Michael & Liz are Bloggable

This past week I read a book in 4 days. It's called "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller. There are very few books on earth I am capable of reading in a mere 4 days because, I'll be honest, I'm the slowest reader on earth. It takes something special. I couldn't put this book down because I feel like it was written for me. I read it constantly yelling the words "EXACTLY!" and "HOLY CRAP!" in my head. You ever read something that relays to you exactly how you feel or want to live your life but constructed in such a way you had never even imagined before?

Not too long ago I was directed to Donald Miller's blog by my sister-in-law Hillary. Donald had made a post about how we should all look at New Year's Resolutions differently, and since I myself am obsessed with resolutions, I was intrigued by his post. I will let you read it for yourself. Here is part 2 of the post. He says we should all look at our yearly goals as a part of a story. Don't make it your goal to lose 20 pounds, but instead make it your goal to run a marathon or climb to the top of a mountain. When a goal is a goal contained within itself, with no fantastic climax like a story, you are more likely to fail.

This book dives further into the concept of considering your life as a story. Most people live very boring lives. Lives that are not story-worthy. I will happily (or unhappily, depending on how you look at it) throw myself into the "not story worthy" category. Sitting on the couch every Tuesday to watch The Biggest Loser or occasionally meandering into the garage to work on a wood project isn't exactly riveting. The point I got from Donald's book is throw caution to the wind when it comes to doing daring, challenging, or interesting things. He says "Fear is a manipulative emotion that tricks us into a boring life."

In life, I am constantly striving to do difficult things and I put way too much pressure on myself to accomplish those goals. That's why I run marathons and half-marathons. That's why I make it a goal to build something out of wood every year for the person I drew in Secret Santa. That's why the idea of competing in a full Ironman Competition is constantly on my mind and to be honest, it bothers me that I haven't tried it yet. I can actually visibly remember sitting in front of the TV as a kid, and watching those athletes bike through their 112 miles and think, someday I want to do that. I don't know why I put this unneeded pressure on myself, I kind of feel it's from a fear of being average? I feel like the average person would have trouble losing 26 pounds, so the idea of failure when I put my whole self into it, is a devastating thought (and by the way, I'm down 14 pounds, only 12 pounds to go). But I can say one thing, setting large, significant, and difficult goals is something that is not lacking in my life. I think what I am missing in order to live the way Donald Miller says is a story-worthy life, is being more unpredictable and carefree.

One memorable scene from his book and his life is the time he went to visit some of his friends at their cabin off the ocean or some lake in Oregon. He arrived in a kayak in the morning and when he started to pull away from their dock around midnight, he turned back to wave to his friends and they all ran down the dock and jumped in the water fully clothed as their way to say goodbye. This image is now burned into Donald's mind. Of course this didn't require him to be carefree or unpredictable, but it's those moments that will make the story of your life memorable. Had they waved and turned to go back in their house, he never would have included it in his book.

I don't want a year to go by where I don't at least have several of those moments. While I was reading his book, one memorable scene from Liz and my life popped out at me from this past year. Some people probably already know this, but one thing I love to do is stand or walk in the rain. There's just something about it. Well last Summer it was pouring rain and I said "let's go for a walk". So with the umbrellas staying where they were in the closet, we headed out the door with the dogs. It was the best walk we've ever had. Last year we must have walked around the block 100 times, but which one do I remember most? We both got soaked and couldn't stop laughing at Daisy & Gryffin's fear of getting hit by thick rain drops. That was one of my favorite moments from last year. It was memorable, didn't cost a dime, and would have been a good scene in the book of our life.

I can't wait to read my next Donald Miller book called Blue Like Jazz. If it's anything like the one I just read, I might be blogging about it soon.

Can you think of a memorable moment from your life last year?