Stay the course....

For a few weeks, every Thursday morning, Andre Miller of Roots Fitness and I have been at the river training our asses off while searching and toying with different spots that offer different currents so that we could get the perfect skim board ride.

Without knowing what today was going to offer, we both knew it would be the day. With board and rope in hand, we strapped our fins on and finned down the river. Lo and behold, we found our spot.

We weren't set up perfectly, but we achieved exactly what we set out to achieve. By the time we put eyes on the perfect line, time had gotten away from us and kept us from resetting our rope to hit that better line. The next time we go out, our efforts will be rewarded as they were today…the hard part is now over.

What’s all this about? It’s about firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition…persistence.

When we finished, we finned further down river and walked back to our vehicle. As we walked past Schlitterbahn, we noticed the insane line of people waiting to get onto a water slide which started a discussion about wasting life.

You see, the slide these folks were waiting to go down didn’t cost them anything but a short stair climb. There was no mental or physical investment. The stair case and slide were already built for them. All they had to do was show up.

Let me correct myself, there is a time investment. You stand in line for an hour or more to receive less than a minute’s worth of enjoyment. It’s kinda like investing a chunk of your family emergency fund into your drunken buddy’s party clown for hire business. You just gotta know that’s a bad idea. Okay, maybe that's a bad comparison, but you get it. Side note: I have had tons of fun at Schlitterbahn….timing is of the utmost importance, however.

When your investment consists of a few days of trial and error, testing your conditioning by swimming a distance, being ripped off the board and swept down river only to battle your way back up river to try again, getting beat up by rocks, beat up by the board, dinging said board, having to patch said board, stepping in holes and twisting ankles, etc….when you finally stand up, it means something to you.

Achieving a goal holds much more importance when the journey to get there cost you something. You know what we say….you put nuthin’ on nuthin’ and all you’re gonna end up with is nuthin.’ Now go on and put a lil’ sumpthin’ on sumpthin’ and you might just get a lil’ sumpthin!'

Firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

Put your eyes on something, formulate a plan of attack, accept the fact that the plan will have to change a little here and there along the way, and be steadfast in the work you put in to see the plan out. Once the plan has been seen to the end, start polishing that goal…because the journey never ends.

Next up, sitting on that better line and refining our movement.

Move well and be well my friends….