Grateful

I will keep this one short as today is Thanksgiving Day. Today in my mind is one of the best days of the year for many reasons but the top three reasons that come to mind are...1) Family, Family, Family...without them in our life we are lost and lacking one of the most important support systems we have 2) Fitness/health...its one day out of the year where lots of people wake up (usually to cold temps) and get out of the house to run, walk, trot or crawl some sort of Turkey Trot 3) This one might step on the feet of number two but FOOD...I absolutely love the food that is served on turkey day. Maybe one of the reasons that the food is so good also is that it is prepped at home for hours and with lots of love instead of some store bought garbage.

Thanksgiving Day is also a day in which we should recognize how grateful we are for what we have in our life. Each year I love to put these down on paper as it reminds we of how special our lives are the rewards of all our hard work each day of the year. Its also important to tell those close to you how much they mean to you. Sometimes we can get so focused on the process that we forget to take a second to tell those around you THANKS for all that they do.

My list of things I am grateful for is to long for this blog so I will keep it to a top ten list today:

1. My three little ladies. Without them my life would truly be empty. They are hands down the most important things I have in this life and everything I do all comes back to those three very special little ladies in my life.

2. My wife. I know she should just be part of number one but she deserves a point all to herself. In ten years of being married to her she has not once complained about any of my antics. She constantly supports me 110% which I know can be hard at times. She works harder than anyone I know professionally with the sole purpose of providing for her family and I want her to know that the girls and I are so grateful for her.

3. Friends. I am not going to list out any individuals but I am grateful that life drove me towards this uber passion of running/triathlon. If you have never hung out with this crowd then you are missing out. This community revolves around support and always putting themselves second behind helping someone first.

4. Chiropractic. The reason I am grateful for my profession is that I get to go to work every single day and make an immediate impact in someones life. There is not waiting to see if surgery worked or if some medication will make a change. I get to physically work on a patient and make an immediate positive change. I have had patients come in with tears of joy that after years of discomfort I was able to provide them with the relief they were seeking.

5. Failure. Without failure in my life I would never be able to reach the next level of success. I love failure as it is the ultimate professor of success. I get to learn what I did wrong and adjust everything that is needed to make that failure a success the next time around. Don't shy away from failure but engulf the experience and learn from it.

6. Health. I can't say that I have always been focused on health but my education and personal desire to always want to be better has led me to leading a healthy lifestyle. I am grateful that my daughters would rather eat fruits and vegetables than a bag of chips. I am grateful for being able to wake up each day and press forward without anything getting in my way. I am not big on medication and believe that a lifestyle diet, exercise and positive mental thoughts are the most powerful medication we have. Take time now to make the right choices in your life as I can promise that they will lead you to a happier life later in life.

7. Family. I think I tried to invite about 50 patients/friends to my house this holiday season as I hate when people don't have people around them to spend this time with. I have been blessed with an amazingly supportive family base in my life. My parents never told me I couldn't do anything but knew I had to fail at times to understand life more. I appreciate everyone in my family as I know no matter how bad life can get they will always be there for me.

8. Success. Success has led me to keep pushing the limit of what I can accomplish. In my mind there is nothing that I can't accomplish in this world. Success allows me to experience many levels of joy and internal peace. Success has also allowed me to give back to those who are less fortunate whether in financially or words of wisdom success allows you the power to change someones life.

9. Humble. I purposely put this behind success as I think its an important concept for individuals to learn in life and something my wife and I are trying to teach our daughter after her recent success's in running (actually everything she does). Every once in awhile I look back on what I have done so far and it puts a smile on my face of the accomplishments I have obtained. I could use that and be very arrogant but that is a character flaw I am not fond of. I think it takes a stronger person to be humble and praise other peoples achievements instead of brag about yours.

10. Freedom. At the end of the day without freedom a lot of the previous 9 items might be more difficult to appreciate. I am grateful for everyone that wakes up in the morning whether over seas or on US soil with the main goal of keeping our country safe. I give THANKS to all military members who are waking up on Thanksgiving away from their families as they protect our freedom.

Make sure at some point today you share with yourself, your family or your friends what you are grateful for. If you have a hard time coming up with anything than at least starting from that point on you know that you can make your life that much more rich by starting to build you list.

One last point as I have been working towards it all month. November is also known as Movember and for those who are not familiar Movember is us males version of breast cancer awareness month. During the month of November men are suppose to not shave and grow facial hair with a mustache being the ultimate goal. The goal is to raise awareness for health issues that affect men in particular...i.e. testicular cancer, prostate cancer and even breast cancer. This is my second year in a row trying to spread the word and below you will find my most recent Movember photo.

So on this day of thanks go forth and enjoy everything that you are blessed with and realize that life is ever evolving so if you are not happy with your situation today then you have the power to make a change.

Make It Count!!!

Time

When the word time is used in our day to day language or thought process how is it defined in your world? Most people refer to time in regards to being stuck on Interstate 95 with only 10 minutes till work starts and they are an hour away. Some people refer to time in regards to how long they will wait at the local eating establishment to be seated. Then there are people who view time in regards to how many minutes are left until the weekend. Over the past year I have started to view time in a different manor. Time to me stands for making sure that each day I make the most out of my time on this earth as I have learned that nothing is guaranteed.

