This Blog

This blog is dedicated to explorations of spirit, life, adventure, and people. I hope that it encompasses much more than the actions of people, but rather creates a more complete picture of what it means to be an athlete and a person in the outdoor community.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Excuses

I'm tired. Bored. Hung over. I don't fit in. I don't like it. I can't afford it. It makes me uncomfortable. I might not like it. I might get bored. I might not fit in. I don't like them.

The problem with excuses is that they color the narrative of our lives. What we tell ourselves is our story, and how we think of ourselves.




Being purposeful is, well, our purpose. We have to find something that we want to strive toward and make a lifetime effort towards it. As we progress through the layers of the goal, it will shift, our passions will shift as we will learn, and we will further understand what we are doing here. Most important is to be as engaged as possible in the process and be actively seeking ways to improve at achieving your goal of the time. Maybe sports is a way to get fit, maybe sports serves in the higher purpose of becoming a leader, maybe you are saving people by being a coach, maybe you are trying to slay girls by running big waterfalls(I will save you the trouble, it doesn't work). But you should be doing it to the fullest of your extent until it no longer interests you, and your passion bubbles up for something else, then transition with your whole mind and body.

We can always find excuses, stories we tell ourselves that make our shortcoming or lack of effort valid or acceptable in our minds. We need to really ponder them. Are they really true? How do they impact my growth? How does the story impact the narrative of my life? The stories we tell ourselves are true. What do you want to be your truth? That you are too tired/timid to run, or read, or engage fully in a conversation, or, that the grit required to do those things is worth the reward.

The bottom line is that you should be making decisions, not excuses.


Clancy, on the Boom in Nicaragua, being decisive on the wave.