Health, Adventure, and Critical Thought
Goals, goals, goals. Everyone’s always talking about setting goals. Yes, they’re key to personal growth. But, before you set goals, it’s important to first create a personal wellness vision statement.
[Read more…] about Creating a Wellness Vision Statement
Do your ideals get in your way? Mine do. It happens all the time, and it starts with a well intentioned goal.
I tell myself I’m going to workout three days per week. And, then I feel like a failure when I work out once, and sit in front of a computer for the rest of the time.
Or, in an attempt to write more often, I set a goal to write one blog post per week. Then I stare frustrated into a folder of half finished blog posts, that continues to grow each day.
What did I do wrong?
After all, these aren’t that lofty of ambitions. I’ve scaled them back over time, and tried to make them reasonable for my schedule. Yet, I’ve still struggled. So, where do I go from here?
[Read more…] about When Perfection Gets in the Way of Performance
Several years ago, I found myself in my early thirties, unsatisfied with where I was in life. Sure, life was good according to your standard living metrics. I was healthy, I had a stable job, my incoming cash was positive and accumulating.
Yet, still I felt unsatisfied and bored. I was surviving, but there were so many experiences I still wanted. I wanted to play in a band, I wanted to meet an amazing woman, I wanted to feel more alive. First world problems these may have been, but that did not quell my appetite.
So, what did I do?
[Read more…] about Why Get a Life Coach
In July of 2011, I met the woman of my dreams. I wasn’t looking for her. But there she showed up. It felt an awful lot like luck. And, yes there was much to thank my lucky stars for. But, if I hadn’t have been prepared, the moment would have faded, and the woman of my dreams would have passed across the evening sky… out of view forever.
It all began with giving up.
I wasn’t looking for a relationship. I had split up with an ex, sworn off online dating, and I despised the social scene of crowded bars. They weren’t worth my energy.
Sure I wanted someone eventually. But, I had a different longing underneath, a longing more important. There was a need inside of me, that couldn’t be filled with someone else.
Random dates on Match.com or Ok Cupid I found boring. The whole online dating experience felt like finding a job. You’d shop through an online catalog, and message the people who caught your eye. Your messages and profile were carefully manicured to make you sound exciting… but the reality of the entire experience was completely the opposite – excitement had been extracted. It felt so fucking artificial.
I had more important things for my time than searching the internet for the woman of my dreams.
After several years in an on again, off again relationship I was starting to wake up. I was opening my eyes to my early thirties with life goals still on hold, hanging in the backdrop of my mind. When would they become memories, I could hang upon my walls?
I had to change my focus. I had to alter my approach.
Instead of finding someone else, I had to find myself.
I couldn’t bullshit anyone. In a relationship, you share a life. And, how could I convince someone to share a life with me I didn’t love? I had to love my life, and I had to start living a life I was excited about. I had to love myself first. To do so, I had to be brave and focused.
I bought a motorcycle and started a band. I hired a life coach to keep me on track. I booked a show and set a goal to write and prepare 6 songs for the performance. It was scary and exciting. I was driving 90 in the sunshine, testing my own limits.
A relationship would be a distraction. So, I had decided not to try. I had more important things to do.
And, then she came along.
It’s not like I had seen her before. And, yet she was familiar.
I hadn’t seen her in my dreams. To claim so would be cheesy, a “romantic” idea I think is stupid. If that had been so, it would have removed the real magic of the moment.
Instead I felt intrigued. I had been cultivating curiosity in my life, and mine for her was obvious.
She was an opera singer. I was a musician of a different sort.
She spent an inordinate time with her dachshund. I had no dog. But I loved them.
She rock climbed on the weekends. I had rock climbed for years, but at the moment I needed a partner.
Alas, she had a boyfriend.
Perfect for me, because I didn’t need the distraction anyways.
“Rachel, have you met Jon? He climbs as well”.
I don’t recall the conversation which followed, but I recall the introduction from a friend that turned a stop in the company kitchen into the strike of a match.
We began chatting over the occasional email. She’d stop at my desk to talk. And then one day came when she asked me to go climbing.
Her boyfriend was going climbing with a friend, and she didn’t have a climbing partner.
I was excited. I was conflicted.
She had a boyfriend after all. I didn’t want to be a creep. And I was doing just fine on my own. I was creating a life I wanted. I didn’t want to get distracted.
And then I realized. Yes, she was beautiful. She was exactly the kind of woman I’d like to get to know. But, it was okay if nothing happened. I was fine without a relationship. Right now I just wanted to climb. And she was offering me a partnership.
So, yes, I would join her for a climb.
Not long before this I had ended a long term relationship. I had sacrfificed myself before. I had repeatedly tried to prove to someone my importance in their life. It felt awful. Looking back it makes me still feel awful. The feeling of weakness languishes on the heart and mind.
And then came Rachel. I had given up on trying to prove myself to be someone that I’m not. That was too exhausting.
And as I let go of all my weight I was happy to find a friend who laughed at me and smiled.
We climbed for several weeks, us friends, and then… all of a sudden it was over. Her boyfriend and her had broken up. It turns out he was an idiot, but the news was good for me.
Two months later we were visiting my brother to climb in Red River Gorge. In six months we went to Mexico. In five years we got married.
Today, I’m laying next to her this morning. Typing on my phone as she sleeps. Soon I’ll need to start the coffee to fulfill my husband duty.
All along the way our love has felt both effortless and intentional. Like you could take your hands off the wheel but you wouldn’t dare do it for long, knowing what you risk.
Rachel is amazing. She inspires me to believe. She elates me with her intellect and love for adventure. She lets me be myself.
Meeting her was a moment of luck. But most of all that luck had to do with timing. I was lucky not to meet her earlier, before I was ready, before I knew myself. I was lucky I got to know myself. Or, maybe I’d have missed the moment of luck when we crossed paths.
So, in a quick reflection, if you want to meet the woman of your dreams, here’s what I’ve learned.
This is what worked for me. Remember, luck is helpful. But you must prepare yourself for when luck arrives.
Okay, now I better start the coffee.
Hi, my name’s Jon.
I’m a self-help junkie. And, I’m not the only one.
First, let’s just clear the air, and get one thing out of the way. This addiction of mine is not as severe as alcohol, opium, or cocaine. My addiction could be worse, more threatening, with health outcomes more severe.
But my addiction does carry with it a premium. A toll I routinely pay.
[Read more…] about Confessions of Another Self-Help Junkie