Uncategorized – Page 3 – Serenity Through Sweat

Goals

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Last week I was listening to an episode of the Freakonomics podcast where they were discussing goal hierarchy and happiness. I wanted to bring that discussion here to the topics we typically cover together

The conversation between economist Steven Levitt and psychologist Angela Duckworth, is worth listening to and can be found on the Freakonomics podcast episode (insert #). The cliff notes version is that we all have different goals that we self sort into a hierarchy. If/when some of our higher level goals come into conflict, the resulting internal struggle is a good predictor of unhappiness.

In other words, when things that are important to us become mutually exclusive, we tend to be less satisfied and more frustrated. While this isn’t an Earth shattering concept, it helps to reanalyze your goals and their place within your own personal hierarchy. What actually is important to you?

Being a parent is the highest priority in many of our lives. There is a foundational change in our thought process and decision making once we become responsible for our children. This becomes one of the highest goals in the hierarchy, as well as one of the most time consuming. Parenting is a full time job.

I don’t know anyone who has gotten into aviation, especially flying, just for the paycheck. There is something special about flying as a profession, that it is both a means to make a living, as well as a passion. By it’s nature, It also requires a significant time investment away from home and family.

Inevitably, these two things come into conflict on a regular basis. I love my family, I don’t want to miss birthdays, holidays, and extracurriculars. I also love to fly and it often times makes those demands of me.

Throw in athletic pursuits and goals, the training and competition requirements that go along with them, and the potential for multiple goals to conflict gets even higher.

This idea of goal conflict is a constant internal struggle, especially for highly motivated individuals. I am dedicated to my family, but I leave them on a regular basis to fly. I am dedicated to my athletic pursuits, but I’m constantly forced to alter my training around my family’s schedule and the varying time, location, and equipment available variables of a traveling lifestyle. I have passed up plenty of lucrative and exciting flying opportunities to be at home with family or compete in a triathlon or grappling match.

If you want to go a step further, this blog has been a platform to explore and explain my journey into health and wellness. Flying as a profession, is terrible for health and wellness. Sitting all day, limited food options, and circadian rhythm disruptions are in direct conflict with my stated goals of health, wellness, and longevity.

All of this goal conflict, left unchecked can, and often does, lead to a sense of discontent. I find that even in the face of objective accomplishment, I am often not happy with my day. I will look back on a day’s completed to-do list, often full and productive, with anxiety and regret, wishing there was more time to put in miles, enjoy a layover, play with my boys, and bond with my wife.

one on one fatherly memories in the goal hierarchy

The sense of discontent requires a careful examination of the day’s events, and how they stacked up according to my overall goals. Some of the goal conflict is easy to brush aside, other days it keeps me up at night.

There is plenty of research on how the setting of goals is helpful for motivation and eventual results. I consider myself highly motivated and this has never been too much of an issue. The idea of goal conflict and goal hierarchy however, has been extremely useful in helping to avoid that sense of discontent by making choices that reflect my stated goals, in their proper order.

What’s important to you, and what do you do when multiple important things become mutually exclusive?

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Rendezvous

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I want to talk about the building blocks of those truly special moments in our lives. What is it that makes those particular encounters stick out and remain in the ever present collection and archival of our memories?

It think one of the most important building blocks in making memories is you. By that I mean, who you are on that day, in that time, and the context of your own personal journey that you bring to the excursion. Your mental, emotional, and physical state, and your ability and willingness to embrace the experience at hand all shape the memory.

Scampering up to double arch as a family

I have a very distinct recollection of a conversation with a young lady at a bar (in my single days of course) where I was instantly put off from any further interaction. She was lamenting the lack of things to do in Melbourne FL as compared to NYC.

She insisted that without the plethora of new restaurants and activities the city had to offer, she was doomed to a life of boredom. I tried to persuade her that new experiences were just as much about your mindset and approach as they were about the venue itself. Needless to say she was not persuaded and we went our separate ways.

I was training for Ironman FL at the time, and covering the same miles, finding the familiar cracks in the pavement and passing by the same landmarks each training session was still new, in spite of the familiarity and repetition, because I was a different person than I was the day before.

I think the next building block of those special memories are the people that are with you. There are some things that must be accomplished and experienced alone, and these become a part of who we are, but by and large we are social animals, who share experiences.

I relish in my individual athletic pursuits of triathlon and grappling, and I very much appreciate my solo time on layovers (especially since having children), but one my most powerful memories is the Canadian Schoolboys regatta in 2003. I believe it is so powerful because it was a collaborative effort with my best friends in highschool.

