Magic Water!

 

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in the water!"

I was deep in a recent swim set starting to wrap my head around the fact that I have to swim an EXTREMELY long distance this coming fall when the idea of how magical water is hit me! 

Most of my magically successful (sounds like a cereal commercial) endeavors in life to some degree are represented by water being somewhere in the surrounding environment!

When I was a kid I grew up in what some would truly, undoubtedly believe was paradise. We lived on a river and across the street was a spring fed quarry that became our daily swimming hole for years! From the age of 2 all the way till my teenage years we lived in the water...

I actually think at some point my sisters and I started to develop gills because of our total immersion into the glorious liquid! 

So, you ask, what is so magical about water! 

Growing up I joined my communities competitive swim team! My jam was 100% the backstroke and nobody could take me off that high. Well maybe our Russian born coach who constantly yelled at us in the thickest of accents which most of the time I had not one clue what she was saying. 

If anyone has been on a swim team you know that the practices are long and the meets are even longer! So you have no choice but to gravitate towards developing friends to pass time! 

I met two pretty cool kids at the time whose names were Joel Kirkland and Matt Kirkland (last name sound familiar?). We were thick as thieves as what else is a young boy suppose to do passing time between events. 

So for those that are not familiar with the last name Kirkland...this blog is 100% geared towards my step-father as he battles Alzheimer's...guess what his name is...KIRKLAND! 

Yep...Matt is his son and Joel is his nephew. 

So years before life blessed me and more blessed my mom with Al coming into our existence...I got to know the family to a certain degree.

7 degrees of Kevin Bacon anyone? Most certainly a small world gravitational pull! 

Fast forward a few years and once Al moved in with us he would frequently join us at our magical watering hole. 

One day we were basking in our glory, playing tag in the water and simply living our best life when Al stepped up on the diving board and nailed a PERFECT 10 one and a half dive. It was like watching the Olympics and all of us kids had our jaws dropped to the bottom of the quarry in AWE!

Maybe not so magical to you but I will never forget that day and life is all built upon remembering the GREATNESS we observe. 

I decided to take a break from swimming in high school even though I had the opportunity to take it to the next level...the burn out was real! 

After college I happened to fall into what I would argue is the most incredible sport that is in existence!

TRIATHLON...

From sprint triathlons all the way up to Ironman...I raced for 20 years and each of those years I pushed the ultimate limit of what is possible. 

Part of fighting neurodegenerative diseases in life is to incorporate exercise/movement into our daily routine. While it will never guarantee a perfect shield it definitely will have a cognitive growth pattern of fighting like hell to prepare! 

Water has been a magical force in my life! 

Water is roughly 850 times more dense than air so when we swim its all about developing efficiency in movement. 

What makes you day? What makes your year? And what makes your life/story successful? 

EFFICIENCY! 

Water has taught me that the harder I fight the slower I go! Yet the stronger, more efficient and more knowledgeable I become...WELL...the skies the limit! 

Where do you find MAGIC in your life? 

Can't wait for my big swim in September but I couldn't be more excited about the person I will become over the next 7 months preparing in the magical elixir!

Thanks for your time! 

Always crush life! 

Make It Count!  

Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth!

 

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson

I absolutely love that quote, not because I am a huge boxing fan but because it is one of the most truthful statements that you can make about life!

How many times in life have you said..."Why Me?" If you have a heart beat and blood circulating throughout your amazing system then you have said those two words at least a dozen plus times! 

By the end of this I would love if you developed the incredible capacity to change your vocabulary and from this point forward when you want to say, "Why Me?" lets replace it with "Why Not Me?" 

Think of a few instances in your life where life seemed to be going well, life seemed to be going according to plan and moments when life seemed like you had conquered the unconquerable. 

Now think how not one of those moments lasted! 

If you are telling me that you never had an obstacle jump out of nowhere, uninterrupted and at the absolute wrong time then you are lying to me and I would appreciate your honesty moving forward. 

You see, no one sets out in the world and says..."Man I sure would love to see how well I can fight cancer!"..."Wouldn't it be super awesome to have my wife leave me!"..."How spectacular would it be to develop Alzheimers!"..."This sport is going so well...let me tear my ACL just to have the option to experience adversity!"

No one goes into life wanting crappy things to happen to them...

Yet...crappy things continue to happen to all of us and at the end of the day its a E+R=O world...

E+R=O (Events + Response = Outcome)

You have an Event (Almost always outside of our control) and then its our Response (Positive or Negative...only two choices you have) and that defines our daily Outcome on how we approach any obstacle in LIFE!

