Trail Tips – Page 5 – Al Andersen

Self-worth… A trail tip

Self-worth “the sense of one’s own value or worth as a person; self-esteem; self-respect.”, from Dictionary.com

I got a Franklin Covey Time Management System at work this past month and part of it focuses on life goals and priorities. Key to this; is understanding the four quadrants of time management.

Important – Urgent: emergencies; important meetings, deadlines, etc.
Important – Not Urgent; relationships, exercise, personal development, etc.
Not Important – Urgent; emails, interruptions, phone calls,
Not Important – Not Urgent; Time wasters, TV, etc.

The question of how do I see my self-worth comes into focus when I look at: “How much time do I spend on the Important – Not Urgent? Do I value myself enough to allocate the time to take care of myself?”

In hiking, it’s been said that the key to staying in shape in Colorado, is to hike 3 times a week, doing a total of 15 miles and 4,000 feet vertical weekly. Something that only take about 6 hours a week. Not a lot of time, but over a year it becomes 720 miles and 192,000 feet of vertical climbing. Yet how often do I not do this? [More than I care to admit.] We let other people or other activities take priority in our schedule and crowd out the hours in the day. Or we make excuses because we don’t want to feel the pain of a given hike. Having hiking buddies can be key to keeping this commitment. Take time to ask yourself: What is robbing your self-worth and preventing you from getting out to hike or exercise? Re-committing to your self-worth is one way to prevent from being robbed.

In our personal life, my self-worth becomes a balance struggle of personal/work, projects/family time, TV/book reading. In all cases, I need spend more time asking myself, where does this fit in with my self-worth. Am I spending the time on things that show I value my self-worth? Am I turning off the TV early enough to spend time reading or to get more sleep? Am I committing to relationships that will build me up or am I letting others drag me down?

In work, do I value myself enough to want to advance my career and stay current? Do I carve out time for taking online classes, read our company product releases, or research upcoming trends? At work, this is the hardest thing to do because so much of our days are filled with the Important – Urgent items. One way to overcome this, is to block out time on our schedules each day. It can start with 30 minutes a few times a week or an hour once a week. Granted, we will ALWAYS get the interruptions that overlap on our time, but we can start and work on adding more consistency.

How important are you to yourself? Do you value yourself and know the self-worth you have? Hiking, Relationships, Learning new skills are all important for our self-worth. And while they may not seem urgent at the time, I believe we need to start treating them as urgent because your and my Self-worth is key to living a successful healthy life.

Inspiration, Asking for Help, and Facing Fears/Honesty… A Trail tip

IMG_4005 (1) In the movie “Yesterday”, our lead character is a struggling musician in England who gets hit by a bus during a 12 second world wide power outage and wakes in a world with no Beatles, Coke, or Harry Potter. It’s a movie about finding Inspiration, Asking for Help, and Facing Fears/Honesty. With no one knowing anything about the Beatles, he pulls their songs from his memory and rises to fame by being able to remember, play, and record Beatles songs as if they were his own. While the first songs come easy, he has to dig deep for their other songs. Which is where this Trail Tip comes to life.

Inspiration: After the initial easily remembered songs, he looks for inspiration to bring out the emotions and memories to put together the pieces of other Beatles songs. Here he visits: Strawberry Fields, a church and other Beatle inspired locations to get the emotions, which pull out the memories of the songs. In hiking where do you go for your inspirations needed to get you back hiking? Are there favorite trails, overlooks, etc.; from hikes in the past that help you renew your passion for hiking? In your personal life, where do you go when you can’t seem to get it all together? Are there friends, a book, a movie that reminds you of your calling and purpose? Movies like “The Rookie” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” are just two that come to mind for me. At work, what do you do to when you are at a loss for what you can do to get back on track? Are there classes to take, a different assignment, taking a holistic view of everything you have in your job and realizing it better than you think?