The five of us crossed the finish line in St. Catherine’s exhausted and anxiously awaiting the results, as the crew from E.L. Crossley had closed the gap in the closing meters of the race. In our depleted state we misread or misunderstood the results illuminated on the LED screen on the tower above us, and lamented our loss in the home stretch after having led most of the race. Our despair was short lived as our coach shouted from the overlooking cliff “(friend’s last name) you idiot, you won”. That collective reversal of despair to elation, shared amongst friends and brothers in competition, etched in my mind a memory that is powerfully potent all these years later.

Arduous sunrise trek up to delicate arch

One of the final building blocks of those raw and visceral memories is the what/where factor. There are some places and events that have a special effect on us. Scarcity has always been a driving force in value, thus remarkable landmarks or events that are one of a kind, or happen infrequently become inherently more valuable.

This past week my brother and I set out with my mom on an adventure for her birthday. We covered some 900 odd miles of driving, 15+ miles of hiking, and 6+ miles of paddling across the American southwest in three days, during a record heatwave.

Brotherly competition knows no age limits

The special combination of beautiful landscape, present company, and my own mental/emotional headspace made for a trip I will always remember, and be forever grateful for.

Being with my mother and brother, sharing in the picturesque natural phenomena, and momentarily suspending the rigors of work and the demands of being a father and a husband, created a consumate canvas on which to make a masterpiece memory.

Thank you both for the remarkable rendezvous.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Level of concern

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Celebrating Mother’s day this past weekend had me thinking about the mother’s in my life and what makes them so special. While they exude more qualities than I have the poise or prose to present, I think more than anything it is their dependability.

I spent the waning hours of Mother’s day getting ready to go back on the road for work. This meant meal prepping, (for both myself and the family) packing bags, and studying checklists and procedures. I knew didn’t have to think twice about my wife’s ability to handle the rambunctious boys with grace and aplomb whilst I was otherwise occupied.

For that matter I don’t worry about them when I am on the road. Sure I think about them and I know the difficult situations and challenging logistics parenting two young boys solo presents. Still, I know that this is an endeavor in which she excels, doing a far better job than I ever could, day in and day out.

My level of concern is never taxed, knowing that she is capable, and they are in good hands. That alleviation of concern is such a powerful gift that mother’s give to their sons and their partners.

El Duderino has been going through a particularly needy phase where mommy has to be the one to help with whatever the present problem is. Whether it is pushing his pants down to use the potty or separating stuck toys, mommy is the only one capable of providing assistance.

While this is particularly frustrating since often times I’m right next to him trying to help and my wife is otherwise occupied, she has that magical mom ability to bring down his level of concern and return him to a benevolent toddler state.

No matter how old I get, or how difficult and different the problems in my life present, there is a calming effect that talking them through with my own mother always seems to provide.

The popular Twenty One Pilots song of the same moniker says “you could bring down my level of concern, just need you to tell me we’re alright, tell me we’re okay.”

Thank you to all the mothers out there, especially the ones in my life, who are constantly bringing down our level of concern, and helping use get closer to serenity. Happy mother’s day.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

5k, a ride with Layla, and a stroller run with El Duderino to pick up supplies for a Mother’s day craft project

Conquer

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week we made a family project out of rehabilitating our conquered side yard.

I say conquered because the side yard was suffering from a very specific problem. Our water system was malfunctioning and dumping salt water into the surrounding soil.

Like the conquerors of old, the earth was left scorched and salted, preventing any sort of regrowth.

History is filled with examples, both recorded and theatrical, of conquered lands left as scorched and salted earth. The question left is how to rebuild and regrow?

El Duderino helping with the color profile

Grass was clearly not the answer since the salt prevents new growth. So we decided to go with a hard scape. That meant lots of heavy lifting from yours truly.

3 ton of stone, 1,600 lbs of cinder block, and another thousand odd pounds of pavers later, we had reclaimed our conquered side yard.

We added planter boxes for herbs and veggies, and flowers in the cinder blocks for color. The once conquered space is better than it ever had been or even could have been for that matter.

The scorched earth presented the necessity to rebuild, but also the opportunity to reimagine and redesign the conquered space.

Being conquered is not the ending, it is a state of transition. It is in that transition, that struggle, that defines the path ahead.

A lot of things have been scorched, salted, and otherwise conquered over the past year, what are you doing to reimagine the space going forward?

El Duderino’s first fishing trip with grandpa while daddy got some laps around the lake in

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Time

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I celebrated my birthday this week, and I’m thinking about how we measure time, especially with the unusual events of the past year.