Alzheimer's Disease or other neurodegenerative diseases are some of the shittiest (pardon my vocab) things that can happen to an individual. We plan a lifetime for retirement and living the golden years of relaxation and then for an asshole (pardon my vocab once again) of a disease process to rob us of that plan! 

As I write this I am 46 years old and the more research that comes out, I am in the peak of what I can do to help prevent/fight neurodegenerative diseases from happening. Too much alcohol, lack of exercise and a severe lack in REM sleep have been known to increase Amyloid and Tau which are proteins responsible for diseases like Alzheimer's later in life. 

You see...here is the incredible, uncanny characteristic of my step-father that, if we all implemented, we could all do better with in life. 

He almost never severely over-reacts to any situation in life. 

After college he played professional rugby and in a game, he literally got his front teeth knocked out. Instead of panicking, he just picked them up, kept playing, went out for celebratory drinks after the game and then and only then said, "maybe I should get my teeth fixed?" 

Would you have had the ability to relax under pressure in that situation and keep going! 

When I was a kid we had massive flooding in the midwest which definitely affected our house on the river, yet once that was solidified he drove hours down to the Mississippi River in order to pack sandbags for those in need. 

Now he is fighting his biggest opponent in life with a diagnosis of Alzheimers!

A disease that has no road map, a disease that moves at its own pace, a disease that as of this writing we can't stop and a disease that all you want to do is smile at and say..."FUCK OFF!" (sorry one last time for my language). 

We all start our days with a plan! 

I have to do X, Y and Z this week...yet how often does everything go as you expected? 

I treat highly, dedicated, competitive athletes whose year revolves around peak fitness in order to perform. Do you know how many run into trouble, every single year? ALL OF THEM!

My daughter, in the peak of her youth sports career, during a soccer game took a nasty foul and tore her ACL. She was punched in the mouth with both fists at the same time. Was the process back easy, not at all and not a process I wish upon anyone. However she learned each day to just do her best! Just focus on the R of the equation and eventually everything paid off with an offer to play college soccer which has been her dream forever! 

The key to the most successful is once they are punched in the mouth...

They take a moment to absorb what happened and then they immediately jump back on the saddle with a response that often course corrects the obstacles. 

They know that in order to succeed that we all need to be students of life and the top students never quit learning. 

So the next time you are punched in the mouth...immediately think "I am glad that happened!" and fight back stronger than ever.

Thanks for everyone who has donated to my drive for Alzheimer's. While these funds will come no where close to finding a cure. The funds will at least help light a small fire under progress! 

Make It Count! 

Are you a fixer?

 

"If it can't be fixed with duct tape, then you're not using enough duct tape!"

Not sure if duct tape has the magical powers that it once had when I was a kid! There seems to be a whole lot more binding products on the market theses days. Heck I use Gorilla Glue on just about anything that needs a little more strength to make it to the next day!

Growing up my step-dad was legitimately the king of the duct tape fix!

Broken swing...DUCT TAPE!

Leaky pipe...DUCT TAPE!

Boy scout pine wood derby car wheel falls off...DUCT TAPE!

Basketball net rips off the rim...DUCT TAPE!

Milk jug cap disappears...DUCT TAPE!

License plate falling off car...DUCT TAPE!

My little sister talks to much...DUCT TAPE!...ha ha...just kidding on that one however I am sure it crossed my mind as a kid!

The main concept of the message was his first go to towards fixing anything in life was to just put DUCT TAPE on it and leave it alone. 

You see my step-dad could very well have figured out how to properly fix anything as he is a brilliant man but I think he chose to use his energy towards endeavor's that really, truly mattered! (more on that in a minute..)

How do you fix things in your life? 

Do you invest your time into avenues that truly make a difference or do you just throw a Band-Aid on the obstacle and move on? 

I fortunately or unfortunately chose to be a chiropractor in life! It unfortunately is a profession filled with Band-Aid applicators. Doctors that never really take an extra second to figure out what the root cause is and instead just try to manipulate everything away. Guess what...that approach is similar to just applying duct tape to a broken pipe. There may be relief immediately but eventually everything will fall apart!

You see I have lived a life always striving to never be the DUCT TAPE applier. My life has revolved around always putting my wife and kids first and never putting a band-aid on my time with them! 

It took me awhile and lots of maturity to realize how incredible my step-father was to me growing up and still is! 

My birth father, who I loved more than anything while he was alive, was a duct tapper of life! 