Asking for Help. In one scene during the movie, he has a breakdown while singing the song “Help”. Who do you reach out to for help in your: Hiking, Personal, and Work life. In hiking you need people who have gone before you and have done those hikes. A great resource also is 14ers.com which is both a web page and Face Book page. In your personal life, it’s critical to have those life-long friends who can you reach out to for help? [And in the movie, it is a long-time friend that helps him.] At work, do you have mentor or work colleague from over the years? Someone who knows your strengths, successes and challenges you have had to over-come.

Facing Fear/Honesty. In the movie, our character comes across two people who begin to follow him and make hints that they know his secret about how he is writing all these songs. When finally confronted, they too; admit they remember the Beatles, Coke, and Harry Potter. But instead of threatening him, they encourage him to continue playing, which leads him to coming out with how he came up with all the songs, and of course, also winning back his girlfriend. What are your fears and what honesty do you need to face in your in your Hiking, Personal, and Work Life? For me: a lot of these fears center around thinking: I’m not fast enough on trails with others, I’m going to make wrong or bad decisions in my personal life, or I’m not smart enough at work. All self-talk defeating thinking; which is not true. Facing our Fears and being honest; isn’t easy to do, but by “Asking for Help”, we can begin this journey of not living in fear and walking in honesty with ourselves and those around us.

Going to see Yesterday, has rekindled my passion for writing and has taken me back to my dreams of what these Trail Tips can provide: inspiration for your journeys on the Trail, Personal, and Work Life. Where are you today? Are you needing: Inspiration, Help, or the ability to Face the Fears in your life? It starts with asking for help and having someone in your life to help you. Or as the Beatles put it:

Help me if you can I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please please help me

Getting in the arena and being energized… A trail tip

One last trail tip from the movie Free Solo, so spoiler alert; stop reading if you want to see the movie before you read this tip, otherwise; read and enjoy, as we finish this trail tip series by starting with some quotes from the last part of the movie.

“Alex is having the best day of his life. Not me, I’m done.” Quoted by one of the camera operators who filmed Alex free soloing up El Capitan.

“Good to see you again. Feels so good. So delightful. What a journey. After 8 years of dreaming. Never smiled so much. Mountain doesn’t look so scary. Exactly what I hoped for. Didn’t compromise anything.” Quotes from Alex Honnold after his successful assent of El Capitan.

“What is next [for today]” a camera person asked Alex. “I’m going to hang board (practice my exercise routine).” Replied Alex. “Normal person would have taken the afternoon off.” Was the camera person’s reply.

Both the camera operators and Alex were experienced the same event, but had totally different perspectives because of their view points. Like the camera operators, we are becoming a much more spectator-based society, sitting on the sideline watching TV, YouTube, reading exploits on Facebook, or other social media sites. We get the rush and become exhausted; without really ever doing anything. As the camera operator said “I’m done, and Alex is going back to practicing his skills with hang boarding.” Alex wasn’t exhausted from the climb (being in the arena); he was energized!

Watching Free Solo reminds us yet again, that while we will never do anything like free soloing El Capitan, we do need to spend more time in the arenas of life and get off the side line. And this starts with setting goals to get us into the arena.

In hiking -especially in Colorado- the goals seem limitless: doing the incline for the first time or the 500^th time, knocking out 14ers, completing the Colorado Trails, exploring the numerous trails around Pike’s Peak. Or having a goal in another state, like hiking the Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim in one day. It’s setting goals and starting to work on them one hike at a time; which can take years to complete. Alex didn’t free solo El Capitan the first time he saw it. Rather it was a goal 8 years in the making.

In our personal life, goals are all over the place and we can unfortunate become spectators too easy. Think of the popularity of all the home improvement shows. It’s a lot easier to watch all these rehab shows instead of picking up the sledge hammer and start knocking down those walls and cabinets. (I hope my wife doesn’t read this Trail Tip and hand me a sledge hammer.)

