Make Sure You’re Happy

When making important decisions in life, remember to ask yourself, “Will this make me happy?” It’s amazing how often this is overlooked. Many make decisions based solely on theoretical deliberation and reason, not their instincts, desires, and preferences. But happiness is more important than making sense. It’s more than making decisions based on the allure of having more money, possessions, or fame. As a collective we have to start holding happiness to a higher standard when making important decisions, for instance, choosing a career path.

If thinking about it doesn’t make you happy, don’t start. If you already started, you should quit. Today.

This life is too rich to not be lived, enjoyed, cherished, and beholden. It’s too long to fake happiness for your family and friends. You’re going to want to actually be happy, so make sure you ask yourself if you are.

Nothing Matters, Everything Counts

One of the Jesuits on campus, Father Dennis McNally, says this all the time. Nothing Matters. Everything Counts. He’s been saying it for years. I think I’ve just recently begun to know what it means.

Nothing Matters, because God will still love you. No matter what you do or don’t do, you will still come from love and return back to love. God will love you regardless of your shortcomings, failures, or egocentric pursuits.

Everything Counts, because every choice we make either moves us towards God or away from God. When we pass over to the other side, we will get to look back at every moment of our lives. We will recognized how our choices helped us know God better or worse. Everything we do and encounter will count for how much we loved God back.

Nothing Matters. Everything Counts.

Maybe one day this will make sense.

Gratitude Over Regret

Camille and I have been trying our hand at Flip Life, that is, going to yard sales, buying someone’s junk for cheap, and selling it on eBay for profit. We’ve made a good chunk of change so far—plenty to pay for our textbooks, a few meals out, some tanks of gas, and our podcast startup costs (more on that soon). We’re still sitting on a good bit we’ve yet to list.

Today we were out flipping, looking through old kitchen appliances. Then a car pulled right in front of the driveway rather abruptly. A gentleman hurried out of the car and grabbed two long boards for sale. They were nice but large and used, so we didn’t think much of them at first glance. After scooping those, the man continued to rush around the sale, almost bumping into me at one point. We left soon after. We don’t have much tolerance for people like this.

While walking to the car, Camille mentioned how we should’ve picked up the long boards when we saw them. She was right. Though difficult to ship, each board was worth around 50-60 dollars. We would’ve made a killing. We were bummed—at this point we’d been to 5 yard sales and had struck out all 5 times. That could’ve made it all better.

But maybe that man bought the boards for his son who’s been wanting one, or maybe he flips junk for a living and hasn’t had a Saturday off in a decade. We made peace with it and started driving to our last sale of the morning.

My Maps app had two ways of getting there: a straight shot or back roads. Camille get’s motion sickness, so I chose the straight shot. While approaching a red light, Camille yells, “Garage Sale!” We can’t park so I let her out while I go to find parking. Long story short, this woman was selling some of her son’s PC gaming tech. There was also a box of almost new Pokemon cards. All in all, we could get anywhere from $250-500 for everything we picked up at this stop.

We could’ve regretted not picking up the long boards. We could’ve called it there, too defeated after 5 strike outs to try one more time. Instead, we chose to be grateful for the opportunity to go out flipping together. We chose gratitude over regret, and it lead to a jackpot. It almost always leads to some kind of jackpot.

An Ode to Waffles

Never have I been more satisfied with a meal and more completed by a snack than you, waffles. Never have I witnessed something as beautiful as your dips and valleys, formed by the Oyster gods, still receptive enough to welcome pure maple syrup into your folds. You are for the summer and the winter, for early morning hikes and midnight snacks. You are an ice cream sandwich and a breakfast staple. The warmth you bring fills my belly and my spirit. We become one in the fluff of your immaculate glaze.

10 seconds

I was on a run today with 3 teammates. During the run we had to stop at a few traffic lights. We also took a couple breaks to stretch out some tight hips, shins, and backs. As we were passing by a nearby park, we decided to turn left onto the quieter, more scenic road instead of heading towards the busy room that always has traffic.

Theres a hill immediately after turning left. We ran up the hill and stopped at the top to stretch out again. This time, instead of staying in one spot and stretching, we stretched as we walked. We started running when we hit the stop sign. 10 seconds later, we heard the crash coming from behind us.

We turned around to see that a massive tree had fallen across the street, landing right where we had stopped. Relief mixed with worry as we wondered if anybody got hit. We ran back to check and, luckily, nobody had been walking, driving, or parked in the impact zone. The tree was in a fenced in yard and had broken the fence. The woman to whom the tree belonged came out and was thankful nobody got hurt (or worse). She said the tree was 85 years old and 19 feet in circumference.

If we had stopped and stretched for a little longer… If we had ran a little slower… If we had left the gym a little later…

The four of us ran home pretty shook. We looked up the whole way, making sure no other trees were close to falling. We were 10 seconds away from disaster. Wind, gravity, and old age were 10 seconds away from removing us from our bodies. 10 seconds.