Without much detail his view on life was just cover it up with his version of duct tape...it may have been alcohol, not showing up to important events or being personally absent but his inability to address problems created more problems in life.

We patch the broken pipe with duct tape and eventually time, water pressure and bad luck will have that pipe leaking again and creating more problems then if we just fixed everything initially. 

You see, here is what took me a long time to figure out! 

My step-dad never, once put a piece of duct-tape on his time with my sisters, my mom and I. He applied duct tape to life's little problems so that he could always be available to us no matter the obstacle. 

He never said...

Maybe later to shooting hoops...

Maybe later to going for a run...

Maybe later to helping with Calculus...

Maybe later to helping us pay for college...

EVERY situation, EVERY obstacle, EVERY success, EVERY failure, EVERY achievement and EVERY memory looking back on was supported 100% of the time.

For that I am grateful and blessed to know and have a teacher in my life that showed me how to not rely on duct-tape for things that matter! 

Always Crush Life! 

Make It Count!

Take this moment to go fix something that you have been waiting to fix and haven't yet...

You never know when it will be too late.

Also such deep gratitude to those that have donated to my Alzheimers cause...you have no idea how much it means to me and if interested in why I am doing this please click on the link above! 

Are you freezing?

 

"I had to make you uncomfortable, otherwise you never would have moved."

I am and always have been a believer of..."How you do anything is how you do EVERYTHING!"

I have a problem often with moderation especially with endurance related athletic endeavors.

I have a switch in my head that I believe is broken or for some unseen reason got locked into the state of seeking the UNCOMFORTABLE! 

Not a day goes by where I am not trying to push the limits of something in my life. The problem, if it really is ever a problem, is that it often snaps back and bites me in the but. 

Years of Ironman Triathlons, years or running marathons and ultramarathons, years of daily exercise pushing the limits of what I can do has always just multiplied into what's next? I know for a fact that my wife at times is driven crazy by my inability to remain calm. I guess its the addictive gene that has been passed down to me and has just multiplied into a different venue. 

Its no secret that this fall I am attempting to swim close to 10 miles in the ocean and while not one ounce of it scares me...I continue to callous my mind as the one thing that holds us back is not in the physical realm but the mental environment we live in.

Physically we can do so much more in life than we ever give ourselves credit for. If you disagree then I challenge you to put something difficult on your schedule and be consistent with the prep. You may be sore, tired and humiliated at times but when you embrace the process you almost always succeed. 

Physical capacity for success is not overly difficult! What becomes difficult is the mush between your ears that tells you to quit, tells you its too hard, tells you that you suck, tells you its impossible, tells you its ok to sleep in and tells you only an idiot would sit in a ice bath at 38 degrees! 

Alzheimer's unfortunate has a similar effect except its not telling you the cant's and wont's but its just, simply taking away your ability to mentally engage! Physically you are fine but mentally the lights are being turned out! 

That said...I try and get as uncomfortable as I can as frequently as I can so I can build the biggest, baddest, ugliest callous in my mind so when times are tough my mind tells those negative thoughts to go fly a kite. 

Cold immersion, cold therapy and just plain being cold while no one truly loves it in the moment! The cold has this uncanny ability to build a better version of you! 

For the past three weeks I have sat in a cold bath at 38-42 degrees for 5-10 minutes a day! Why? There are physiological benefits but I truly don't care about them as they will happen anyways. What I know for a fact is that the anxiety prior to getting in and the will to immerse and survive has made me a stronger person each time! 

That mental edge will serve me well when hours into a multi hour swim my mind starts wandering towards the evil side...

Also being cold or simply uncomfortable brings out memories of survival in the past and how we won...

I have been to dozens of Chicago Bears games in my life...to say you are big Monsters of the Midway fans is an understatement! 

Over the past 30 plus years I have seen some of the greatest players of all time in person! 

However which games do I remember the most?

Two of the coldest games I have ever been to in my life...

You see my stepdad always had a rule...WE NEVER LEAVE A GAME TILL THE END!

Halloween 1995 it was pouring rain (rain was coming in sideways) and around 36 degrees out...to say that this was the most unpleasant I have ever been in my life would be 100% correct! Ouch! Frozen! Couldn't move! And to make it worse...Brett Favre and the Pack won! However that memory will always serve me as one of the greatest moments of braving the elements and overcoming! I owe that to my stepdad for callousing my mind then...

The next game would of course be another Packers game in the 90's in which the wind chill temp at the game was -28 degrees. It was so cold that if you purchased a hot chocolate that by the time you got back to your seat it was a frozen chocolate concoction. My stepbrother Doug and I complained the whole time that it was ridiculous! However in true fashion we stayed in our seats and didn't leave till the final whistle, although we probably never left because we were frozen to our seats! Yet another callousing of my mind for the future...

