Im showing my age here, but can you hear it? What would you do-ooo-ooo for a Klondike bar?! The idea being of course, that something so amazing would be worth any task or hardship.
How about this one as I ponder my life choices today - Who would you travel 12 hours for in one day, driving, flying, car renting, leaving before the sun is up and returning after midnight on a work day, with 4 hours of dead time in between (hence the time to make a post!) just to see a 2 hour game in person? Let's add onto that because we've all done crazy stuff for our kids - who would you do all that for and do it with a full heart, no regrets, utter excitement, and can't wait to do it again in 3 days???? My baby girl's senior playing season in college is something I can't get enough of.
I love to watch her play. I love to see her face when I show up. I love to share the experience with her as someone who'd watched her journey, rather than just hear about it. I know it's not forever and I don't want to lose a second of it.
And while I got my start writing about appreciating our kids youth sports experience, that's not exactly where Im headed with this, though it still applies here just as well. I don't mind traveling, it's a big part of my job and I've gotten it pretty well down to a science that requires little forethought or planning. But this full day of travel for a few moments of blissful lacrosse watching and a brief hug goodbye isn't ideal and it's not like Im getting paid here, quite the opposite.
Yet, despite all of that, there is not a single thread of resistance in my soul. I'm counting down the days until Wednesday's next adventure and mourning the Friday game I will have to miss for a conflict- the first game I'll miss this season.
SO......why?
Why is it that in some circumstances, even for goals we care deeply about and paths we have chosen with great care to follow, do we feel the dread of the hard parts or the mundane, or the "getting there" items, kind of like traveling to an event that takes 10 times longer than the event itself?
Why is it that sometimes we struggle so much with the journey and idealize the destination as though they aren't thoroughly connected in every way?
The most affordable flights for me are typically Tampa. That means over an hour of construction, accidents, crazy bridges, and expensive parking must take place just to GET to the plane! It's not my favorite drive by any means, and my lifted jeep with duct taped windows is not exactly a smooth ride or gas friendly.
But when I'm so excited about something that I can't bare the thought of missing it - well I guess I'd do just about anything for a Klondike bar - or in this case, a lax game played by my baby girl.
You know by now that there's a bigger lesson coming in here. Because those sprints we hate doing ARE just like the long day of travel required to get to the game you can't imagine missing. Think about this. Do you love running faster than everyone else and passing people? Feeling like you could run forever, push yourself and know that you trained harder than your opponent as they fall behind? Do you love knowing you are unmatched in the work you put out and very few can compete with you? Who wouldn't love that feeling?????
Great, go outside and start sprinting to train and be so happy!!! Oh, that doesn't sound like fun, does it? I mean, most days we might get the hard work in, but it's a battle, we don't always want to, we might cut corners, we may even skip it, we certainly aren't giddy about it!
Listen carefully friends.
If you don't get on the plane, you don't see the game. If you don't get out there and embark on the entire journey in a way that gets you your desired destination, you will, in fact miss it. And that should scare you a little bit.
What if you could see the process, the work, the consistent commitment, the positive mindset, the recovery, hard conversations, whatever your journey will require of you, as a part of the thing you are so excited about, instead of being separate? What if it wasn't one and then the other, but all woven together as one big package to greatness??
What if the excitement for the destination made you SMILE THROUGH THE SPRINTS? The same way I smiled through the traffic in Atlanta this morning while watching the first 15 minutes of this game I was traveling to see in person, in gridlock bumper to bumper madness?
What if your excitement, passion, and purpose fueled every action, thought, word, and perspective.
What if, my friends, your life could instantly become the best journey you've ever taken to destinations that light your soul on fire? Can you feel it?
No more. "I hate meal prepping to be healthier!" and instead it becomes "I can't wait to eat the meals that will take me to this place of well-being where I feel amazing every single day! Im closer every day!" Every act that you take of the process, the journey, is actually uou traveling to the best destination you can imagine and who could find complaints when you're ON YOUR WAY!!!!!
You're not just dreaming about that big goal as if it's some far away destination circled on the calendar. if you're moving forward, then you've started the trip to getting there. If you're living the process then you are in fact, on your way!
So get excited. Drive through the traffic, take the extra flight of stairs past the people lounging on the escalator, make the calls and schedule the meetings, pedal the bike, study the materials, run the sprints, and know that you are on your way to whatever your Klondike Bar is.
As for me, you may see me running through the airport, a bit of a hot mess sometimes, without even putting my shoes back on at security, AND a big, stupid, excited, grin on my face.
This morning as I made that drive to Tampa I looked over and there was the sunrise over the water behind a row of palm trees and all I could think was, what a freaking amazing life we get to live as we pursue the things that bring us so much undeniable JOY!