Quotes of the Week from Me:

“We could all use a little more quiet.”

“Today’s work is tomorrow’s play.”

“Exercise.”

Quotes of the Week from Someone Else:

“It isn’t true that you live only once. You only die once. You live lots of times if you know how.” – Bobby Darin

“Use today’s money to write your future.” – Jesse Mecham

“Just because you are right, doesn’t mean I am wrong. You just haven’t seen life from my position.” – Anonymous

Quick Optimism

This week I was combing through some old articles that I wrote. One of them looks at the idea that we get to “choose our hard”:

Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Spending too much money is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard.

Choose your hard.

Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”

– Anonymous

I go on to explain that instant gratification is rarely the answer. There is a lot of benefit around resisting instantaneous ease. Look past the immediate reward and commit to an even better outcome in the future. Even if you can’t hit the same benchmarks as other people because of your background or genetics, does not mean you can’t start on your path to improvement.

Some people won’t stop until they can do 10 pullups in a row. For others, they want their first one.  

Some won’t stop until they save 10 million dollars. For others, they want their first $100.

The outcome does not diminish the effort. You can work just as hard in both instances.

That being said, I haven’t talked about exercise for a while. I reincorporated running and sprinting into my weekly routine and I feel lighter on my feet and healthier than ever. That doesn’t mean it has been fun or easy for the last 3 weeks. It also doesn’t mean you have to do the same to feel the same. If interested, check out the workouts below.

I keep it simple with a hill in my neighborhood. For those reading, it takes between 40 seconds and 1 minute to run from bottom to top.

It has been really nice to get outside early in the morning!

Last Week’s Running:

Post gym workout: Jog up and down the hill 20 times

Post gym workout: 10 hill sprints, 1-minute rest between each

Run day: Run 7 miles

Post gym workout: Jog up and down the hill 20 times

Post gym workout: 10 hill sprints, 1-minute rest between each

Run Day: Run 9 miles

I couldn’t be happier that I am choosing this hard.

Full Newsletter

Quiet.

As seen above: We could all use a little more quiet.

Our worlds are busy. They are loud and fast. Our chances for quiet are interrupted by distractions more than ever before. Do you find quiet in your day? Your year? If not, should you? If you want to, how can you?

I am not talking about silence. Silence is nearly impossible today. If I wake up at 4:30am there are already birds chirping outside. I walk into my cold garage and the chest freezer is whirring. Cars whiz by with a distant whoosh.

But quiet is attainable. Quiet can be auditory, physical, or visual. Surrounding ourselves with pleasant sights, calming sounds, or a relaxed physical state can restore our nervous system, sustain our energy levels, and allow our minds to stay adaptive and responsive.

Sometimes we get too caught up in the big “quiets” in our lives. Vacation is a popular one. As my mother-in-law always says, “I need a vacation from my vacation.” Even for those who have the time and financial means to travel year-round, it is not sustainable or reliable for our daily needs.

This week I have three, rapid fire touch points of quiet for you.

1. José Clemente Orozco’s The Epic of American Civilization

As part of our team retreat at work, we went to see a famous mural in the basement of Dartmouth’s library. It was breathtaking. Beautiful. Powerful. Thought-provoking. It was also quiet. We got to walk across campus in perfect weather. We got to explore some American history. It made the day extremely memorable and relaxing. Learn more below or google “The Epic of American Civilization” to see it. Absolutely incredible.

As seen on the plaque in the basement of Dartmouth’s library, “Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco painted [a] monumental fresco cycle between 1932 and 1934. Its twenty-four panels stage comparison between ancient and modern America, Emphasizing the violence of conquest and its legacy in industrialization and nationalist wars.”

As Professor Mary Coffey writes in the Hood Museum of Art’s publication Orozco at Dartmouth: “José Clemente Orozco reorients the ‘epic of America’ from the standard US narrative that begins with British colonization along the northeastern seaboard and proceeds heroically west to a Mexican story rooted in Mesoamerican civilizations and the devastation wrought by the Spanish Conquest . . . Orozco presents America’s epic as cyclical in nature, the eternal return of destruction and creation, rather than a linear tale of democratic expansion and progress.”

2. Lake Champlain in the morning.

Beckett (my son, for new followers) and I have a new tradition before work. He loves to throw rocks into the lake. Each morning we go to the town beach, play on the big playground, and sit in the sand to watch the birds. Every rock that hits the water sounds like a stick hitting a log. We can hear the birds in the distance with more clarity than you can imagine. The water is perfectly still. Beckett laughs. The cold breeze wakes us up while the sun rises and keeps us warm.

It is not silent, but perfectly quiet. A great way to start the day.  

3. Exercise. Sprints. Outside.

Silence is impossible. The closest I get to mental silence comes between each sprint, each mile. Try to stress about money when your heart rate is over 170 bpm sprinting up a hill. You’ll also be surprised how loud your breathing is between reps, aka how quiet the world is.

Make it a spectacular Monday.