Why do I share these memories...

1. To remind my stepdad how special he has been in my life and to try and not let Alzheimer's win!

2. To remind myself of overcoming difficulty. When we do hard things it becomes crucial that we catalogue those events so when we face adversity again we can just pull out the rolodex of memories and tell our mind...I GOT THIS!

Make It Count! 

Is It Worth The Risk?

 

"If you risk nothing, then you risk everything."

Have you ever thought about how risky you are? 

How often do you take risks in life and how do those risks make you feel? 

The biggest risks often come with the biggest rewards but also just as much come with extremely painful set backs. 

Our financial advisor each year asks where our risk levels are and to be honest that world terrifies me mostly because I know nothing...that is why I have a financial advisor! 

My realm of comfort with risk resides more in the outlier world of endurance. 

I can remember an Ironman Triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) in which I came off the bike locked and loaded. My risk level coming off the bike and ready to start the run was extremely high because I felt incredible. 

You have those days were life seems to be floating along with simplicity and those days we seem to push our envelop a little harder. 

While one mile into that run a great friend of mine jumped in front of mile and said, "what are you doing?" I glanced at my watch and noticed I had run a 6:10 first mile which is practically a suicide mission with intent on being carried off the course in an ambulance. My risk level was high but thanks to my friend, reality jumped in some and smacked me into slowing down and shocker...I had my best race ever! 

Each and every time I step on a stage or in front of a group for a talk, there is always a level of risk that I will be laughed at, made fun of, the audience will fall asleep or my message will fall on deaf ears. That is the risk you take and its the reason why you end of nailing the speech because you never hold back. 

Now, I am sure you are ok...what is the picture of the bones for? 

Well the purpose of this blog is to relive and create new memories for my step-dad going through Alzheimer's. 

In the late 80's we had one of the most amazing dogs ever in existence. Her name was Ingrid and she was a 120 pound Rottweiler. To say she was extremely protective of my sisters and I would be an understatement. 

Any man that knocked on the door or entered our house would meet Ingrid immediately with a terrifying growl that would frighten just about anyone. 

Don't get me wrong...she was the sweetest, most loving, never hurt anyone, protective dog...but she hated men! 

This is when my step-father Al entered the picture and see the problem with courting my mom was that you kind of have to spend time together. They would go on dates and focus on events outside of the house but visiting my mom where we lived was not the easiest. 

Ingrid had this thing with eating the scarps of meat off of the bones we cooked. My mom, my sisters and I could take it away from her but anyone else would loose their arm before she succumbed to giving up her bone. 

One evening while Al was visiting, he knew that in order to be accepted into our house it didn't have to come from any human but from a beautiful 120 pound Rottweiler. 

So he assumed his risk levels, knew the outcomes but mostly knew that he only had one choice. 

He walked up to Ingrid while she was eating her bone...bent forward...grabbed the bone from her mouth...stood up...took a bite of the meat...leaned back down...put the bone in her mouth...and walked away. 

I remember watching this whole, super crazy event take place and in absolute astonishment watched Ingrid not budge but more stare at this man and ponder...WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

What happened was from that moment on she accepted him as one of us! She would welcome him anytime he visited and never growled at him again. 

His risk level was high because he saw a future with my mom and knew that the reward hopefully would be so much greater than the risk.

Now I am not telling you to go put your hand in the region of a big dogs mouth. What I am telling you is like is all about taking risks! 

You will fail often, you will learn even more but most of all you won't end up thinking...WHAT IF?

Make It Count! 

Every Story Has A Villain

 "The villain will always be the villain if the hero tells the story."

I think we can all take a step back for a moment and RIGHT now think of someone who is a villain in our story. 

Often this is someone that gets under your skin, consistently has opinions, often judges you, is your hardest competitor in life and most frequently bothers you for no great, apparent reason. 

I can think of half a dozen right off the bat that for no logical reason at all bother me. 

However, I can also think of my biggest villain in life! 

You see I was product of an 80's divorce. Every other weekend I would visit my dad and in between my amazing mother would try to balance raising three kids while carrying multiple jobs just to put food on the table. 

She made sure we had everything that was essential in life, and I will always be grateful for her dedication and commitment to the three of us. 

To say my dad was an incredible dad in those days would be an overexaggerated statement and not the whole truth. 