The traditionally accepted secular calendar we are all used to is the Gregorian calendar, and it is predated by the Romulus calendar, and the Julian calendar.

The Romulus calendar had ten months from March through December. The year started with the spring equinox and ended 304 days later at the end of December, leaving a no man’s land of winter until the next year began anew.

The second Roman empire Numa, decided to change the system to a lunar based year, and give names to the nameless period of winter. January and February were added and the year, based on lunar cycles, resulted in 355 days.

At the time in Rome, even numbers were considered unlucky, so every month had either 29 or 31 days except February which had to have 28 in order to round out the Lunar year at 355 days.

Measuring the passage of time by lunar cycles is as good a way as any, except if you are a farmer trying to plant your crops based on the Earth’s relative position in orbit of the Sun.

A 355 day lunar year, after a few years, resulted in mismatched seasonality for the crop growing population. This was corrected by inserting a 27 day leap month called Mercedonious every few years. Starting on February 24th, the month would be added, or not, at the discretion of the roman high priests.

El Duderino kicked his undies all the way up to the chandelier as part of his new pre potty ritual

This obviously resulted in significant confusion not knowing whether an entire month would be added, or being able to plan ahead for agrarian lifestyles.

Julius Caesar changed the calendar back to a Solar based calendar with 365 days, (and a single leap day when appropriate) but maintained the 28 day month of February. In order to realign the correct seasonality of the months with the new calendar, the year 46 BC was 445 solar days long.

I think we can all sympathize with our ancient ancestors, as 2020 (and especially that past 12 months from March to March) has seemed like a 445 day year with mismatched seasonality and no predictability.

Virtual high school reunion with scotch tasting

Still, the sun rose and set, the moon changed phases, and the requisite number of calendar pages were flipped. The year passed by, but how did you measure it?

For me, (and I would venture for most of us) the year brought a level of stress and uncertainty that I had not previously known. That necessitated a shift in focus and an awareness of my emotions, and the habits that feed them.

A lot of my plans and my ambitions were put on hold, and that energy needed an outlet. I find myself restless, angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed. I think more than anything the last twelve months presented an opportunity to confront these things in my life, rather than occupy myself with other things.

When everything is shut down, the internal struggle is amplified. The struggle continues, but I have an awareness and an appreciation for it that I don’t think would have been possible without the last year.

Seasons of love tells us there are 525,600 minutes and asks us how we measure a year. Regardless of the calendar you subscribe to, I hope the last twelve months have brought you an awareness and an appreciation like only a pandemic can.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Lost in Translation

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I’m working my way through The Immortality Key by Brian C Muraresku, and a recurring theme is the true message of some ancient text being lost in translation.

Muraresku is a modern day Indiana Jones and his book walks you through his years long quest for an understanding of the world’s oldest religion.

It’s easy to get lost in the swagger and swashbuckling that Harrison Ford portrays on screen, and forget that behind every adventure in a lost temple, were hours buried in a book studying the ancient languages.

Muraresku embarks on an adventure that only he can, because in the end he is the only one able to read the treasure map. A student of the classics, he meticulously follows breadcrumbs left in a mixture of Latin, ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Castellan, German, and English.

What he finds are the clues that have been hiding in plain sight, in large part due to translation gaffes, either unwitting or intentional.

Following Muraresku’s story I’m reminded how fragile our communication really is. There are so many opportunities for our message to be “lost in translation” on a day to day basis, even without the perils of centuries old dead language.

Muraresku demonstrates, in sometimes hard to follow detail, the effort and energy required to find the intended message through translation. What we are left with is a different message entirely. Which begs the question why don’t we put that same effort into our everyday communication? After all, we are mostly speaking the same language not trying to revive the original content from a centuries forgotten dialect.

From inadequate ability to encode our feelings into a message, transmitting that message through a faulty medium, or improper decoding of the message, everyday communication is a minefield that demands precise navigation.

A value has been placed on instantaneous data transmission, at the expense of verification, which is a much more time and labor intensive process. Who cares what you felt, how you’ve grown and changed, and what message you wanted to disseminate, when the 140 characters you tweeted a decade ago are readily available for instant scrutiny?

The desire to be understood, to clearly communicate our wants and desires to others, is universal, and begins as soon as we are born. Yet somehow the same desire to understand, and to properly translate the incoming message has been left lagging behind.

Whether it is a frustrated child, a tired spouse, or a centuries old prophet, we could all find a little more serenity, by taking the time to translate the message and communicate better.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Hiking with my favorite adventure partner

Investing

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week has seen a flurry of activity in the stock market surrounding a few select companies and a “short squeeze”. With no intention of turning this blog financial, I wanted to talk about investing.