Above you will see pictures of the the man in which this whole blog started. I am bringing up Jimmy once again in my blog as one year ago on Thanksgiving my family had the joy of spending the day with Jimmy and his family. The day was surrounded by food, drinks, a touch football game and more important the sight that no one could tell Jimmy was dealing with brain cancer. His strength and will to fight the fight over powered the tumor that was trying to overtake his brain. He showed everyone that even when life just doesn't seem fair you don't have to give up and throw in the towel. Life is all about what you make it and Jimmy was going to make the most of what time he had. The picture on the bottom was 6 months later days before cancer won the fight but not the battle (just would like to note Jimmy was a die hard Bears fan all the way to the end...I knew there was a reason we bonded so well). He fought all the way to the end making the most of his days and trying to leave a lasting impression on the world of the great man that he was.

What can we learn from Jimmy and just about every person that has been given that diagnosis of Cancer? I think we can learn that each and every one of us has the strength and will to make life (time) count. My question to you is why wait until something negative in your life happens that forces you to change? Start today and build on the person you want to become. We all have goals or bucket list items in our life. Why wait and keep pushing off your dreams when the day may come where time is not your friend. Act today and forge ahead pursuing the goals you have stirring in your head.

Here is an action plan that works...pick a goal, skill you want to obtain, a dream vacation, potential new career and follow this strategy. On a piece of paper write down 30 days, 60 days and 90 days. Now under those headlines start filling in what you need to do in that time frame to conquer your goals.

Time is the one thing that will always be there but also can be pulled out from underneath us in the blink of an eye. Why wait to make a difference when we have the power to make the most of our time on earth. I will always guarantee to Jimmy that I will not waste what I have been given and I will keep pushing to make sure I prove to him and the world that I can make a difference.

Make It Count!!!

Escape

I know that there is no shock that I am once again using a picture of my daughter to illustrate my point. The thing is that the three of them are constantly teaching me values/principles in life even though they don't even realize it. The picture above is my little one and what the picture is showing is that with twisting/turning and pulling she is able to get herself out of the cribs harness. The days and comfort of knowing once you put her down she can't move and get into trouble are over. Your asking how this relates to my blog topic today and its pretty simple. She has taken it upon herself to figure out how to get out of a tough situation (situation being that she is tired of just laying around) and ESCAPE from the limitations or harness that life has placed on her.

I hear patients, coaching clients, family, friends and just about everyone at some point say they CAN'T do something. For some reason they have developed some type of doubt in their mind and put a limitation on accomplishing a task. These people believe that certain achievements are beyond their grasp and no matter the hard work put in they would not be able to succeed. People have built this idea in their head that if success is not an easy acquisition then why try. Everything now is the easy way out with fear of hard work or fear of the unknown result. Well let me be the first or maybe the hundred person to tell you that this is all garbage!!!

We are 100% capable of accomplishing anything we put our minds to. Yeah most of them will take lots of hard work, focus, determination and a thick skin knowing that failure is part of the learning and success process. I have failed many times over my life span but I have never once looked at it as a negative maybe thanks to my parents instilling me from day one that failure is fine as long as you take something positive away from it and LEARN.

Life's harness and restraints are everywhere we turn from fast food restaurants tempting those trying to loose weight, the snooze button allowing you to sleep in and miss that integral swim set, taking medication instead of taking time to figure the root cause of your problem which may fix the problem for good, fear of public speaking which may hold you back from giving that presentation needed to excel professionally or the hours of useless TV content distracting you from finishing your research needed to obtain your PhD.....I could go on forever with theses examples as they are present everywhere you turn these days.

Whether its the picture of my daughter figuring out how to succeed in ESCAPING from her crib or my other daughters not allowing anything to hold back their progress in life I have become so much more confident in the human spirit since having children. I have been trying to learn Portuguese recently from our nanny and its a tall task for me as something deep down is telling me that its to hard to learn...my daughters on the other hand don't look at it as hard but approach it more with a fun outlook and last night they where singing a songs in Portuguese...it was amazing!!!

I will let you know that ESCAPING the constraints in life is not an easy process but with focus, attention and a solid plan of attack you will be able to accomplish goals beyond your wildest dreams. I have seen people loose 200 pounds over time the hard way with nutrition and exercise...I have seen one of my good buddies cross the finish line of an Ironman (the amazing feat was at over 300 pounds society would tell him its impossible)....I have seen my wife push through constraint after constraint professionally with hundreds of roadblocks in her way only to succeed time and time again...I have seen my mom go back to college in her 50's and graduate with honors...I have seen my sister who at age 6 was given weeks to live only to overcome and live a life of success with two beautiful daughters (her only downside is she's a Packers fan).

So please if nothing else start today building your future. Pick a task or something that you have wanted to accomplish and start working towards that goal. If needed build a team or ask for help (coaches whether life or sport are great) if needed but know if you keep pushing forward I will guarantee you will succeed and in the end it helps me because the world will be a better place with people accomplishing their goals.

MAKE IT COUNT!!!!