Things I Learned From Racing a Train

Wednesday was Zac's birthday, and as part of his 5th birthday celebrations we went to the Zoo and the Children's Fantasy Garden at the Botanic Garden. There is a train that connects the two, which are about 1.5 miles apart, and runs alongside the bike trail. Upon our return trip to the Zoo Manda suggested that I run the trail and see who gets back first, the train or me. I decided to take up the challenge, and in the process I learned a few things.

When Mustard Moves Mountains

What are you confident of? What are you absolutely sure of? What do you hold in your life as a rock on which you can stand secure, unwavering?

Now, what are you unsure about? What do you doubt? What leaves you with unsteady footing?

Have those two ever met in your life? Have doubts and uncertainty ever crept into those things that you have always been sure of? Has something you once doubted now become your firm foundation?

Before the World Ends

I just got the most recent issue of Popular Mechanics, which happens to be a great magazine, in case you were wondering. The cover story of this particular issue is "64 Things to do Before the World Ends."

In case you didn't know, the new end of the world date has been set for April 23. The mysterious Planet X, or Nibiru, is once again scheduled to come crashing into Earth, securing all of our deaths. I wouldn't worry too much though, Nibiru is notoriously tardy. In fact, it's never showed up to any of its prior appointments, and I wouldn't put any stock on it making this time.

Fate and Destiny

Today is Friday the 13th, the most unlucky, dangerous day on the calendar. It also happens to be my mom's birthday. In fact, she was born on a Friday the 13th. Happy Birthday mom! 

This is a notorious day, full of fears, and while it may seem ridiculous, it affects 17 to 21 million people in the United States, paralyzing them, some to the point that they won't even get out of bed today. $800-$900 million will be lost in business today because people won't go to work. In fact, there is a phobia solely around Friday the 13th, it's called paraskevidekatriaphobia in case you were curious, and related to that, the fear of the number 13 in general is called triskaidekaphobia. Many businesses/hotels/buildings/airports/etc... avoid the number 13. They don't have rooms or floors or terminals numbered 13 because there is such a great fear and superstition surrounding it. Any and all number of terrible, unfortunate events are sure to take place today. Such is the way of bad luck and misfortune.⁽¹⁾

(F)orget (E)verything (A)nd (R)etreat

What is your greatest fear? Take a second to think about it. Usually the first thing that comes to mind is something like heights, clowns, spiders, the dark... something along those lines, but if we really take a minute to think about it, to be truly honest, we'll discover that our greatest fear is likely something much more more serious and much less tangible.

When we really boil it down, often our fears are more along the lines of failure, the unknown (change, future, etc...), not being accepted or loved, death (your own or that of a loved one), not meeting expectations (your own or others), etc... These fears plague our lives, they find a way to wiggle into every aspect of our lives in one way or another, small or overwhelming, and once there, these fears have a way of manifesting themselves in our very attempts to avoid them.

24: Choose Wisely

How much difference can a day make?

If you are like me, like most people, days come and go remarkably quickly, quicker than it seems possible, and they are filled with so much routine, so much that is already planned and laid out, that we hardly even notice their passing. We go through our days on autopilot. This day is going to be largely similar to yesterday, which was largely similar to what tomorrow will be. We have a template, and sometimes we switch up some of the content, but by and large, everything is going to look the same tomorrow as it does today. In the grand scheme of things, 24 hours is a small amount of time, a building block in a much larger structure, and that single block, on its own, does not make much of a difference in the overall picture.