No Pain No Gain

Today I was reading a blog on How sometimes we have to go counter to our instincts. Early this week I read on how we as people think that we can do things with out failing and being uncomfortable. How do we ever expect to come up with something truly original or truly thought provoking enough to create a breakthrough if we don't experience some discomfort?
In the past couple of weeks I have been through ups and downs and looked at my life and how seemingly effortless and easy it was before I started to think and question things. I thought about how I spent my time, why I believed what I believe, why I did what I did.
I went from being a sports fanatic who couldn't get enough to looking at what does it really matter? Does it make me a better person? Does anyone care I know every Chicago Bull, Oakland Raider, and Los Angeles Dodger from the past 10 years.
I went from looking at people who didn't have cable thinking they were crazy. And now I am one of those crazy people. I decided to read instead. I decided to step out and be different, not just to be different, but to try to make a difference. I decided I didn't want a going through the motions life in comfort and decided to add some discomfort.
I know I am looked as working too much or thinking too much or trying too many different things. But I would rather be that than the flipside.
What do you want to do with your life? Are you afraid of failure? I know at one time I was, but now I say bring it on because it can only be a great learning opportunity. The next pain I have to work on now is excercising, wish me luck.

Learn, Relearn, and learn again.

Everything happens for a reason you can either choose to ignore it or ask what that reason is and try to learn from it.

I read this recently in the book "The Energy Bus." It caused me to sit back and think a little bit and how I do not do this enough. When something happens I just plow forward and keep going to the next thing then plow forward again and on and on I go. To get past this and actually learn from this you need to take the time to learn. It is essential that you learn from your mistakes and successes. I don't know what works best for you, but for me it has been journaling about what happened throughout the day and realizing why I was frustrated or why I was excited. I try to make note of what energized me, who frustrated me and why, and anything else I needed to do.
It is much easier to do this when you have the time and everything runs a lot smoother. Before spring I did a great job doing this but as the year went on it got worse and worse. Not because I didn't have time but because I didn't make time. The early victories were the thing of the past and I became too focused on what was in front of me than what was around me. Are you aware of everyone and everything around you more than you are what is in front of you? What is more important: your to do list or your people? Look back on a daily basis but also look back weekly, monthly, and yearly to figure out patterns and learn from them.

Passion What is it?

Passion I believe can be the biggest gift in life, but it can also be the biggest curse. I don’t know what it is like in life to live without passion. Without that constant wanting to do more, without the childlike excitement in things. A lot of times I go overboard and get too excited, but that is what makes it fun. I discussed this part of my personality with someone the other day and they said that is what makes me so good to be around. There is times of burnout but the times of excitement far outweigh those times. I sometimes can’t sleep because I think about how to do things differently and new ideas while I try to sleep and in my spare time. I am passionate about most anything I learn about and dive right in. So is having this type of passion good? Is it immature? Does it always lead to burnout?

Wouldn’t life be a lot simpler without passion? Instead of all the ups and downs and the stress it would be different. Life would be more like a lazy river than a wave pool. You would just float along not getting to high or too low and just taking things in stride. You wouldn’t stick your neck out and try different things you would just do the same old thing. Then if something was blatantly obvious to try you would do that. You would get along with everyone because you wouldn’t argue or take a side most of the time. Wow, how simple life would be.

I don’t know about you but I just the adrenaline rush of passion. Sure I could go through life just strolling along. I would rather spend it going full throttle and getting everything I can out of it and maximizing myself. The risk of a crash or burnout is worth it to feel the adrenaline rush of really getting excited about something and doing it. When is the last time you were so passionate about something you got emotional? When did you care