68. April Fooled

A few weeks ago I announced my plans to move to Kansas City. At the time I didn't know that many other things were changing and coming into play. Long story short, after a number of family issues, timing problems, educational offers, and financial changes I'm not going to KC, at least not for a few more months. My biggest concern with this was that I had already begun making plans in Missouri and was afraid I'd be leaving people in a tight spot. Time to embrace a little humility - and it goes a lot further than you might expect.

67. In Praise of the Trivial - How I Met Stanley

I think that trivial knowledge is underrated. In world of extremes it is hard to understand the value of random information. Even on television what is often portrayed is a stereotypical nerd or a lovable dolt. There is rarely an in between, but it must exist. I've said before that I am striving to become a better story teller. I'm vigorous about my academic pursuits and I know their importance. Yet nobody at a party wants to listen to a discussion about the pythagorean theorem. What is wanted is new an exciting information. This was clearly demonstrated to me today in a powerful way. But I wasn't at a party. I was waiting in line to buy a frozen pizza.

66. Nap Time!

I believe it is universally accepted that when we become adults we long for the days when we were told to take naps. Ah, those were the days... and we were foolish enough to fight it. Now that we're all grown up we wish we slept more. Studies show that on average 40% of people don't get enough rest. Many countries all over the world combat this by adopting the Spanish custom of the siesta! If only we could understand that. For today's gift, I'm going to try to incorporate some much needed rest into my sleep deprived schedule. While I do that, check out some of the many napping benefits I've found!

65. Go For a Walk

Go! It's ok. You can do it!

Pecan pie. I couldn't get it out of my head. I was craving it like crazy and nothing else would do. The problem is that my car was in the shop and I had no way to get to the store. Having always been partial to hyperbole, I was quick to declare that I would do ANYTHING for a piece of pecan pie. Realizing my sprawled out position of sloth on the couch, I quickly realized the error of my words and the laziness many of us carry. When did walking get ruled out as an option? It was a nice day out and I was in no particular hurry. Besides, adventure is out there!

64. Self Talk

Today I have been reading through a lot of my recent posts and I've come to a conclusion: I don't like the way that I talk to myself. I don't think I'm alone. I suspect that this is a universal truth. 

I beat myself up a lot about my shortcomings and my lack of progress. While there is part of it that is legitimately rooted in a desire to grow and get better, much of it is simple insecurity. We are understanding with others. Yet we are our own worst critics.

No long ramblings today. No funny anecdotes. Just a commitment to be more aware of how I address myself and a hope that you do the same for yourself. After all, I'm pretty awesome. And if you're reading this you're automatically awesome by association.

63. Eliminating Bad Influences

"Bad company corrupts 
good character."
         - 1 Cor. 15:33

Just over a week ago I received a very unexpected message from someone who in all honesty is the last person that I ever expected to hear from. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But it was unexpected nonetheless. It wasn't particularly bad, but was not good either. As with most things in life, it's kind of complicated.

62. Using Fewer Words (Hopefully)

I have to agree with my friend Calvin. I can't stand school. Why? Because of the way I have always been taught there. Don't mistake me - I thoroughly enjoy learning. But formal schooling has left myself and millions of others with a residual plague: verbosity. We simply use too many words. I blame standardized tests and assignments that value length over quality. My most recent term paper read like watered down coffee after having to add two pages of fluff. Sure, everything necessary for the buzz of academia was present, but so was filler to meet a certain word count. Less often really is more.

61. The Proximity Principle

Ever notice how close mama ducks keep their babies?

If you've been a regular reader of this journey at all you've undoubtedly discovered that I love books. Because of my mild dyslexia, this hasn't always been the case. In fact, reading for pleasure has been a relatively new endeavor for me. Part of the reason that I'm so gung-ho about it is because I aspire to be a polymath, a modern renaissance man. In the course of the last year of trying to decide a college major, I came to the realization that I'm not interested in specializing in anything in particular. I'd rather learn about as many things as possible. The best way to do that is to live life and to read. I'm seeking both.

60. Wishlist

Only 40 days until my birthday!

Today's gift is a little different. For the last 12 years or so, I have very actively asked for nothing for my birthday. I've reasoned this away by saying that I don't need much and that I'm more than happy just to spend time with friends! While this is true, there's more at play. There's a part of me that felt unworthy of gifts and didn't want to convenience anyone. I also had asked for other things in life before and not received them. I learned to dislike expecting things and didn't want to get my hopes up. Recently I've been learning a lot about having proper expectations of people, and today I'm putting it to use! What do I mean? For the first time in over a decade I'm telling people what I want for my birthday!

59. Acknowledging Mistakes & Being Honest

I received this email today. I was pleasantly surprised.

Many people are familiar with Netflix. I myself am battling an addiction to it! Last night their site went down for a while and no one could watch any videos instantly. In a great show of customer service they sent an unprompted email to their subscribers offering a small credit for the inconvenience - all you had to do was click the button and it was instantly applied. I did the math and the credit was only for $0.24. That's not really a huge dent to anyone's wallet but is still an awesome show of loyalty to their customers and to their service. I was encouraged because it's so rare that a company will do this. In fact, it happened to me about 5 months ago as well when I was trying to watch. I got the same offer then. I learned a lesson today about owning up to your mistakes and making things right. However, that's the most important thing I learned from this experience.

58. Life and Death

One of the best lines from
one of the best movies ever...

"Every man dies... 
              ..not every man really lives."

