Quotes of the Week from Me:

“All of life educates.”

“It’s ok to have too many dreams. It’s ok for them to change. And it’s ok to not really know what they are; you might need to explore some first.”

I am in recruiting season at work. It means meeting with hundreds of hopeful near-graduates from roughly 90 colleges and universities. It is really hard to answer, “What/Who do I want to be and why?” I still make sure to ask each and every one of them the same question.

“Too much self-care can be counterproductive. It’s most enjoyable between stretches of hard work and effort.”

I have found myself sleeping in more. Which is okay. Very okay. I have also found less time for myself each day. Less time for reading and writing; for working out. I am trying to see it as okay, but it feels less okay.

“You woke up today. That’s a win. Be proud.”

I think about this a LOT.

“Can you simplify?”

Always.

Quotes of the Week from Others:

“A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.” – Rabindranath Tagore

“If you feel like you’re losing everything, remember, trees lose their leaves every year, yet they still stand tall and wait for better days to come.” – Unknown (Japanese saying)

“If you want to be miserable, it’s there for you. If you want to be empowered, it’s there for you.” – Tom Bilyeu

Quick Optimism:

You don’t need to get a personal best every time you work out. You don’t need to lose or gain weight every time you step on the scale. You don’t need to hit your steps goal every day. You don’t (and can’t, and won’t) sleep 8 hours every night. You don’t need to measure every percentage of success along the way. You don’t need to be perfect.

But… You DO need to be consistent. 80% productive, smart, motivated, and disciplined ALL THE TIME is better than 100% productive, smart, motivated, and disciplined some of the time.

Find something that allows you to be consistent and be on your way. I haven’t mentioned Tik Tok for a long time (good thing), but every month the same song goes viral again. And it goes, “WAKE UP… It’s the first of the month!”

New month. Great time to start being consistent.

Full Newsletter:

All of life educates. The quintessential family weekend.

Mountain biking. The toddler version. Hiking. Also, the toddler version. Candy store, the toddler and adult version. Great versions.

There were confidence boosts, epic falls, and a sugar high for the ages. I am not encouraging or discouraging sugar for kids. But yes, I think a balanced relationship with food is important. And this weekend, gummies, air heads, Pez, and a chocolate covered graham cracker were an important part to a great day.

Just before arriving at the candy store, our family had made a wrong turn in the “Magic Woods,” a name new to me. Behind the town’s middle school there is a small, but legitimate mountain bike track. It is hidden behind some steep “down-ups” as we call them. You hike down, then back up, and you can’t see where you are going until you hit the next peak and go down again.

Initially, we ended up behind someone’s house, ran into an older woman who steered us back in the right direction, and eventually we found the Magic Woods. I am still discovering new gems after living in the same place for over 20 years.

Our son, Beckett, went nuts. Almost two hours and nearly 2 miles of riding down the hill and climbing back up again and again. We were all sun-kissed and tired.

After the biggest ride of his life we arrived at the old country store, aka the candy store. It has seven or eight rooms of with random themes. Some rooms host year-round holiday trinkets, some have Vermont style souvenirs, but the most important room is the candy room, the room you enter when you walk in from the 4-car parking lot.

When you walk in, it smells like 1930 and 2023 at the same time. The walls are filled with candy, classic signs, old chests and safes, and souvenirs. It’s overwhelming in the best way possible. It’s also the candy store that introduced me to budgeting.

My parents would give me $1, $5, sometimes more after playing little league baseball games across the street. Did I want a big box of Nestle Crunch for $3? Or was it the type of day for filling a bag with as many different 10-cent pieces of candy as possible? Should I save a buck or two to guarantee candy for another day? I’d fight these thoughts in the late innings of a double-header, too excited about sugar to focus on the last plays of a game.

I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing as I watched my son take it all in. He tried to literally take it all in. His eyes wide and hands wider he tried to hold as much as his little hands could stretch to manage.

The place is old school. The old door shakes and rings as you swing it open. The cashier(s) greet you with a warm welcome and smile. It has that old-time community feel and you always run into someone you knew a long time ago.

It must have been about 10 minutes of exploring and shopping, but it felt like hours. I want every weekend to be like that. Adventure. Community. Perfect weather.

We even found a bench to watch big trucks drive through the middle of town. So much action packed into a few hours, into one weekend. All of life educates. It is the community that educates. It influences the interactions and expectations of the next generation.

Find out how important these interactions are next week. See what can be found when other hidden, or not so hidden gems offer deeper insights into the fun of playing, biking, and shopping for candy.

Make it a quintessential Monday.