It really just had to start.
Like anything there needs a beginning and in a way this will be my
platform for a new beginning. We all
know that saying ‘excuses are like a$$holes; we all have them”. But when you truly break that down only those
that live by that rule embrace their own excuses and do not push to be more and
actually settle for mediocrity. What is
life if we settle for mediocrity? Go to
work day in and day out without trying to be different or pushing the
boundaries? What is the point in that? Go through the motions and perpetuate the
status qou? Come home make a meal, do
the dishes tuck the kids in, take them to practice…as Tyler said it “…a copy of
a copy of a copy.”
Ok I understand that these aforementioned questions are overdone or
cliché. I don’t mean it to be this way
but let’s be honest getting back to basics is essential for all of us. Look at your daily life. Can you make changes that will make you
better and once you feel and are better won’t this make you equipped and
prepared to share yourself and help those you love?
Getting back to basics hits every essence of our daily life from how we
love ourselves be it our health, creativity, dedication or even the food we
chose to eat. This becomes the apex of
all we need and should need in our lives to make us a happy person that can
share with those closest to us.
For me a major basic is running.
Once I get into a certain flow and hit my stride –no pun intended- I begin
to see things for how they are and how I want them to truly be. It begins to make sense and I truly
understand where I am and how I want to live my life.
Recently I was asked by a friend what races I was looking at this
year. When I finished explaining that I
was taking part in the Ontario Ultra Series that features eight fifty kilometer
trail races, yes five zero, and I hoped to attempt completing at least half of
these races, I was confronted with, “really? What’s wrong with you? Do you not like your knees?”
This is not an uncommon response but it seemed to have been juxtaposed
with a following run where I saw one of my favorite people. He is a man in his mid to late forties who
requires the assistance of a walker to take each and every step. One awkward step after another as he shuffles
along of left right, left right. This is the only way he can propel
himself. His little awkward movements
are his normal daily movements that he has lived with for only he knows. It takes all his effort to make it from one
block to the next. But each day be it a
beautiful summer day where the sun is warm on your face or freezing cold, or
even rain and ice like the day of this run, he is out there completing his
daily walk with a look that would say he is satisfied or even happy.
I cannot imagine what drives this man.
I have been given every opportunity and if I had his condition I feel
that I could not have the strength to carry out the same regime or even want to
get out of the house let alone leave my bed – yet he does each day no matter
what.
I have often thought of chatting with him to ask “how do you walk every
day considering your disability and the effort it must take?” But I realize a simple fact – he is probably
not seeing it as I do. I can only see
that this is a disability for him when for him he is simply out for his daily
walk. No excuse, no weather permitting bullshit
and no self-wallow, he doesn’t walk into the good life on a rainy day and put
his fucking walker on the treadmill. He
most honestly and earnestly just gets out there and finishes what he started.
My final reminder of living life truly for now comes to me when I think
of a training run for a long distance trail race last summer. I was completing a forty kilometer road run
where I had ran by runners and joggers of all levels giving me a quick wave to
say hi feeling happy in our community of runners.
As I meandered through each curve and turn after turn for mile after
mile I came across a man in a race style wheelchair. His motions were melodic or possibly
hypnotic. His arms like pistons of some
great machine, his heart the pump and his mind the navigation all working
together with the metal and plastic.
Above all that human effort and interconnected machinery was the look he
gave me. His look spoke literal volumes
but simply stated in its most basic form “isn’t it amazing to be out
here!?”
It reminded me that what I was doing training for long distance runs wasn’t
anything particularly impossible. But it gave me the most profound understanding
that; we are not meant to be mediocre. We
are not meant to sit and not push ourselves.
We are not meant to limit ourselves by our fear of embarrassment and or
of our imagination.
In the end I had no idea how I wanted to start this blog but I realize
the focus is what inspires me most. And
to be honest humans inspire me most…those who truly live.
I will end this first entry with a poem from one of my favourite poets;
Oh Yes
there are worse
things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than
too late.
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than
too late.
Charles Bukowski