---

For some reason today I am thinking much about my own mortality. I'm looking at life and questioning a lot of things, mostly about myself. I belief strongly in God and I have put my faith in Him. I know where I am going when I die. No, that is not the topic of today's ruminations. I'm wondering about what it is to really live. 

57. College... Still

...but I have decent grammar

I have been a college sophomore for the last 4 years. Oh, how I wish I were exaggerating. My freshman year went by fast, but then I began to get other priorities. I put off school for a couple of years and moved to Texas to work for a youth ministry. I then started my sophomore year, while still working in full time (often overtime) ministry.I was only able to take a class here and there and was often "too busy" some semesters for any classes. Because of how my priorities were stacked, I even ending up failing a few of the courses. School just wasn't enough of a priority. This has to change.

56. Slow and Steady

The sun blinded me as I left the locker room. Squinting, I saw everyone headed over the the track. I waddled my 11 year old body over and stood at the back of the group in sheer terror. I'd usually gotten by in gym class by staying out of the way and moving around enough to where I wouldn't be called out. Fortunately the day we were supposed to climb the rope I'd been sick. But this day lady luck had forsaken me like the fickle shrew she is. I gazed at the rows of hurdles and pondered how I was going to get enough speed or height to launch my girth over them. I wasn't an athletic kid. I was a fatty, and the other kids made sure I knew it. I went up to the coach and feigned illness. It was my only shot. Out of what could only be a mixture of compassion and pity, he let me sit out. Everyone there knew what was going on, so I walked away in fat kid shame. And it's back.

To My Regular Followers:

Hey all, I know that I've gotten behind on posting. It has been a very crazy couple of weeks. I'm still about a week behind in writing, but the tasks are going and I'll have the articles written soon. Thanks for bearing with me.

In the meantime, here's a cool idea I want to try: quick homemade ice cream! I may even find a way to make it one of the gifts!



Who WOULDN'T want to do this? And I have a sneaking suspicion that 7-10 minutes of dancing around as vigorously as this lady would be fun AND burn a good chunk of those ice cream calories!

Ok, here's my idea: This Sunday let's all make some homemade ice cream and share our creations right here! Who's with me? Any takers? Comment here so I know you're in!

Oh, and on a random note: Howcast.com is purely awesome. Thanks for great content!

55. Love/Hate (Mostly Hate) Relationship

Water. It is the most influential and necessary physical factor to every thing earth. It is the one ingredient that is required by the entire realm of beings - including plants. It is gentle enough to provide life sustaining power yet destructive enough to carve huge canyons through the rocky soil of the earth; so massive that some would even call them grand. It covers 70% of the globe and makes up about 60% of the human body. It is rumored to be the healthiest thing for us. And I despise it.

You have to understand where I'm coming from. I grew up poor. This means that we couldn't afford a lot of juices or sodas or anything like that. The option we had was municipal tap water, complete with it's many "added nutrients." I should be able to rest my case on that alone but I'll press forward: this stuff was gross. It tasted like metal and always had traces of the chlorine used to treat it. To this day, despite knowing it is untrue, I shudder to think that it was just reclaim water. This was NOT cool in my book. What we could afford was generic kool-aid and bulk sugar. Thus I survived childhood.

54. Rethinking Happy

---

It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.

                                              - Dale Carnegie

---

As I'm writing this I have a huge grin on my face. I've had one all morning, and I feel great. Would you like to know why? Ok, well.... there is absolutely no reason at all. And this is exactly how it should be.

53. Ditch the TV! Well, Mostly...

Growing up I knew the TGIF lineup by heart. I would look forward to spending my Friday nights watching Cory muck things up with Topanga, and I still am enamored by the Urkel dance. I won't even attempt to deny it - I tried to follow along with the moves at home! As an adult now, I find that I still feel the same way about television - I love it. Maybe too much...

52. Too Much Info - Avoiding Overload

This Picture = Immediate Conviction

I am guilty of reading many different blogs and articles online. In an age where an immeasurable wealth of knowledge is available at the click of a button I would feel irresponsible to let it all go to waste. I'm an avid fan of RSS and Google Reader is in my top five visited sites. But today I came across this picture and had a mini-epiphany: I am receiving way too much information to take in and process. After having consumed all of the recurring blogs, articles, news, and the many books I am required to read for school I have come to a startling discovery. In the last month, I've only spend about 2 hours reading books that I want to. Considering that I've spoken several times before on my desire to read more books, I am not content with this result. I decided that I have to do something, and I have to do it fast.

51. The Value of Meditation

I recently was able to read a portion of a great book called The Art of Happiness written from a series of interviews with the Dalai Lama. As I dove into this book I was enthralled by the profound simplicity of the Dalai Lama's words. So much so that in the three weeks I had the book I was only able to get through the first third of the pages. The reason? Because the content cut deep. His thoughts were simple enough to understand yet proved gripping once they were allowed to sink in. I do not adhere to the Buddhist belief system but I believe that there are disciplines within it that can lead one to a better life. The depth of his words' meaning launched me into one of these principles before I even knew it. I was compelled to meditate on everything that was presented.

50. Big Decisions. Life Changes.

Off I Go... (also a great song: click here)

Today, March 14, marks the halfway point of this journey to become a better man. In the last 50 days, I know that I have grown more than in the 5 months prior. As many of you know, the year that I had before beginning this project was extremely difficult. I'd been let down in more ways than I can name and at one point I lost all confidence in myself. That's part of what inspired all of this. I needed to prove to myself that I am better man than some were telling others. I also needed to prove to myself that I could become better than was. Today, halfway through the experiment, I see in the mirror a good man about to embark on another great adventure.