In work, it’s easy to let others take the lead, to be the point; while we only support and observe from the side lines. Leaders are energized and consumed with passion and the next steps for their causes as they are in the arena. Alex was focused on the next hand/foot hold, and then the next one, etc. He wasn’t being distracted by the thought of failure or other events around him. Which in our case at work would be watching for emails, phone calls, or non-relevant meetings.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people the world, are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre.” Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek. And so, we sit on the sidelines, watching others achieve their greatness in the arenas of life. Yet, they come away energized and we are emotionally spent “I done” from just watching them. What are the goals and dreams you have for your life in the areas of hiking, personal, and work life? When are you going to get into the arena and start fighting for them? Looking back at El Capitan after he climbed it, Alex said “The Mountain doesn’t look so scary”. And after your success in the arena, you too will be saying, “that wasn’t so scary, let’s get another dream and goal…”

Having Fun when you want to… A trail tip

Another trail tip from the movie Free Solo, so spoiler alert; stop reading if you want to see the movie before you read this tip, otherwise read and enjoy.

“I hate Holidays… I like having fun when I have fun. I hate being told when to have fun.” Alex Honnold from the movie Free Solo. And while I’m not here to bash holidays, birthdays, or other events that take place each year, Alex does make a very good point here that we can learn from and apply to our hiking, personal, and work life. That’s because holidays can be a very depressing time for many of us as we let the media hype of holidays get to us and we realize we are going to fall short of the expected results. And this can cut across most of the emotionally charged holidays: New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. And you can throw in your Birthday or Wedding Anniversary as well (just ask Mike Harrington). I think Alex is saying, why do I need to be happy or have fun on “these days”. Why can’t I be intentional about having fun on other days of the year.

In hiking we plan great hiking events with others around holidays. For me; Thanksgiving is about doing Blodgett peak with a buddy and Christmas Eve has become doing the incline with family; and always with a stop at Rudy’s BBQ when we finish. But to Alex’s point, why am I not intentional about doing the “extras” when I’m hiking on other days. This hit home to me after a recent hike with a group of 10 people to Mt. Buckhorn and Mays Peak. One person in the group suggested we go to Rudy’s BBQ for lunch afterwards but I became the only one to join in. But if we would have been doing this around Christmas, I bet half the group would have joined in. Let’s not wait for a special time of the year to continue the moment of a hike. Take time to grab a sandwich or drink after ANY hike with your crew.

In our personal life, holidays can be very depressing because we tend to see and focus on all the inadequacies of our lives when we compare them to social media postings and advertisers telling us what we need to be happy and have fun. Even our birthdays can be depressing as we wait for the birthday greetings that may never come from siblings, children and friends. Like Alex said: “I hate being told when to have fun.” And the pressure that comes from that. Let’s be intentional about having fun with others throughout the year. And while we can’t do it with everyone we know; we can do it with our closest inter circle of friends and with the next layer beyond that: a short phone call, meeting for coffee, lunch, dinner, an evening of playing cards, getting away for a weekend or even a hike. It’s having a variety of ways to have fun with friends and family throughout the year and being INTENTIONAL about creating these moments.

In work, we have the Christmas Potluck, Christmas Party, and other group lunch outings we try to cram in during the month of December. But why limit these team building events to just one month. Why not make them events that happen year-round? And let’s keep them simpler: a spur of the moment gets together for lunch or short notice for a potluck meal at lunch time. It’s about creating “fun” events year-round, instead of at just specific times when everything is going on.

Holiday and other important days are special to remember and celebrate throughout the year. But let’s not limit ourselves in celebrating: life, family, and friends on just these special times. Become intentional about creating memories with others throughout the year. Let’s have fun when we want to have fun!

Visualizing your Moves and knowing when to Stop… A trail tip

el-capitan-picture to use

This trail tip comes from the movie Free Solo, so spoiler alert; stop reading if you want to see the movie before you read this tip, otherwise read and enjoy.

