90 Degrees And Still Going

It's hot here in Provo. I decided to go for a run tonight, and once I decide that means I'm going to do it. I'm really stubborn to the point that I follow through with just about everything I decide on, even if it's gonna be miserable.

Well, funny story..... right after I decided to go on a run, I walked outside and found out it was incredibly hot still!  My first thought was, "Man, Provo really sucks." I mean, you'd think it would be a bit cooler out by 8 at night, but apparently not. I looked at a sign a few minutes into my run and saw it was still 90 degrees..... So, just in case you were wondering, you're not gonna go for a nice cool run here during the Summer. haha

I do have somewhere I'm going with this. Yeah, running can be miserable sometimes. But, what makes it less miserable, what really makes it so you can keep your pace and go on, is your attitude about it. If you're wondering the secret to running, it has very little to do with being athletic or having a runner's body. That has a little to do with it, but it's mostly just what you think about while you're going. You HAVE to keep positive. The minute you start getting frustrated or think about how much you hate it, that's when you start to notice that it's hot out, that you're tired, your feet hurt, you're getting cramps. The only way to be a good runner is to be an optimist. Instead of noticing what hurts or what's not going well, you think about keeping up a good pace, the pretty view at the top of the hill you're climbing, how happy you're gonna be to finish the run, or what's waiting for you when you're done.

Why do I bring this up? It's might sound dumb, but it's something simple so many people don't realize. It doesn't just apply to running. I blogged last time about finding something meaningful in life. But, when I think about it, none of this is going to matter unless you have the right attitude. If you don't think you're going to be happy, then you're not! It's just not going to happen. The only way to enjoy your life, to feel good about yourself, is to decide that you're going to. You can always find something to be miserable about, but ALL that it is going to do is MAKE you miserable and slow you down.

Just like when you're running, a bad attitude will do absolutely nothing else for you besides making you sad. You start to notice that maybe you don't have as many friends as you want, that you don't look as good as you like, that you're stressed out, or even that you're just not the person you want to be. Even if any of it's true, thinking about it gets you nowhere. Thinking about how you're going to make things better and the view "at the top of the hill" you're climbing is going to make you feel better, and you'll be happier about where you are.

I can promise you that having a good attitude about where you are and keeping away from negatives thoughts WILL make you happy, whether you're running a marathon or trying to get through a day working at McDonald's. I can also promise you that, as long as you think the view from the top of the hill is going to be amazing, it really will be.

This is a huge part of my philosophy on life, and I hope maybe something I've written can help at least one person. 

Finding Meaning

I really don't have enough time to write a blog post right now. I've been pretty busy with work lately and training to do much of anything else.

But, tonight I was running and thinking a lot about life and how many people aren't happy. It just seems like a  lot of people really don't care about anything they're doing. And, I feel like sometimes I need to write about something important. Something people actually might need to hear.

If I was to tell everybody something, something regardless of where they're from or who they want to be.... I'd say find something that you value. Find something that means something to you, and pursue it. Don't go around life wondering what you're gonna do, continuing to follow what you think other people want of you. That's not gonna make you happy, listening to everybody else, following the crowd, looking at what the person next to you wants and not even asking what you value.

Spend some time thinking about it. Find what you want to be and what means something to you. It's just sad to me seeing so many people who don't have anything important to them, with very little purpose to their life or any real goals. They seem so sad. And, I don't think anybody deserves anything else than to be truly happy.

I've found a lot of meaning to my life and feel like I'm relatively happy right now. I really hope everybody who reads this can find a way to do the same.

P.S. If you're ever unsure of a direction to go, I would love to share with you what's been able to help me. Click on the link I posted labeled "my faith," or just ask me anytime.

Sleep?

Some people sleep at night. Most people sleep at night. That's usually not me. I'm typically the person who sleeps during the day and stays awake most the night. It's been this way most my life.

When I was 2, I still remember being awake in my crib at night scared to death while unable to sleep. I'd sit there and wonder what was out in the dark while I was trapped in a cage.

At 5, I played around my room at night sometimes while my parents and family were in bed. I didn't know why people wanted to sleep so badly while I just wanted to have fun.

By the time I was 9, I just played video games at night when I couldn't sleep. Like most boys my age, I was pretty much obsessed with the video game systems I owned, so I enjoyed not sleeping. I was in school, so I got enough sleep to function..... just usually not as much as everybody else.

When I was 15, my life was completely crazy and I was often up doing homework until late at night. I was determined to get the grades needed to be accepted into BYU, so I could actually use the time I spent awake being productive and getting things done. Being something of an insomniac helped as much as it hurt. I definitely was exhausted during school most days and wanted to go home and sleep.

Three years later, at 18, I was a freshman in college, and felt like I was 9 again. Staying up late was fun again, since there were so many people up and everybody was always doing something. Every once in a while, I'd pull an all-nighter to work on a paper or get studying done, but it was mostly just fun.

Fast forward to now. I'm 22, and I only have about a year left in college. Sleeplessness has become a bit more of a real obstacle with actually having to work and be more responsible for my finances and life. I've been able to dodge it a little bit by working later hours, but it can't go on forever. Soon enough, I really will have to learn how to sleep at night and function during the day. I think the time in my life has finally come where I have to undertake that task and grow up a little bit.

I'm not sure how I will start sleeping after a whole life of relatively sleepless nights..... I'm going to try and figure it out, though.