As part of my growth, one of the things I want to do every year, is to look at what I believe, the underpinnings of who I am morally, spiritually (though the atheist in me cringes at the word). What are my belief structures? What makes me tick? I think this will be a beginning of the year thing, rather than the end. The purpose is to give me something to look back at in the coming years, to see how my beliefs have changed, and to remember what’s important to me.
Dan Bailey
Making Yourself Better: Hard Truths
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/
2015 Powderhorn 24 Recap
Author’s request: please bear with me on typos, etc., my hands are still a little numb/shaky from the poor choice in gloves, so this may have some weird typos in it. I’ll try to catch it all in revisions.
This is a great event and this year was better than last, even with the weather and all the little things that went wrong. And like most 24-hour events, it’s a bit of a crucible — you learn about yourself and grow during the process.
Overview
It was hot. Damned hot. Mid-90’s both days, and mid-70’s overnight. With the heat index on Satuday, it was easily 105°F out on the course. In 24 hours, I drank approximately 12 liters of water and 6 liters of Gatorade.
Reconsidering the Blog
For various reasons, I am reconsidering the amount of time and effort I put into writing for this blog. There are positives and negatives to having this thing, however, and I am contemplating those lately as I think about whether or not it’s worth it to continue (most likely) and how much I should write for it (TBD).
Broken
If you’ve followed this blog at all since late 2014, you’ll have noted that I’m on something of a self-improvement kick. Between going to therapy (including EMDR), and working on my own, I’ve been trying to improve myself as a human being.
Recently, though, things spun out of control, and I’ve been forced to come to terms with a lot of stuff. Stuff that I thought I had pretty well repressed.
Extreme hopes are born of extreme misery.
— Bertrand Russell
…be a LEGO.
If people are going to try to step all over you, be a LEGO.
— Randi Lee Harper (@randileeharper) July 15, 2015
Advice to My 16-Year Old Self
Jen, a reader that I don’t know, challenged me for the 2015 Edition of What Shall I Write About?, with a request to write a letter of advice to my 16-year old self. Tough, but interesting. Here we go. Dear Dan, Today, you are sixteen years old. Your dad and stepmom are going to forget … Read more
If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Desert.
— W. Béran Wolfe, Australian psychiatrist