Educate

I have been terrible at my posts this summer due to the schedule of keeping up with these three little ladies above. Between ER visits, triathlons, duathlons, soccer tournaments/practice, vacation, work, dance, camp and just trying to be the best parents we can be time seems to fly bye the older we get. Although even as crazy as we get I wouldn't trade out a single moment with these ladies.

This leads me to the topic of this blog post...Educate. I am not singling out our nations teachers or leaders but instead shifting focus to everyone who wakes up each day and takes a deep breath. We all have what I believe is a given responsibility to educate ourselves and those around us. Have a daily goal of learning something new. With technology and the ability to search anything on the internet spend 10, 20 or 30 minutes a day trying to educate yourself on something new. There is only positives that will come from this exercise as it will make you a more well-rounded individual.

The larger task at hand though is to take time each day and educate those around you. It can be anything from teaching a co-worker effective marketing strategies, to helping someone learn how to properly canvas the grocery store for food choices to spending 5 minutes educating your constantly depressed/negative friend on how much they have to live for and the good they can accomplish. Whether its a family member, a friend or a complete stranger we can all work together to make our days more effective through education. I am helping coach a local high school cross country team this fall and I am over the hills excited to share my knowledge and help the kids become better runners and even better individuals.

I have the luxury of seeing patients daily who are in acute pain or just want to live a better life and the one thing I enjoy the most is educating them on how things can indeed always improve. I use strategies from every facet or chapter of my life to help someone improve on what they currently have. I am not saying I have all the answers but what I am saying is that through some form of communication or confidence in an individual you can make long lasting dramatic changes in their life.

Although no offense to any of my patients but the one thing I enjoy the most is educating my children. Number one I always daily teach them and constantly reiterate that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to while at the same time giving it their best. I will never once tell them its impossible or they don't have what it takes. Living with 4 highly competitive driven women (yes I can already tell what direction the baby is going and anyone else that knows her will agree) I love the challenges that each of them takes in their life and I love being there to help drive them down the path. Their confidence wanes at times but as a team we are always there to help each other out.

A week ago I competed in the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships for sprint and olympic triathlon in Milwaukee, WI. Its two races where basically the top athletes for those distances come together and duke it out for spots on the next years Team USA triathlon team. After years of racing long course triathlon I was excited to switch gears and attempt to get some of that old school speed back. Well without going into extreme detail I showed up at the race running some of my fastest times in all my 37 years. That was until race day when my body decided that it had different plans and extreme stomach pain slowed me down to a walk/jog. To come this far and push so hard in training it was an immediate mental letdown. I thought about just quitting as the pain was intense but then I realized what does quitting really accomplish and that my children where at the finish line and what example would I set if I quit. So with much determination I pushed forward cheering on those I knew racing and looking forward to that finish line when I knew no matter my time my family would be there with smiles on and congratulate me regardless of my performance. I was right as my oldest told me at the finish "sometimes we don't get what we want dad but if you tried your best then at the end of the day you won".

So with this I challenge each and everyone of you to take time to educate someone around you. We are all a wealth of knowledge no matter if you have a doctorate degree or a high school diploma. We all have something to learn from each other.

Make It Count!!!!!!!!!!