The movie Free Solo is about Alex Honnold’s successful ascent of the 3,000-foot Freerider route up the granite face of El Capitan. Climbing it alone and without a rope or other devices to help him, he is the first and only person to ever do it. Keep in mind the first time El Capitan was climbed it took over 45 days. He climbed it in under 4 hours. And like watching any good adventure movie, the trail tips and lessons to learn flooded my mind as I watch this fascinating movie. Here are two of them…

Knowing when to stop and bail. Alex first attempted this in November of 2016, climbed up 600 feet, and realized that it wasn’t right. So, he climbed back down and called off the climb. But he wasn’t the only one this affected. There were camera crews set up on the bottom, other camera crews (with ropes) had started up before him and others who repelled down from the top; to be in position to film this climb. How often do we start something that involves other people, has our pride resting on it, or we create an artificial deadline; and we keep going; knowing in our gut it’s not right and that we should stop. For me, I don’t stop on August 15, 2013 when I “had” to get all these tree branches cut down and was 5 feet up a step ladder, cutting a branch with a chain saw. The branch falls on the ladder, I jump, leg gets caught on the bottom step, and I’m laying on the ground with my right fibula and tibial broken in several places. But then there is the time I did stop when attempting to climb Mt. Elbert (tallest peak in Colorado). I got leg cramps, fell behind from the group, and was about a half mile when the summit when I saw the lighting storm coming in from a distance, I knew I wasn’t going to make, and got down to tree line just as the storm came in. So, Alex stopped on that November day and came back 7 months later, starting climbing again, and made history.

Practice and visualize your moves. Alex knew every section of the route he was climbing and practiced with ropes the hardest sections 10 to over 90 times, taking notes after each session on what worked and didn’t work. He isn’t taking anything for granted. At one point in the movie, he’s in his van acting out the moves he needs to make for a given section. I’m thinking he is visualizing what success looks like as he is climbing that section. How much time do we prepare, practice, and plan the routes we are going to be going through on a given day? In hiking, I used to go out and do trails with a minimal amount of gear because “I knew” the trail and it was only 5 miles. Then I met Randy Phillips, who would do the same route with me, but had a fully loaded pack because he did practice, visualize the route, and was prepared for any number of things that could (and do) go wrong on any hike. In work, I’m currently unemployed and looking for a new position. Here I’ve started to practice and visualize the job interviews. For interviews, it’s practicing the questions, knowing the company, using LinkedIn to know the interviewer, and having my information organized when the interview starts.

Several times during the movie, the analogy of this feat was made to “either you win the gold medal or you die, so plan accordingly.” While nothing in our lives will ever be this dramatic, maybe it’s time to start taking our planning a lot more seriously and start asking those preparation questions. This morning I was giving some trail advice to a couple in from Kansas City for the weekend. After I helped them determine the route to take; I asked some basic questions about: having traction, first aid kit, gloves, poles, etc. And all the answers were no. So yes, I just loaned them my day pack for the weekend. It reminds me that every encounter is worth taking the time to prepare for because I know preparation is the key to great outcomes. For Alex it was successfully free soloing El Capitan, for us, it can be any number of things in our lives.

Pride, Shame, Embarrassment, and being Thankful…. A trail tip

Shame

To varying degrees, we are all Prideful with things we have done in our hiking, personal, and work lives. And for me, the more prideful I am, the more shameful I start to feel when my achievements fall apart, come crashing down on me, and I don’t know how to respond. Then the Embarrassment feelings start up and it gets worse. The question is how should I (we) respond to these life events that cause Shame and Embarrassment; and not let them drag us down? It can start with looking for that glimmer of hope, having a thankful attitude, creating a new opportunity, and making them a larger part of my life.

In hiking, my fitness has been my pride. Thinking I’m in great shape and can perform “flawlessly”. This was the case for my Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hikes in 2016 and 2018. I organized the trips, trained hard, did the right things to prepare, and yet; I became the slow one on both trips with severe thigh and leg cramps as we climbed the last few miles out of the canyon. And not to mention, having dry heaves on the first trip. Not exactly the image I wanted to show during these hikes. Still I was able to complete the hikes, everyone made it safely, and they had stories to tell of a bucket list hike completed. Here Shame and Embarrassment can be stifled by focusing on the positive results of the trip (aka event), being thankful, and sharing my weaknesses; which gives me hope for new hiking challenges and provides encouragement to others.

