you,
with you,
by you. 

Life's Ocean

This past weekend offered me a chance to reread Steven Pressfield's "Turning Pro".
Chance offered?
Opportunity taken.

If you are reading this, I encourage you to read it. 

That being said, during my swiping through the iPad pages, an interesting moment of reflection between the lines of the words punched through. 

In life we face our own ocean(s). 

Your ocean, your challenges, your depths of what-do-I-do-now are unique to you and you alone. It can be work related, faced within your family, creative doldrums, or even weights loaded up on a barbell. 

Your ocean is your own. 

With that in mind,
I don't care about your ocean.
I care about how you approach it. 

I used to pray for my legs to grow longer so that I could keep them planted on the ocean floor as I tip-toed my way deeper and deeper.
Stretch.
Reach.
Hope.
Pray the floor doesn't bottom out. 

(Begin Buzzer) Err. Wrong. (End Buzzer) 

I learned that when I'm in the ocean..
that floor..
that reach.. no longer matters. 

I no longer pray for legs that can stretch ocean deep. 
I no longer hope my limps reach to the very bottom of the challenge.

No legs... 

Lungs matter now. 

Lungs to swim further.
Lungs to dive under a wave.
Lungs to help keep my eyes on the horizon.
Lungs to fuel the fire in my heart to keep going. 

Lungs, not legs.

No need to wish you legs stretched 100 feet.
Let go of the floor.
Breathe.

Learn to swim.
Learn to swim.
Learn to swim. 

Keep Going. 

Fight another day

You're done.
Fight another day.

You're done, today.
Fight, another day.

Unforgettable.
The day, the feeling,
the location, the smell in the air,
the sound in my ears, and the beat in my chest when I heard those words spoken to me for the first time.

Stop.

You're done.
Brain firing on all cylinders: Done?
No good?
Worthless? Weak?
Dumb?

Fight another day.
Brain firing on all cylinders: Leave.
Don't come back until you're ready.
You're not enough.

Stop.

You're done.
(Care.)

Fight another day.
(Direction.)

Stop.

Mindset.
Mechanics.
Mechanics.
Mindset.

Roar from the back of my brain panicking, over-thinking, over-analyzing, hitting rewind through every failure in my life and pinning this on my cork-board of failures as I process those five words through the rest of my being in those seconds after they were spoken. Beaten, broken, let down from the challenge I was just facing and ready to tilt my head down in shame from the thoughts covering any hope, faith, or light inside my chest.

Stop.

( WHY DID YOU SAY THAT TO ME )

You're done, today.
You're done, for now.
Now is not tomorrow.
Now is not forever.

You're done.
Fight another day.

Roar. Roar from the bottom of your heart. Roar at the back of your brain. Roar again tomorrow. Roar again for yourself. Roar again at the challenge you faced. Roar from within. Learn to roar. Learn to roar for yourself. Learn the sound of your roar. Learn the volumes that you've never reached. Learn about the silence in this stillness of being stopped. Listen. Learn to listen. Learn. Earn your roar. Roar again. Rise again.

You're done.
Fight another day.

Keep Going. 

One B

One year..

There's something special inside these cinder-blocked walls for me.

From the coaches, to those that lift and clean and snatch the sun up into the sky in the early AM hours before the rest of the world wakes up, to the competitors, rookies rubbing elbows with me, PM people I rarely see, to each and every one of you that have 'that look' in your eyes because you're fighting for yourself - pushing, pulling, and pursuing that place one step past "I can't".. thanks for who you are and what you do.

Here's to tomorrow and the next year and a healthy life ahead.

It's a daily reminder when I see the red star: 
Stay hungry.
Stay humble.
Keep going.