Things That I Love and Make Me Happy

Summer
Pisgah National Forest
Hip-hop/rap
Mountain bikes
Pretty girls
Downhill racing
Competition
School & learning
Dr. Pepper
Hot sun
Manual labor
Cereal
Early mornings in the woods

Quiet

Yesterday was weird. Other than 3 text messages, and a 15 minute visit with Chaput, I didn't talk to anyone. Except for a brief visit to a couple of stores. That doesn't count though.

It's not often that you get to spend a day in almost complete solitude and quiet. It's a nice feeling, and you pretty much can do what you want. I actually found myself freaking out a good bit mentally...feeling like I HAD to go talk to someone or fill my day with things to do just so that I wasn't wasting a day or being lame or whatever. It took until about 2 to start really enjoying the time to myself.

You should try it.

Starting a Change

What is the first step towards making a significant change in one's life? Is it the recognition that there is something in your life that needs to be different? That you are somehow not living up to what you've idealized for yourself? That you have a weakness that needs to be addressed? OR is the first step towards change the desire to change itself? Do people get restless what who they are and allow that to spark a change in themselves?

Looking at the question I just posed, it doesn't seem quite as complicated as it was in my head. Of course the first step in changing is recognizing that something needs to be different, right? You first recognize, and then from that there is a desire to change what you've found in yourself. Couldn't it work that way? Of course. But, it could also happen that someone has a general desire to improve themselves and begins looking for ways to make that happen in all areas of their lives. It's the difference between being reactive and proactive. Seeking out things to improve for improvement's sake, or realizing that there is something in which you could be better. Neither option is better or worse than the other, but different situations call for different types of actions and mindsets.

For example, in parts of my life, I had a preemptive desire to change a certain of aspect of who I am. There really wasn't anything wrong with how I was doing things previously, but I realized that I COULD be doing it better. In other areas, I've identified a weakness and from that have made the decision to change. By doing either of these things, I expect to become a happier and more complete person.

Is change for the sake of change good? No. Change comes enough without needing to force it on yourself. However, if you can stay ahead of the curve, or improve something in order to make yourself a better person, then why not go for it? At least then you tried...

New Blog, New Mission

Those of you who know me and have kept up with anything I've done online may (or may not) know that I had an old blog HERE. However, that blog was associated with my brevard.edu email address, and that domain recently underwent some changes, taking away my access to the old blog.

As frustrating as it is to lose the old posts that I had (and to not be able to post for several months), it was high time for a revamping of both the look and purpose of my blog. I was tired of having a blog that only dealt with bikes and bike riding, and the limited scope of things that I discussed. Few people want to read about the same mundane things that most cyclists have in their blog.

I can't promise that this blog will be any more interesting, or that you will be any more entertained, but I can promise more variety of topics and a more complete view of what I view as important. My plan right now is to talk about everything from racing and training to work to food to style to personal interactions and everything in between.

My idea behind this blog is to document the changes that I want to make in my life, and hopefully inspire, in some small way, a change in my readers as well. I have had some major life changes in the past 6 months, and feel like there are a lot of areas in my life that are lagging behind and incomplete in terms of being a man. Hopefully a blog about changes like this will serve to give a deeper picture of what it is to hit the final stages of growing up into an adult. I'm not under any delusions that my blog will be read by a lot of people, or even that the people who read it will be overly interested in what I have to say. All I want is to be able to have a record of what I've done, for my own good if nothing else.

Enjoy.