On the personal front, we often show our pride in talking about the closeness of family members, how great our kids are doing, or how perfect our social and financial life is. We create these unrealistic visions in our minds of what our lives should be like. But what happens when it doesn’t turn out that way? And I might add, I think it gets harder as we get older because we are running out of time to go back and “fix” everything and “everyone.” I’m finding a key here is to start with a thankful heart and verbally expressing it as I start each day with a focus on what next steps, I’ll be taking verses looking back. I can’t change the past, but I can change the future and be thankful for what I do have today.

In work, my pride comes from the jobs I’ve had. And it tends to be one of the first things guys always say when they meet another guy for the first time. “Hi, my name is Al and I’m a Senior IT Project Manager at ______. What do you do?” But now my response has become “Hi, my name is Al and I was laid off last month….” I may not want to know what they do because it may be a really cool job that I wish I had. The Shame and Embarrassment hits everyday when I wake up knowing I don’t have a job to go to, where I can provide for my family. The mind shift for me has to become: what are the new opportunities that this lay off can provide me, what new flexibility does it provide to my schedule, and how do I treat this time off as a gift to use? An example of this came to life as on a Thursday when I was able to take my sons to the Denver Auto Show in the middle of the day, which had less crowds and a lot less traffic. This lay off time is also giving me the opportunity to do a closer examination of what do I really want to do with the rest of my life? Things I wouldn’t be able to easily do, if I was working full time.

Having and expressing a thankful attitude is key to overcoming hard events that can drag us down in our hiking, personal, and work lives. We can either live in the Shame and Embarrassment of these events or choose to move forward with a grateful heart. And it’s not something you do on your own. It’s sharing the journey of these events with others close you, that allows the words to come out and the healing to start.

What are your False Beliefs… a trail tip

300px-USS_Tautog_SSN_639

Image what it would feel like to be part of something that you could never talk about and then finding out 30 years later it wasn’t true. Or coming home from being on an extended assignment and not being able to tell your family about the most important thing that happened during your time away. And that is what happened on June 20th, 1970 when the USS Tautog Attack Submarine was trailing a Russian missile submarine (K-108) in the Pacific Ocean and they collided. Sonar operators on both subs heard noises sounding like the other sub had sunk. But instead of surfacing to search for survivors to exchange: name, rank, serial number, and insurance cards; they both hurried home and were told to never tell anyone. Then with the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the truth was revealed that both subs; while seriously damaged, made it back to home ports with no loss of life. Which gets to this Trail Tip about what False Beliefs are we believing now and how can we prevent them.
In hiking, a lot of my false beliefs are around the conditions; it’s too cold, too hot, too dark, too early, too cloudy, too far, too… Or thinking I’m not fast enough, I’m tired, or no one wants to hike with me. Then someone or some event pushes us over the hump, we go out and do it; then find ourselves catching a sun rise above the clouds on the Manitou Incline and saying to ourselves; “why didn’t I do this hike at this time years ago…” So what false beliefs are stopping you from getting out on the trails?
In our personal life, a lot of false beliefs come from the rushed judgements we make because we don’t have all the information or we don’t take time to get all the facts. Like the submarines that collided and didn’t stop to check on each other, we rush off and make our instant decisions that we carry around for years weighing us down. I remember laying on the ground after I broke my right tibia and fibula in 2013; immediately thinking I’ll never hike again and would have to use a cane; a belief I held for months. Family and friend relationships are damaged for years because we have made judgements without getting all the facts. We think it’s easier to carry false beliefs for years instead of taking the time to ask the hard questions right away. Or as Timothy Ferriss says “I believe success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations we are willing to have.” What false beliefs are you carrying because you haven’t asked the hard questions?
In work, I think many false beliefs come from our lack of confidence in our abilities and skills. We don’t apply for the assignment, the new job, ask for help or start the new business because we think we will fail. So often we would rather settle for mediocre then aim for greatness. Then years later, we get a taste of what it would have been like, and then wonder why we wasted all those years. What false beliefs are holding you back in your career and what steps are you going to take to break out of them?
We all live with various false beliefs in our hiking, personal, and work lives. The first step is to acknowledge them and find a confidant that you can tell them to; someone who will hold you accountable to the actions you need to take to break free of them. Then create action plans and goals to dismantle these false beliefs. Doing these hard steps will set you free from the load of them on your mind and enable you to move forward to new levels of growth across these areas in your life.

