The Weekly Word

​What I Have Been Thinking About...
One night as we were getting ready for bed our daughter shared how her life was tougher than the dogs. I agreed with her and shared that tough times are kind of a part of being a human. She asked why and the discussion went to the idea of opposites and contrasts. There is happy and sad, sunny and cloudy, dark and light. It is hard to appreciate happiness, sunny days, or lights without first experiencing the opposite. I shared that tough times make us appreciate the good times. 

In the moment, nobody likes the tough times but when all things are said and done, we come to realize that those tough times have some value. There is usually a lesson or two wrapped up in these experiences and it is on us to learn from it. 

Fitness Tip of the Week
Last week we were getting prepared to visit family in Long Island and I was beginning to feel a bit run down. I had a day where I woke around 3 am and couldn't get back to bed so I chalked it up to lack of sleep but then the nose got snotty, the sinuses felt inflamed, and I didn't have too much pep in the step. I was officially getting a cold! 

This illness didn't materialize into anything too crazy but it did remind me of something I heard a few weeks ago. I was sitting in a conference and the speaker said, "You can have a million problems until you get sick. Then you only have one."  When your sick, you focus on one thing: getting healthy. Now, imagine if we took this concept to everyday ailments, medical diagnosis, conditions, or injuries. Rather than living with something like high blood pressure or a bad knee, why not treat it like your sick, focus on getting that issue resolved, then move on through life feeling a little bit healthier. 

On Coaching...
I spent over 10 seasons coaching high school football and one of the key deciding factors in not returning to the sidelines dealt with the egos of the other coaches. I would sit in coaches meetings or interact with guys from other coaching staffs and listen to them whine about things, talk insensitively about kids on the team (key word being kids), and so much more. Now fast forward a few years and my dad, in his retired years, decided to work at the local school and work on the chain gang for games. I crossed paths with him yesterday morning and he looked at me said, "You know what, these high football coaches just whine and complain all game". I said I know! 

As coaches we preach certain qualities and mantras that we want our athletes to adhere to. We want them to stay poised, not act out when things don't go your way, take it one play at a time, and so on. Then, when the competition begins, we as coaches model the exact opposite behaviors and feel that it is an acceptable thing to do so. In case you need to hear it from someone, IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! 

What I've Been Watching...
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf on Amazon

First and foremost, before diving into this, you really want to the watch The Terminal List season one. Marisa and I both loved the series and it is one of those shows that has you sitting on the edge of your seat wanting more. Dark Wolf is a prequel and it gives a little bit of a back story on how the characters became who they became. In Dark Wolf, "Navy SEAL Ben Edwards works CIA black ops. As he delves deeper into moral gray areas, he struggles between light and dark impulses - two wolves fighting within him."

If you want more, I highly recommend the Terminal List book series. I read just about all of them and it is one of the only fiction series that I eagerly await the next book!

Quote of the Week
"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.” - Jerzy Gregorek

I hope you all have an awesome week!Chris Fluck