I was talking about our summer calendar with Owen, when he made the mistake of asking me what the 4th of July is about. Well, I got all excited and starting talking about the Revolutionary War and followed that up by taking them to the library where we checked out 31 books, most of which about The Revolution. Lucky for you Owen! It was cute to see them in books all day.
Maybe we'll try to read all the books before the 4th of July. I'm going to try to have them keep all the library books in the side room at the corner desk. I saw a book on display there that I want to get later - Jesus Doesn't Care About Your Messy House. I think I need to read that one. Today I checked out a book I put on hold that was ready for pick up - Jeremy Renner's book "My Next Breath". I listened to him on the Oprah Podcast talking about his near death experience. Nancy sent that to me and Chalane. I really really liked this part starting at 26:15 where he answers how his NDE has changed his day to day interactions with people:
You know I’ve never been more connected. It’s released on any sort of social anxiety I have. I have never felt like more confident. There's something that comes like a peace - an exhilarating peace which is just an antithesis of words, but I feel so at peace. You know, I got a wink from the universe saying like "Hey!" I got to see behind the curtain! I got to come back and feel and do exactly what I wanna do and nothing is in my way. There’s no obstacle. I’m never afforded a bad day. I’ve been tested to my limits of pain. Pain is just, it’s nothing! That’s just a human construct. It means nothing so I live my life SO connected, always love driven. It’s definitely changed in the sense of like I don’t pursue things that I would pursue before, I just don’t find any value in it anymore, which I’m sure are just many things that a lot of normal people just go about doing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. For me, I’m just very very very, there’s like two or three things that I’m gonna be doing in my life and that’s it and I’m so happy. I’m happy to wake up. I’m happy to be walking on these two busted old legs. I’m happy to be breathing right now. I’m just like, I just have nothing but Joy in my life! (27:35) I’m not afforded a bad day. It’s just pretty amazing. Pretty blessed.
I loved that last part especially. He has NOTHING BUT JOY in his life! Like, how do I get there?? He's just so happy! To wake up, to walk on his busted legs, to be breathing!! I listened to him and thought "Um, can I have some of what he's got?" How do I find and hold on to that kind of joy? I know it's through Christ. I know it's through seeing the big picture of why we are here. I like how he said he could walk away from his career and have no problem with it. How there are like two or three things that he's going to be doing in his life and that's it! It's about people, loving people, and having relationships with people. That's basically it. So I'm excited to read his book and see more of what he says. Maybe I'll buy it and add it to my NDE collection.
Ok, I've spent a few hours reading too. Here is a part I liked from the book so far and made me smile - a line from page 63 "I think finding out what you don't want to do is just as important... than finding what you are good at." I'll explain that a little more and bold the parts I like... on page 62 he is talking about how competitive he is with himself: "If you give me one job to do, I'm going to do my darndest to be excellent at it, and I say this without arrogance: I'm going to win. Throughout my life, the things that I've been interested in, I excelled at quickly, and that's what kept me interested: a self-fulfilling prophecy. This has tended to make it seem as though I'm good at a lot of things, but that's not actually true. I just don't do things I suck at. To my mind, that's what hobbies are: something you do that you probably suck at because you can't commit to it being a central part of your life. I think a hobby is the worst thing someone could do-atleast that's certainly true for me. I only want to do things that most command my time and attention. (...and then he talks about bowling for a bit and how his dad ran a bowling center, McHenry Bowl in Modesto, California and he and his siblings all worked there and they all bowled, but it led to him having a bit of a complex and a weird relationship with bowling, haha, so then, and here's the takeaway) To this day I think finding out what you don't want to do is just as important--maybe more important--than finding what you're good at. I think we all know people who don't have a strong idea of what they want to do or are really struggling to find out. I managed to work out early that I didn't want to bowl anymore because I couldn't do it to the level I knew I was capable of. That's also why I can't just look on bowling as a "hobby" and enjoy it the way recreations bowlers can--I've seen the highest standards, and was on my way to reaching them, but it happened too early, and I didn't have the maturity to let it come to me in an organic way. The upshot was that bowling became frustrating rather than joyful, so I walked away from it. "I just don't do things I suck at." That I was actually really good at it doesn't mean I didn't suck at being the best at it. Though this might signal a kind of "giving up" mentality, what it actually meant for me was that I was able to develop a confidence in the things I could actually excel at. This confidence came from two things: information, and always having that safe landing spot of love with my family." and then he goes on to talk about love and family, which are the things that he learned from his death experience (in the podcast) those are the only things that matter in life. So yeah, that was a long quote, but so far so good.
Ok, what else... Mel is still having fun dating Christian. He ran the Utah Valley marathon this morning. Finished in 2:53:58 which was a PR for him (this isn't his first marathon). I follow him on Strava, so I get to see the details. That's a 6:38/mi average pace - that's crazy fast!! Wow!
While lots of people in our home were all still getting out of bed, he had already run down a mountain. Impressive. (Corey and I had already biked up and down a mountain, I think running a marathon is harder though). Mel drew this picture for him, haha, cause they were talking about how he should rip his shirt open as he crossed the finish line.
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