All The Above!

I have a new personal theme song, and I wanted to share it with you. It's All the Above by Maino feat. T-Pain. If you have been through struggles or challenges (that's probably everyone) and you set that stuff aside each day and continue to push toward your goals and dreams, you'll feel me on this.

Here's the chorus:

Tell me what do you see, when you're looking at me?

On a mission to be, what I'm destined to be.

I done been through the pain and the sorrow,

the struggle is nothing but love.

I'm a soldier, a rider, survivor..And all the above!

Going for the Gold!

On the heels of the Vancouver Winter Games! Olympic competition has always been a favorite of mine and the family and I enjoyed this last go around a lot. I'm certainly impressed by the discipline and hard work it takes - for many years - to prepare to compete at such a high level. The brutal reality is that only a small percentage of those athletes get the opportunity to don the title - Olympic Champion. To see their country's colors raised and their national athem played for the world to hear. For me that whole scene is very moving but I have professed before that I am a dork.

In many cases, earning a gold medal brings with it celebrity, opportunities, and often times fortune. Again very well deserved as the training regimen and disciplined lifestyle must be very intense. And the difference between standing on the medal podium and packing your gear to try again in 4 years or never is often fractions of a second or one slight error.

I'll never have the opportunity to stand on the Olympic podium, have some smooth old dude place a metal around my neck, and shed tears of joy while the national athem is played. But I can commit to doing something everyday that allows me to "go for the gold" in my own life.

I don't have tens of thousands of people clinging to my every word on Twitter or anxiously waiting for the next great thing I'm going to do. And no one plays music or stands up and cheers when I go to work everyday. But I tell myself and what motivates me is the opportunity that I have everyday to be a champion in my own space. When I do something that makes my wife smile or laugh or makes her say that she is proud of me - I'm a champion. When I fix something around the house - and I am So not that guy who easily fixes things - that has been a nuisance to everyone - I'm a champion. When I help one of our kids through a tough situation or a tough assignment - I'm a champion. When I stand up for my kids when someone has not treated them fairly - I'm a champion. When I stand out at work and go the extra mile - I'm a champion. When I help a friend through a tough spot - I'm a champion.

Again I don't expect that there will be a formal medal ceremony and Charlie's anthem hasn't even been written yet but each day I do a little bit more so that when this gig is done, I'll have earned a gold medal for the events I compete in: Husband, Father, Teammate, Friend.