In my crusade away from mindless social media scrolling and towards productivity, I decided to read John Maynard Keynes General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, last year around this time. Despite what was a painfully dry reminder of why I am a pilot and not a mathematician, economist, or theorist, I found some unconventional wisdom in Keynes that applies decades later. You can find that post here. This past week reminded me of my headfirst flop into economics and investing.

What we saw in the stock market over the last week was more about making a quick buck, than it was about an appreciation of value. Without picking sides, or evaluating the morals and ethics involved, both those with short positions, and those who applied the squeeze, were trying to make money without any concern for what that meant for the other parties involved, including the companies they were buying. This was more like gambling than investing.

Speedy standing up, and El Duderino inciting the house of bounce

Investing was always meant to be a rising tide to lift all boats. A way of getting resources to those that need them, as a means to increase production, efficiency, value, etc… Not a game where money flows in and out of accounts despite no tangible change in value to the core business being invested in.

See if that type of “investing” works anywhere else. Fitness, parenting, your job, your education, your marriage. “I had call options on our marriage so you have to stay with me for a few more years even though I’ve been neglecting you.” Or maybe “I shorted my weight position at new year’s but was forced to close the position after the super bowl party artificially influenced the scale”. It just doesn’t work.

Anniversary dinner on the Zgrill. Pork belly burnt ends, pulled pork and smoked green beans, with a skillet cookie for dessert

Yet we find ourselves with an incredible amount of fiat currency changing hands, without any real change or production of value.

Investing is intended to increase value. Invest money in a business and it can grow. Invest time and energy in yourself and you can become stronger, faster, smarter, healthier. Invest time and energy in your relationships and you will be a better parent, partner, or friend.

A beautiful Fl winter day for some rounds on the heavy bag

Real investing, whether it is in the market, or in yourself requires doing the work, day in and day out, and patiently attending to those positions, while they appreciate and mature.

So the real question is, what are you investing in these days?

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

My pace seems to have stabilized and returned back to normal with nasal breathing feeling more natural

Trust

Happy new year! Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As we leave 2020 behind us and move together into 2021, I want to offer the advice of a sage Russian proverb, Doveryai, no proveryai.

I recognized this quote from the Reagan administration, without realizing is origin as a Russian proverb. Suzanne Massey introduced the phrase to Reagan as saying that the Russian’s liked talking in proverbs and he should know some. It has been used in political context several more prominent times since Reagan.

When your toddler is in his room “putting concrete on the road” trust but verify he isn’t spreading lotion all over the floor

Trust, but Verify, is a critical concept and part of the daily routine for both aviators and parents. All the checklist discipline and training in the world is still no substitute for verifying switch positions and systems functionality prior to a critical phase of flight.

Despite how charming El Duderino’s smile is, and how nice he interacts with Speedy, I still need to make sure he isn’t taking up the familial grappling mantle using his 9 month old brother as a drill partner every time I walk out of the room. (Training starts promptly on Speedy’s 4th birthday matching family singlets mandatory)

Despite the prevalence of Trust, but Verify, in so much of what I do day to day, what brought it to mind for me today was science, and more specifically scientists.

I’m working my way through Breath by James Nestor. A little more than half way through, I’m captivated by Nestor’s ability to weave complex scientific research and sometimes ancient beliefs and practices into his own narrative of breathing better.

Last run of 2020 working on buteyko breathing

Throughout the book (thus far) there are a myriad of examples of scientists, doctors, instructors, or other uncertified but results verified “pulmonauts”, whose work has been derided, ridiculed, banned, or otherwise lost to history.

These men and women used various methods to improve breathing in their patients and have both legitimate scientific, as well as anecdotal results to back up their methodologies. Every chapter seems to feature a new brave soul who discovered either the cause, or the cure, to a breathing ailment only to be chased out by scientific peers and forgotten.

Slogging through the wind and the nasal breathing for the first run of the new year with my favorite running buddy napping.

In a very complicated and somewhat oxymoronic twist of fate, good science requires both trust and doubt simultaneously. We as the public must trust scientists to follow the strict procedures and processes that are demanded of true experimentation. Scientists are taught to doubt their own preconceived notions and trust the data. Scientists are also taught to doubt the data and trends that may emerge unless they are repeatable.

Trust and doubt can together be a uniting or a dividing force. They can be used to create the robust science we need for modern problems or they can be weaponized to divide what is already a polarized nation.

