Long time – no hear!
Wow, time sure flies! I know…I know… it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted, and a few people have mentioned missing your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, asking me to start it up again.
Well, today is your lucky day, fair citizens! Since we last talked, within the last year, a few large life changes have leaped out at me, including the heartbreaking loss of my furry best friend, Chewie – who I had mentioned in nearly EVERY post. Also, a recent job change coincided with that. As a result of these events, I feel I am in a transition of seasons myself.
I am of the opinion that just as nature travels through its seasons, so do people and businesses. Here in the Midwest, the cycle moves from growth (Spring) all the way through hibernation (Winter) and renews itself over and over again.
So, right up front, here’s one place my present season is taking me: I want to transition this blog from a primarily exercise-focused motivation to a more all-inclusive, whole-life-benefitting focus. After all, it seems like I had already been walking down that path for some time now. Additionally, I have been more interested in mind-health lately than physical health. Plus, I love writing for all of you, so I would like to get back into it.
Note: near the end of this post you will find my “Biography” or mission…what I’d like my life to look like, or what drives me…in case you want to know more about it.
In Spring, all the new grass, plants, insects and food sprout and grow (and the annoying birds, chirping and rustling in my house vent wake me up too early in the morning!). In Summer, things really heat up and those very plants and insects get vibrant and really flourish. Fall comes and things begin to cool off and seem to start slowing down. Finally, winter hits, killing things off or causing them to go temporarily dormant.
The beautiful thing is that this cyclical process invigorates, causes even stronger growth and provides extra energy to all things.
People and businesses are similar. Sometimes the “Seasons of Life” are paired up with the Christian faith or may refer to the cycle of birth-through-death, but I am talking more in the sense of multiple, constant changes of seasons throughout ones’ lives.
We go through seasons like that of school, where we need to really focus and get strong at it (or fail and find something else), finish and move on to the next cycle or interest. Maybe the next season would be meeting someone, falling in love and marrying them. After that, the new season may be finding a specific career, really focusing on it, climbing up the corporate ladder and settling nicely into a manager or upper leadership role. Still another season may be a new interest or having children… we all have countless seasons throughout our lives and they may be different for each of us.
In my case, transitioning to my new job felt like a sort of homecoming because I worked there 20 years ago for 6 years! Great people, great company. But this change is difficult too because I also had to leave many super-close friends as well as leaving a great company. (Can you now see why this season is a difficult one?!)
There’s another season I’ve gone through concerning a certain area of my life that is not a negative at all – it’s just a change in my interests that is resulting in my preference to transition into a new type of blog.
The First Season:
I began this blog years ago as motivational support to an awesome, close-knit team who I wanted to motivate to run the Chicago Marathon in 2013. I also began running at that time as well. I became VERY interested in physical health and exercise and my posts were all about that.
The Second Season:
While I was maintaining running and exercising I began adding some fun, interesting stories as well as healthy recipes, always reading and searching for information that might help my readers. At the end of this Season, I branched out a bit and posted about more mind-health (such as meditation) instead of physical health.
I guess I knew all along that physical and mental health go hand-in-hand, but recently I began devouring information of all sorts about Psychology, learning, motivation and how the brain works.
The Present Season:
In the last few months, I have taken some free (but pretty in-depth) courses through MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses). I have completed one on Life Coaching that was really good, another on Positive Psychology and a 3rd called MindShift and the science of memory.
During the Life Coaching course, I actively learned by personally completing all the activities. As a result, I figured out my “Biography” or mission – what I’d like my life to look like, or what drives me. It is kind of personal to me, but I want to put it out there in case any of you are going through difficult (or exciting new!) seasons and need a little assistance or motivation too…
MIKE’S BIOGRAPHY:
I would like to use my knowledge and talents to help others figure out how to create a happier, more productive life.
Having worked for a few large companies (Ace, Follett, McDonald’s) has given me the opportunity to grow my skills and experience in the realms of graphics, communications, and marketing which I can bring to new opportunities, such as my new, present job at United Labs.
Some of my talents are that I can take complicated information and make it interesting, simple and easy to use, often through using graphics and good layout skills. I listen well and give good advice (from what I’m told!) and I enjoy researching and learning new things I might teach and motivate others with.
A couple of my achievements are having taught myself web design, how to use PowerPoint/Keynote in different ways than they were created for – to make animated learning videos.
I plan on traveling more, writing a self-improvement book, inspiring a great woman who complements me, and raising my son with strong values, a positive attitude and good work ethic. I would also like to lose 20 lbs of body fat, healthily (by eating better and less & exercising smarter and more)!
Like I said, it is kind of personal to share – especially the last sentence!
So, in the end, I am looking forward to this new season of my life and hope you are too. If anyone would like to know how you could come up with your own biography/mission statement/future-focus or even just some more information on one of the courses I took (Life Coach, Mindshift or Positive Psychology), feel free to reach out… I took many notes.
So, what is YOUR next season? Share with us!
–Mike
FunFitTeam 