However, he was my dad and every boy at that age looks up to his dad as a superhero. 

While my dad didn't fully live up to the title of DAD, I still loved him so much and thought the world of him (never lost that drive and still miss him terribly)!

See the villain in my story entered my life in the late 80's. My mom started dating again and eventually married my stepdad. 

As a teenage boy I would often go out of my way to not like him. 

How could this guy possibly enter my life and think that he could ever earn my trust and love. 

To me he was the villain trying to ruin my story. 

I remember one day a candle got out of control and in a pinch to save the house from burning down he grabbed my winter jacket and put the fire out with the jacket. 

The jacket (which by the way was a junky jacket) was absolutely ruined. Instead of being mature in the moment I completely lost my shit on him and pretty sure used every profanity that had ever been said. 

Here is a man who had never said a harmful word to me, had never laid a hand on me, was extremely successful attorney, took care of his health via exercise and treated my mom like a queen and my immature mind looked at him as an evil villain. 

I had nothing to back up my anger outside of my dad wasn't around and that fueled my undeserved teenage angst against a man that I would eventually learn to think the world of. 

The world had dropped an absolute gift in my lap and all I could see through my think skull and hazed vision was a man trying to take over my dad's job. 

It took many years and dozens if not hundreds of positive experiences to realize that he was not the villain in my story. 

I was the villain, and he was the hero trying to save me! 

We often go through life with a vendetta against someone else and while sometimes that vendetta makes sense...often we have no reason to fully back up our hatred. 

This is a lesson I have learned multiple times in life and thankfully I haven't burned any bridges fully with my ignorance. 

My stepdad has blessed me in life more than I could ever repay him and while he battles Alzheimer's I want him to know that he has always been my hero and will continue to be a person I am grateful for entering my story. 

Take a moment today and see who the villain really is along your journey. I will bet more than once that you will notice that maybe it's YOU!

The greatest thing is that he probably doesn't even remember the jacket story, not because of Alzheimer's, but because he seemed to always digest what's happening in a positive light and how to move on to the betterment of what's next! 

With the help of the Alzheimer's Association, I have redone the fundraising/awareness page. The link is at the top of the page. 

Thanks to those who have contributed and thanks to those who take precious moments out of there day to read what's going on!

 

Situational Awareness

 

"Awareness is the greatest agent for change!" 

I love the saying, NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES! 

Its simplicity is lost in the art that we often fall somewhere in the grey area of that mantra! 

We expect great change, yet we often don't create a successful, consistent environment around us that supports change. 

We read a book, watch a Ted Talk, race a 5K, find a mentor or just wake up! 

All of these things are great in themselves and are often agents of change that I exhibit in my daily processes. 

Where most fall short however is the transition from completion to execution. 

We read a book and expect change to happen, but the book won't do it for you! 

We watch a motivational video and get all fired up, yet our poor diet lacks the energy needed for the next step. 

We race a 5K and feel like we conquered the world, but the next day fail to show up again because we feel we have arrived already. 

We have a great mentor but expect them to create our success! 

Finally, our eyes pop open in the morning and we feel like life should just work for us! 

Don't worry as I have fallen into this trap more than once and probably will again in the future. 

What I try and bring to my conscious mind though is...SITUATIONAL AWARENESS! 

Situational Awareness is the perceptions of your environment and events with respect to time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. 

For me situational awareness is BEING WHERE MY FEET ARE and being the biggest TIME HOARDER of all time! 

The second I take my existence for granted is the exact time when I need to raise my awareness level. 

Stop waiting for the right moment!

Stop waiting for the weather to be perfect! 

Stop waiting for next week to create memories! 

Stop waiting...

Instead start implementing! 

The only competitor in life that is undefeated is...TIME! 

Did you know that roughly 50 million people in this world (probably more but we foolishly just call it old age) have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's! 

Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases don't care how fast you can run a mile, how much weight you can lift, how much money you make, your shoe collection, your profession or whether you eat keto/carnivore/vegan! 

Sure, exercise and diet are incredible at setting the stage for success but in the end, we truly can't stop one of these terrible diseases from happening! 

So, this is where your situational awareness comes in strong...

My awareness while running for hours on end is where am I right now? 

Not yesterday and certainly not tomorrow but how am i being present as a dad, doctor, husband, brother, uncle, son, friend and neighbor. 

I am not perfect, but my situational awareness reminds me to keep going and create a difference in this crazy world by BEING WHERE MY FEET ARE and NOT EXPECTING CHANGE WITHOUT BEING PRESENT TO CHANGE IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Make It Count!