I’ll be unpacking this experience a little more over the next few days and weeks. I believe this incident happened for a reason, that I was where I was for a purpose. What I know now is that “Hake Hey. Today is a Good Day to Die” certainly means a lot more to me now than it ever did before.

In the Rain, We Run

Many believe rainy days are meant for bowls of soup and Netflix watching. In this way people use rain as an excuse to not accomplish what they should be doing. They believe the lies: when water falls from the sky, your to do list should adapt. You can’t do things outside when it rains anyways, right?

Wrong.

Rain can’t change a thing for your dream attainment. If your dream is really your dream, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from moving the needle every day. That means if your goal is to walk to the grocery store instead of drive, the rain shouldn’t change that. If your objective is to stop by the chapel after class, the rain shouldn’t alter your schedule. If you’re trying to get in shape by running more, a rainy day means a rainy run.

Today I ran 9 200s in the rain with my teammates. It poured rain and we were all drenched. But we must do the work.

If you’re serious about changing your life by achieving a challenging goal, you have to stop pandering to the weather. Your work must get done. No matter what. There can be no exceptions.

Mother Earth is blessing us with a shower. Let’s stop cursing the rain for making us wet and start thanking our Mother for giving us—and everything we need to survive—a drink.

Take Your Time, Make Art

I find myself setting internal deadlines too ludicrous to ever be met. Day after day I make plans and schedules trying to get a handle on this time thing. And, like clockwork, day after day I overestimate what I think I can accomplish and underestimate the time it takes to complete menial tasks. Day after day I am kicking myself, wondering when I’ll finally learn to take control of my day.

It’s all vanity.

Maybe instead of squeezing every last task into my day I should spend some time being grateful for the day I have. Perhaps this moment in gratitude could help me remember why I’m here: to live, to love, to be of service. And then, just maybe, I could spend more time creating art and less time trying to fit my laundry folding into ten minutes.

Imagine how your life could change if every day you were reminded of your purpose. What if instead of getting frustrated with yourself you forgave yourself. Consider how much art you could create if you stopped wasting time making schedules too structured to follow.

Maybe this post could be a reminder to all of us: take your time, make art.

Take your time. Make Art…

Keep Going

Mike Posner is almost finished walking across America. That’s right, Atlantic to Pacific. He started in New Jersey and is currently in California with less than 100 miles to go (out of 2,851). His walk was delayed while walking through Colorado. He was bit by a rattlesnake and nearly died. It took him 3 weeks until he was back to walking. He just surprised the world by dropping his brand new mixtape called “Keep Going.”

Throughout the walk Mike has been sharing videos of spoken word on Instagram. He’s been shouting “Keep Going” at the end of every one of his posts. It’s been his rallying cry during this whole journey. Little did we all know, but Mike was sharing his new songs, verses, and mixtape with us. And none of us realized it.

This album is magnificent. Really, it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever heard. This man doesn’t speak about making money and partying. He speaks of love, self discovery, and following your heart. This is a meaningful message, too meaningful to not be heard.

So go check it Mike Posner’s Musical Medicine. Now we’ll just wait for him to do a song with Nahko…hopefully!

Fallen, Forever

Fallen branches wait to be cleared and you now
drop leaves no longer useful. Every day new old leaves drop
and cover the trail again, reshaping it, untouching it. 
Decaying practicality, now open to opportunity.
Nobody has ever walked on my dead parts before—
you will not be the last. This moment is here but will be gone
soon and forever.

Walk by yourself or with another. 
Walk with a loved one or with an enemy. 
Whether you share visions or disagreements
soon you will be walking side-by-side to the same rhythm, 
left foot, right foot, trip. Not indifference but understanding 
will leave my woods today. Hope for another moment together 
soon and forever.

These seconds are rotting apples, sweet but tender. This day 
is a new beginning for the whole world. I am the world. 
This world is mine to live, celebrate, and ignore. 
Who will be the keeper of my destiny, if not myself? 
I hear the honeybee sing to the doe:
“Today is a good day to die.” 
So it is for me and my kingdom.

Rest Day

If I’ve learned one thing from my Ōura ring it’s at least one day off a week is absolutely essential for better recovery and accelerated performance. It’a simple but hard to practice. For accomplished and improving athletes, a day off may seem like a step in the wrong direction. Let this be a warning to you: it’s only going to benefit you in the long run.

The track season just started and my running is ramping up now to about 6x a week. I’m ready for it. I need to make sure my body stays healthy and ready for workouts, too. So rest days are important. Yoga days are important. Stretching before bed is important. Hydration is important. Staying awake form alcohol is important. Whole foods and less gluten and sugar are important. Balance is important.

This is my final circuit of the Division 1 athlete life. I’m going to do my absolute best to squeeze everything I have out of it. That includes rest days, like today.

Keep resting to keep getting better.