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I Don’t Want To Be An Inspiration!

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I’d rather be an influencer (much as I cringe when i hear that word and its current meaning as on Tik Tok and YouTube I guess).

I don’t know about you but when I see someone that I might say “inspires” me, it’s just a feeling like “wow, how special that person is. look at all they overcame. I’d like to be like that.”

But, for me anyway, that’s pretty much where it ends. It’s a positive emotion but if emotions were currency, we’d all be rich.

I want to see WHAT or HOW someone did something to get to where now everyone is calling them an inspiration. What steps did they take? We know that no one is truly an “overnight” success no matter what it might seem. They had to work to get there and I want to know what those steps were. I also want to know what they overcame to see if I can identify with it and then put their techniques into practice for my own improvement. If i have no clue what their obstacle is like because I’ve never experienced anything similar, I won’t get as much benefit from following their steps (we can always benefit in some way).

Of course, most “inspirational” people have dealt with physical, mental and emotional aspects of adversity or desire.

I would much rather someone say “gee, Terrie, I didn’t realize how important it is to rest/sleep before making significant decisions until you kept hammering it home” than to hear “you are such an inspiration.” I don’t know what you did with that inspiration. If you tell me, then that’s different and it’s meaningful.

I want to teach and guide and help those who want to learn about how I got from point A to point B – and more importantly, perhaps, what i learned that I should have done to make the trip easier.

Which would you rather be? Which has a greater impact?

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How to Read “It’s Not About The Miles”

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It all depends on what you’re looking for that day or hour or minute. You can use “It’s Not About The Miles” in various ways. Obviously the theme was my 2021 Vol State Race (314 miles across Tennessee in 10 days). You will definitely see where the title comes from. The 314 miles certainly was an accomplishment…BUT…everything (and everyone) that happened along the way during 10 days paralleled my “journey run” through 70+ years of life.

There’s the story about the race, the towns, the people in the race and along the way

There’s discussion of all the obstacles I encountered

There’s more info about ways I discovered to conquer those obstacles.

This is also a synopsis, of sorts, of all the mental toughness/discipline study and training I did SINCE that race

There are things i did right and things I could have done better – helpful for those doing the race for the first time.

Life Lessons at every turn of the page it seems. I drew upon my experience and all I’ve learned and  tried to put them into words of wisdom hoping that one or two might impact someone positively and open a door they hadn’t seen before

At the end of this post I included the table of contents. However, that is only the major breaks. There are many sections inside each of these “titles”

You can do many things with the paperback copy but whichever you choose, I hope you enjoy (and I  have to do the selfish plug for reviews if you can take a minute or two to put one on Amazon):

1) Read straight through
2) Open up to a page and try to figure out if you know what’s been happening, what’s happening now or does it even matter (many sections are not about anything chronological)
3) Go to the Table of Contents and pick a place
4) Just Flip the pages and read the Life Lessons. They are easily identifiable. Again, no chronology is needed
5) Page through and find the bolded section titles and see if anything catches your fancy
6) Use it for weightlifting
7) Use it as a paperweight

Table of Contents
Cover
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
14 Basic Life Lessons
Why Did YOU Open This Book?
Paving the Road Ahead – What to Expect The Way There The Race
Ten Adventurous Days The Village
Help Comes in Many Forms…
The End and The Aftermath
Obstacles & Challenges
The F Factors
F Marks the Spot Deprivation Challenges Pain
Emotional and Mental Obstacles
What I’ve Learned Since the 2021 Race Mental Strategies for the Win Mistakes I Made
What I Could Have Done Better
The Successes
A Few More Lessons Two Key Questions
What’s Next?
Special Acknowledgement
Acknowledgements
About the Cover
About the Author
Resources
The LEGO®s of My Life

Hope you like it!

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What Do You Mean?

Veterans' Day 2022

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Two caveats:

I am a veteran and love that so many have changed their Facebook profile photo to one of them in uniform. But, the only photo I have is one when I was an Ensign (way back in the late 70s) and obviously that isn’t digital – we didn’t even know what that word meant or if it existed back then..lol

Because it’s Veterans Day, I’ll post about How To Read My Book tomorrow. Bet you are glad for the reprieve from my bragging and sales pitches..lol

Ok, now about today’s subject….

Today is Veteran’s Day and I will say that everyone, especially here in San Antonio, makes it a special day with discounts and freebies for Veterans. It’s extremely nice and I’m sure appreciated by all of us.

I don’t think anyone wants “Thank you for your service” to merely be something you say like “how are you today?” or “have a nice day”. But, it’s similar to so many of our overused words. How many times can you say “like” and have anyone pay attention to it or have anyone think it actually has meaning.

Ask yourself, “What do I mean when I tell someone I hardly know (or even those I do know) ‘thank you for your service’? What am I really thanking them for?”

Maybe, you could add a little something extra about what it means knowing that they gave up a job that would earn more money to continue to protect our country or to serve those who were doing the protection.

Also, please remember, that it’s not all about Combat veterans. I see this way too often and I’m not demeaning them..BUT I feel that when people think only of combat veterans as “worthy” or “important”, the whole point is missed.

We are a TEAM and more importantly, we are a FAMILY! Everyone on a team is important. I continually refer to the pandemic and the immense importance of (but with little recognition of) the housekeeping staffs in the hospital. How long do you think the hospital would have been able to remain open without them scrubbing and spraying everything to keep those little buggers (literally) from hopping up onto another patient or staff member?

Same with the military. Without all the supply people in the states and without trainers, not much would good would happen in the combat arenas. EVERYONE has a part.

So, maybe ask someone what they did in the service – not just the branch but what their job was and how they liked it or who they supported etc.. Find out more about the service you’re thanking them for. I guarantee you’ll go away enriched!

Thanks to all my Shipmates who cared for the patients we took care of. You all supported each other so everyone could give their utmost and know that a caring person was nearby. I love everyone (well, almost everyone….I don’t want to be Pinocchio) I served with.

Happy Veterans’ Day!