For more information on this story of the USS Tautog; see the book “Blind Man’s Bluff, the untold story of American Submarine Espionage.”

Cross Training – take 2… a trail tip

Cross Training: the action or practice of engaging in two or more sports or types of exercise in order to improve fitness or performance in one’s main sport.

We all hear about the benefits of cross training, but I haven’t embraced it -because I’m a hiker and that’s what I did all the time- until now… Between weekday work/getting kids to school and heavy snow fall in front range mountains my hiking options have become a lot more limited, as I don’t call Post Hole Hiking much fun. And in previous years, my tendency would be to cut back on hiking and take weeks off at a time. So often when we hit roadblocks or obstacles, we want the easy route and just quit without exploring and being open to new options or going into our past to resurrect old ones. This also applies to our personal and work life, but let’s start with hiking…

In hiking, I’ve become a hiker since moving to Colorado, not a runner or a biker, but those are things that have been in my past. So, as I was looking for ways to get in good cardo exercise during the week, I reached into my past to bring those dormant types of exercise to life; just in a different way. I’m starting to run (more like trod) a 5.5-mile course once a week. Granted, I’m never going to be able to run at my pace from 30 years ago, but I’m still going to be able to get out there. And I’ve also picked up cycling again (on the road bike I bought in 1973), as I can take a lunch hour to get in a 14-mile ride out and back to through Garden of the Gods park in under an hour. My weekends are still used for hiking, but it may require me to even adjust that with taking the extra time to drive down to do the incline. The whole point here is that with two plus feet of snow in the front range mountains, you still have options for getting out to exercise, you just need to think of it as “What kinds of cross training are available to me?”

In our personal life, we also have routines and goals that get stuck because of the roadblocks or conditions on our path. My goal has been to write these trail tips once a week, but if you are reading them on a regular basis, you know I’m not hitting that goal. Here it’s more of “cross training” my mind to know I can write at different times or on different days and explore other topics. In other areas, it could be reading, sewing, home remodeling, etc., that you have a passion for that seems to be stuck. Cross training in these areas could become taking a class on them, reading a book, or a video series. All which can help you improve your performance, when not being able to do the main thing.

In work, it could be the current job you are in right now. I’ve been in positions where it’s not my calling, passion, or making best use of my talents, yet I’m there for a season in my life. Here we need to realize a few things. 1. We do have skills/muscles we can apply to be successful in these roles. 2. We do have things we can learn in these roles that will apply to our main passions and calling. It’s looking past the roadblocks and obstacles to see how to create a path for success.

Cross training: it’s the exercise of different muscles and skills that take us on different routes in life, with the purpose of helping improve our main passions and goals. Where have you hit those roadblocks and obstacles that make you want to quit? What cross training activities can you pick up to keep you moving forward? Who are you going to do these cross-training activities with to help keep you accountable?

Funeral Reminders…. A trail tip

Funerals. Not exactly something that comes up on a daily basis in conversations or as an ice breaker with others. I’ve yet to be in a conversation that started with any of these statements: “Have you attended any good funerals lately”, “Are you planning to attend any funerals this year”, “What’s the best/worst funeral you have ever attended”, “Did you learn anything from attending a recent funeral”. And yet funerals are a part of our journey through life. They are a sobering reminder of our mortality. This hit home with me last month (December 2018) as there were funerals that happened in my hiking, personal, and work life.

In hiking, while I didn’t personally know anyone who died while out hiking, there were tragic stories in the news about individuals who have gone missing -now presumed dead- while hiking in the area. These become reminders as we are out hiking. If you are hiking alone: stay on well-marked trails, leave your trip itinerary with others, plan/pack for inclement weather, know your limitations, assess the risks, and take actions accordingly. A few years ago I was hiking with a group to the top of Mt. Elbert (highest 14’er in Colorado), I fell behind and was about a half mile from the summit, when a lightning storm came in. It became a decision of ether pushing to the summit or getting below tree line as quickly as possible. My ego wanted to push on, but fortunately common sense prevailed and I went low. Having lived and hiked in Colorado for some time now, hearing about tragedies on the mountains, serves as a remind to pause and reflect on what common sense I need to take into account before going and while on any hike.