Trying to find a rhythm breathing easier through the nose on runs, still a lot of work to do

As we move into a new year there will be plenty of opportunities to be divded by doubt. I think we can all find a little serenity, if we trust, but verify.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Interconnected

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I’m wrapping up the last day of the 14 day mobility challenge from The Ready State working on the splits.

This is the fourth 14 day mobility challenge I have completed since last march. Each two week challenge focused on mobilizing the body into a specific archetypal position or working on an individual system. Prior challenges included squatting, arms overhead, feet and ankles, and the latest one, the splits.

Brute force 12 days off Christmas sandbag workout

I’m grateful for the well of knowledge that is available at the ready state and it seems like each position I try to mobilize, I find an interconnectedness that I didn’t know existed.

Having trouble getting in to a deep squat, it could be your ankles, or your low calf, or your hip capsule. Can’t get your arm overhead, check your lats, or your shoulder, or your oblique. Multiple muscle groups work together in complex movements, which means any of the several groups (or all of them) could be limiting factors.

The point is all of these body systems are interconnected and designed to work together. Dr. Kelly Starrett often says something to the effect of “let’s appreciate how these systems all work together for human function”

As someone who is constantly trying to improve my overall health and well-being, I’m always impressed when I find an interconnectedness I didn’t know about, and I can continue to make progress. It got me thinking about interconnectedness in other areas of my life.

The past year has brought on its own unique challenges and stressors. I know I am, and I would venture most of you are, quick to pick out the challenge or stressor that once removed would greatly improve life. Once the kids are in school, once I get that promotion, once I’m earning more money, once I have more free time. These are pretty common stressors and challenges that could be considered limiting factors to our mood.

Speedy helping out with my hamstring lockouts

More than anything the past year has taught me about the interconnectedness of my stress and emotions. The kids being at home, uncertainty on the job front, social isolation, these are all interconnected in affecting mental and emotional state of being.

Just like ankle dorsiflexion or impaired hip capsules, the stresses we encounter in everyday life are interconnected and limit our ability to get into healthy mental and emotional positions.

I try to spend a few minutes each morning and evening working on these limiting positions and systems, so that I can continue to move with a normal range of motion. As we move into a new year, I’m going to try to spend more time working on the mental and emotional limiting factors that are inhibitors to happiness.

El Duderino feeding his favorite animal at the zoo

Dr. Starrett is also fond of saying, “no one ever wins fitness”, it is a constant journey forward. I think our mental well-being and happiness are very similar. It isn’t a destination so much as a journey, and one that requires constant maintenance and attention. Just like those natural human movements, happiness is ours to regain and maintain if we are will to put in the work.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Expression

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. With the Christmas season upon us I want to talk about one of my favorite holiday traditions. The advent beer calendar.

Now you might be asking yourself, where does an advent beer calendar fit in to a fitness and fatherhood blog? And that is a very good question and the answer is in composition and expression.

Transferred from the brewers box to put homemade beer calendar

For the last few years my wife and I have enjoyed an advent beer calendar featuring imported german beers. Almost all of the beers in the calendar adhere to the 1516 Bavarian reinheitsgebot or “purity order”

The order set forth regulations on beer sales including prices, profits that could be made by innkeepers, the confiscation of impure beer, and the approved ingredients for making beer. The only things allowed under the order are water, barley, and hops.

My feelings on government regulations and the stifling of market innovation aside, I am always impressed by the variety of beer we are able to enjoy in these calendars.

Most come from small breweries that have been following the same recipe for centuries. Yet every beer has its own unique flavor, and distinct personality. A different expression with the same composition.

Maybe it is because I have been fortunate enough to have more time home with my family than usual, but this made me think about my boys. Almost identical compositions with a different expression.

The days are long and the weeks tend to blur together, but when I try to reflect on El Duderino at eight months old, the two boys are very much distinct individuals.

Speedy is smart and sneaky. Knowing what he wants but playing it cool until it is within his range and then pouncing like a tiger. When El Duderino was the same age he was determined and focused, diving head first toward what he wanted without regard to where that might land him.

El Duderino was also a bit more independent wanting to be put down and move on his own, where Speedy enjoys the comfort of being held, especially to fall asleep.

Cheers and Merry Christmas from my family to yours

Both boys, like a good German beer, are unique in their expressions of my wife and my genetic codes. I am grateful for all the time I have gotten to spend watching them continue to express themselves this year, even if I need a few of the aforementioned beers to help get me through. Na Zdrowie! Próst! And Cheers! To a happy and healthy holiday season.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.