QIC: Lutefisk
Date: 11/14/2019
PAX: IronButt, Sidekick, Swingset, Free Candy, FNG- Homeschool, 9 Volt, Gru, Evita, Vaccine, The Count, John Doe, Jazzy Jag, Peanuts, Fissure, Dolly
AO: RidgeCut
Conditions
Not as cold as Tuesday but still pretty dang cold.
COP
Took a mosey over to the lower parking lot where we quickly warmed our bodies up. No layers shed at this point.
The Thang
Our expedition featured three separate parts. The entrance, the storm, and the escape. Had to keep things down (no loud farts or grunts) with the Thang happening on a residential street and right next to my own casa where my 2.0s were snoozing. This was a tough task, but I’m proud of the group.
The Entrance:
Circuits of 1 minute on the playground.
Circuit 1- Pull ups on monkey bars.
Circuit 2- Squat walks across the soccer field.
Circuit 3- Reverse rows on the swings
Two full circuits followed by a minute of plank.
The Storm
After completing the entrance, we moseyed over to the heart of the storm… the Belvoir Triangle. There we found the storm arranged in the following order
The Outer Hurricane- 6 Individual benches on the perimeter. PAX completed 10 box jumps or 20 step ups on each bench. Once done, they proceeded to the inner hurricane.
The Inner Hurricane- 5 circular tables with 3 benches each spread throughout. PAX completed 10 decline merkins off a bench, 15 dips off a bench, and then 20 incline merkins on a bench. Once done with a table, they moved on to the next one… and after completing all 5 they plunged into the eye of the storm
The Eye of the Storm- A fire pit with three benches found more towards the center. PAX did a burpee next to a bench, jumped on to the bench, and then to the other side for another burpee until reaching the magic number of 10.
The Escape:
After giving our upper body a nice warm up, we booked it back to the starting point in class Indian run style, breaking into an all-out sprint once we hit the hill. Staying true to our roots, though, everyone doubled-back to the six for another lap up the hill. That hill is going to be a FUN one and a defining part of this AO.
COT
What are your goals for yourself and your family over the next 10, 15, 20, 25 years? In light of that, what are the characteristics yourself and your family to be defined by 10, 15, 20, 25 years from now? I know that for me, in taking the time to reflect on my current state, my goals, which centered on financial stability and mobility, did not reflect the characteristics I want to be defined by or that I want my family to be defined by (these characteristics being: Welcoming, Accepting, Safe, Loving, Selfless, Generous, Humble, and Compassionate).
It begs the question: Where are my priorities for myself and my family? In our work, we often dream of the day when we have “made it.” We strive for a goal. Yet in our personal lives, be it spiritual or merely psychological, we settle for the mentality of having “made it” because we aren’t doing bad things. We plateau, go through the motions, and mosey through life with no real direction beyond temporal, materialistic goals.
But when faced with the reality of the dissonance between our long-term goals and the characteristics we want ourselves and our families to be defined by, we are forced with the question. Do we change the trajectory we are on by changing our goals or do we continue on?
For me, personally, I realized that a trajectory change was necessary. I had plateaued and realized that stark reality that I could coast in this state, meet all of my financial goals for my family 25 years from now, and have done nothing significant with my life, nothing truly impactful, meaningful.
The American dream, though good in concept, has trained us to define success in a materialistic manner. Nice house, nice car, nice family, nice retirement. But is a comfortable life truly a successful life? 25 years from now, though we may be in a great place financially, how will we and our families be defined? Will we be defined as another comfortable, well-off, successful American family who has “made it” and achieved the American dream? Or will we be defined as a family who was welcoming, accepting, safe, loving, selfless, generous, humble, and compassionate? The first is a life defined by comfort, the second is not.
For me and my family, we want the latter, which is why I have committed to changing my own personal trajectory and with my wife the trajectory of our family. I don’t want to stay where I am and I don’t want our family to stay where we are. I want to constantly pursue a higher ideal, one that I can never fully reach and thus can never plateau at but must always push myself to grow in.
Below is a quote that has helped me get this journey, this new trajectory, started. It goes like this:
A DREAM written down with a date becomes a GOAL. A goal broken down into steps becomes a PLAN. A plan backed by ACTION becomes REALITY.
I challenge each of you to take the time to look at your personal and familial goals and then to see how those correspond with the characteristics you want to be defined by (your ideal, or your dream). Where they do not match up, redefine your goals. Once you’ve established goals, create a plan for how you can tangibly apply and exemplify these characteristics in your life. Once you have a plan, do it. Make it happen. It will be uncomfortable and inconvenient. People are broken and it is hard to be around brokenness.
To finish up, going back to what I said about the financial goals I have had for my family, I know full-heartedly that the ROI on investing in people far outperforms any investment fund. Make your life count.
Moleskin
Layers were shed like a polar bear in the equator. Merlot was splashed. All around a great morning.
News
Convergence Saturday at 7 at RidgeCut. 3 year anniversary. Be there.
