Daily Gratitude: “Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin.”

If you wait, you’ll never get anything done. Whether you’re waiting for conditions to be perfect or perhaps just one thing to be perfect. Or, maybe you just want yourself to be perfect. Nothing will ever be perfect so don’t even think about waiting.

Remind yourself that this kind of waiting is just a false front for fear. You’re afraid of what will happen; what you’ll look like; what others will say; etc.

So while you’ve filled your mind with all these worries and concerns, you’ve remained in your little cocoon doing absolutely nothing. Ask yourself what people will think and say about that. Maybe they’ll think you’re lazy, or that you don’t care about anything, or that you’re a snob or, or, or.

I would bet they aren’t thinking “oh isn’t that cool, he or she is just wanting everything to be perfect before they put it out there.

People don’t want perfect. If you have something, anything, that will help them, they do not want to wait until all the features you plan on are available. They want whatever will help them….NOW. And, if they get more later, that’s great.

Take a chance. People are more compassionate than you think. They accept mistakes if they know you are trying your best. You never know, someone who’s out there waiting for you to do your thing may actually help you in the long run.

Be brave. Remember that babies fall on their butts all the time, giggle and get right back up. Act like that smiling little one.

Daily Gratitude: “No experience is wasted if I bring attention to it.”

What can you derive from an experience? How can you use it to shape your future…even if that future is just a few hours.

We lost power yesterday for about 5 hours. I didn’t open my refrigerator because it wasn’t clear how long the power would be out and I wanted to keep as much cold in there as possible.

That meant I could only have warm soda and warm water. I was missing my caffeine fix and my morning shake.

I had to get my camping gear out to power up a small USB light once I was done using my phone for my basic morning tasks. But I also had to charge the phone.

And it was raining so that was messing with my intent to do a heat acclimating walk.

Poor me.

Was any of this in my control? Some was and some wasn’t. The weather and the power outage were not. The rest was.

I ended up spending a lot of time working on editing my book (it’s printed out so I didn’t need my computer for that, Just some light.

I went out to walk a short walk later in the day. It was warm but not real heat training.

I got so much done on my book that it felt really good. I needed that time to “be with” my book.

I felt gratitude for all i have that makes my life easier. It also reminded me of the times in my life when this wasn’t such a big deal. We didn’t have all these electronics so when the sun came up we could still read or write something until the power was restored.

I am grateful for that experience yesterday. It also reminded me that this upcoming race can be full of surprises and my only course of action is to deal with what I can control and figure out how to deal with what I can’t.

Who’d have thought that a short, 5 hour power outage could teach so much about life?

All our experiences can do this.

Daily Gratitude: “The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

Did you know that that’s part of the strategy behind the constant bombardment of news that we’ve had since 2025?

We’ve been under siege and it’s been intentional. I have seen it in myself. I used to be at least a little interested in what the news stories were. I stay away from almost all reporting. I don’t read the newspapers and don’t watch TV but I read one news email to see the topics.

But in the past few months I’ve noticed that I don’t even have an interest in that. Why? Because I can’t keep up. My nervous system can’t handle all the drama and it’s all drama. So my protective brain just shuts off. It’s taken me all these years to learn to calm my nervous system that i cannot expose it again. I don’t want it to get all worked up again.

All this “incoming” leads to apathy. When we are apathetic, we no longer care. But we have to care. We’ve seen what’s happened when power is unchecked. We can’t let that continue to happen. The country has no more checks and balances. No matter what side you’re on (think about how pathetic that statement is – why do we have to have sides and not just be for what’s good for everyone?) you have to admit we need checks and balances.

Don’t become apathetic simply because you’re not a government official and “can’t do anything”. There’s something for you to do. Everyone one of us has to fight apathy. Otherwise we’re saying that all those people who died protecting our freedom died in vain. This is why I say Memorial Day must be every day. Honor those who’ve lost their lives by fighting your own apathy.