Happy new year to you.
I have seen many folks reflecting back overt the last year, remembering triumphs and setbacks. I have been doing that myself. Many of you are all excited about the upcoming 12 months. God know I am too!
So here , in stream of consciousness order, are some of the high points of 2014 for me, personally and professionally. This is by no means a complete list.
We bought a new house and moved from the suburbs into a much more rural setting. The woods here are magickal and I am having an amazing time just BEING in our new home. Mandy and our hairy little family are loving it.
I became certified as an Amazing 12 week physique coach and did an abbreviated run for myself and a few clients. My personal execution of the A12 was way less than full compliance, but looking at the situation as a whole I got better results than I expected. First, I only did 10 1/2 weeks because that was the best I could do with the schedule. I had an international trip, a birthday weekend and thanksgiving (complete with travel) in the middle of it. Figuring out the scheduling to fit in with my life was another thing that has been an evolving work in progress. Inspite of all that, I dropped 18lb on the scale and got stronger in the lifts I was working on. Equally important is that I understand how to coach the plan and am about to unleash it upon Music City next week. I sold out the eight openings I had for Jan 2015. Updates to follow……
I taught or attended several events, including the first ever SFG in Nashville. That was a goal that I had wanted for many years. I learned a lot being the host and the chief instructor on that one. I got to teach SFG in Chicago, Italy and England as well. I attended a couple of Original Strength events and got a deeper understanding of that excellent system. All these trips were punctuated by time spent with my amazing brothers and sisters in strength.
I taught steel bending in Belfast. This trip allowed us to spend a week in Ireland and do a lot of site seeing and spend time with my Irish family.
I learned a LOT more about breathing, meditation and cold exposure than I imagined was possible, through my own regular practice. Learning the methods of Wim Hof has been wonderful. I am very excited about continuing to develop in this area. I am very proud of my students in the area as well, and am grateful beyond words to my teachers, especially James Alexander.
I revisited the gym movement/biofeedback protocol of training with an open mind, vowing to look at it honestly, without beginning from a conclusion. I have changed my opinion of it as a system and am looking forward to learning more from Adam (whom I am thankful to call my friend again) and Frankie.
I wrote my first book. That still seems pretty heavy of a concept to me. I got more ideas cooking……
I have spent more of my own energy and effort in becoming a better strongman and performer than any other year in my life. That is a trend that shall continue. I have performed feats in front of people more in 2014 than ever before and I am looking forward to eclipsing that in 2015. I got to spend time with many of my strongman friends, mentors and inspirations this year, like Slim the Hammer Man, Mike Greenstein, Chris Rider, Mike Bruce and Eric Moss.
I learned a lot about myself, and about people I thought I knew well. I won’t go deep into it here, but I have experienced changes in some of my relationships that allow me to see things that I didn’t account for before. This is a very big shift and most likely has to do with my perception, not in the nature of the other people. Some surprises here, some to the benefit of the relationships and some not. But it’s all good because it’s all truth.
I could keep going, but I want to throw out the one thing that I have taken to heart as I move forward into 2015 and beyond:
I shall honestly and willfully express my Self & my Spirt. In all things, all the time.
Simple? Yup.
Easy? We’ll see.
May you be healthy, wealthy, happy, strong and full of love. Every day.
Who’s with me??
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