In my personal life, I was impacted by the passing of a brother-in-law. His funeral reminds me focus to on any “unfinished business” I need to address with those around me. Do I need to make peace, ask for forgiveness, or right any wrongs with those around me? And as I look at my own life; am I focused on the important things in my life, am I living a life with no regrets, am I living each day as a celebration of being alive?

In work, there was the passing of a co-worker’s parent and the unexpected passing of a co-worker who went out on medical leave; then was gone just a few weeks later. When these things happen at work, it can become a delicate path to walk. It’s that blurry line between “business” and “personal” life. We spend about 2000 hours a year at work interacting with others, so by human nature, there becomes some personal connection. For the passing of a co-worker’s relative, it can an acknowledgement of the loss with a one-on-one interaction saying a few words like: “I’m sorry to hear about your loss”. For the co-worker who passed away, it was interesting to watch others pass by their cubical and pause for a moment or see groups of 3 to 5 people huddling together to reflect on the life of the person. In both cases it comes down to the acknowledge of the loss of life and making the appropriate response.

Funerals remind us to: focus on what is important in life, admit our vulnerabilities, letting others know we acknowledge their loss/pain, and for us to come together as a community to comfort each other and remember the life of the one who passed away. It’s a time of mourning; but also a time to celebrate the life they have lived. And for us to remember to celebrate the life we live on a daily basis in our hiking, personal, and work environments

How much does that nail hurt…. A trail tip

Right now social media is full of tips, resolutions, and blogs on how you can make changes as we start 2019. And I’m not an exception as I’ve pondered how am I going to start 2019 with making changes for the better in my life. My “Aha” moment came to me as I recently spent 15 minutes trying to find something on my work bench a few days ago; which reminded me of the dog sitting on the nail metaphor; where the dog spends the day howling on the porch because he is sitting on a nail, but it doesn’t hurt enough to get up and move. And thus, the question becomes: What nails are you sitting on that are causing you to howl and complain, but it doesn’t hurt quite enough to get you to move and doing something about it.
In hiking, we have a lot of weather nails during the winter. We don’t hike outside because it’s: too cold, snowy, and have less day light. Or it could be a job change that limits where we can hike during a given day. We howl and make up excuses not to hike; but then when the pants don’t fit, the scale number moves up, or we find ourselves being winded after 3 flights of stairs -the howling really starts. And that’s when we finally decide if we are going to get off the nail and get moving outside.
In my personal life, I’ve gotten comfortable sitting on the nails and have become blind/deaf to the howling I’m making. I yell and rant when it takes me 15 minutes to find something on my work bench, but then everything becomes OK as soon as I find it -until the next time that is. While we become blind/deaf to our own nails, at times we are quick to point out and judge others for the nails they are sitting on. Let’s be honest, how many times have you visited someone’s house and privately wondered “why don’t they fix/move/solve that ____?”.
At work, nails can hurt our productivity and can be around classes I know I need to take. While I know enough of Excel and Project to get my daily job done, there are times when I’ve spent way too much time looking for a work around for a function that exists, but I’ve always been “too busy” to take a class on that area. Or I get comfortable with the Project Management skills I have and don’t make the effort to learn and refresh the skills I have.
What are the nails you are still sitting on from 2018? What are you howling about? Now is a great time to start 2019 with some successes by getting off those nails. Granted some nails are easier to take care of; i.e., cleaning off and keeping your work bench free of clutter; while others are going to take a lot longer to take care of. So start with the quick fixes in your life, which will make some pain go away faster and build your confidence; then go after the ones that will take more time. Your family and those around you will become very grateful as they will no longer have to hear your howling about not being able to fit in your pants, find that hammer, or know how to work that Excel Pivot Table…