Sent you a PM.

Hein

Sage advice, Casey. I'll do it.

I'm going to echo Casey's post. Volunteer work will add some depth and dimention to your life. You will look at your job differently too. Your job is that which gives you the means to contribute to others. That didn't come out the way I wanted, but I hope you get the jist. Perhaps you can integrate triathlon into it as well. Perhaps working with The Boys And Girls Club or Big Brothers. You could be an example of how hard work, focus and discipline can be a benefit on and off the course. Perhaps you will inspire a future Kona champ or Olympiad. But most importantly, you will be giving--period. That helps close the circle, something most don't understand.

Sorry this is so choppy, but I"m in a hurry.

HTH

Brett

First task on the list is to find out who you are. What you do then becomes an extension of that. It's called congruency.

It's not easy to explain the whole thing, but if you're a philosophy major, you should be ahead of the curve.

1- Life isn't important. Try dying, and you'll know what I mean! (BTDT - 1969)

2- Go with your instincts. Certain thoughts, topics events or whatever, light you up. Pat attention to those and ask yourself why you care about them. That will help you figure out who you are.

As Richard Bach said: "In the path to your true happiness you will find the learning for which you chose this life."

Don't get too caught up in "stuff." Do things because they make you feel good. Hike in the mountains, play with your dog, look into your wife, GF, etc.'s, eyes and care more for their happiness than for your own. Then learn to see every person in the world as being just as beautiful, just as frightened, just as confused and just as desperate to find the meaning of life as that person that you love.

None of us gets out of here alive, so just try to leave things at least as nice as you found them.

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

One of my main problems (as I see it) is that I find too many things interesting. I've liked every job I've ever had, been interested in more things than for which I have time. I've lived the dirtbag lifestyle (living on $500 a month, in a van, spending every day in the mountains rock climbing) and I've lived the opposite (an energetic 24 year-old during the .com boom). Now I'm somewhere in the middle, and everything is just fine (and the lack of real challenge could be a big part of the problem, I guess). Maybe I'm just rambling and advice isn't what I need, but rather something to realign my priorities.

I'm interested when you say "try dying (BTDT)." Care to elaborate (more on what you learned than the actual event)?

"Now I'm somewhere in the middle, and everything is just fine (and the lack of real challenge could be a big part of the problem, I guess). Maybe I'm just rambling and advice isn't what I need, but rather something to realign my priorities."
- - Yeah, creative people are like that. You find out that everything is complicated. I took a summer job in the '60s, just to get money to buy a van and a new amplifier. I ended up making a 15 year career out of something I originally saw as frightfully boring. Later I realized that while I found the (printing) industry fascinating, I really didn't care about it, and I didn't like the way the industry treated the environment and its employees.

So I branched out on several other careers, all of which were successful, and found that some of the most rewarding things I did were things for which I wasn't paid. Counseling employees, counseling friends of employess, volunteering in hospices and other odds and ends. I think watching people die is a very grounding experience. (no pun intended, but I'll take it)

"Care to elaborate (more on what you learned than the actual event)?"
- - Well, I learned that there is a God, I learned that our bodies die, but our bodies aren't what we are. I learned that making money isn't as important as making friends, and making friends isn't as important as making and keeping QUALITY friends. I learned that it's only better to give than receive if you remember to cut the strings off all gifts. Cut the strings of the ones you receive as well.

I've spent a lot of time since then, looking for the meaning of life. I don't know if I've found it, but I've met some really great people along the way. I rather think that THAT is the purpose, if not the meaning of life.

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

I'm within a few months of your age and have been in your shoes. This is what I have to offer, in no particular order.

• There is no higher calling than to live out your life in the service of others.
• Drink good wine.
• Read great books.
• Spend time with your family.
• Spend at least as much time outside as you do in front of a computer.
• Decide if you believe in God, and why.
• Realize that experiences beat the hell out of possesions.
• Spend at least as much time in conversation as you do in front of a television.
• Realize that you don't have to please anyone but yourself.
• Simple is usually better than more complex.

It took me a long time to reach these conclusions. Send me a PM if you want specifics.

Sale everything you own and buy two pairs of black pants and two blacks shirts, shave your head, forget your name, buy a bus ticket to Dallas and call me when you get into town.

When I get to the bus station give me all your cash and get in the back of the van and shut up.

You don't need to know anything else.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

Please god tell me this is a reference to Fight Club (one of the best movies of all time, especially if you realize it's not about fighting).

I knew you'd bring the truth, Mr. Tibbs.

It's about soap.



Just follow my directions and you will see.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

"You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you want to look. I fuck like you want to fuck. I'm smart, capable, and most importantly: I'm free in all the ways you are not."

That movie has *realigned my priorities* better than any therapist could. Jesus, Mr. Tibb's is Tyler Durden! I knew you were magic.

"I am Jack's miserable life."

I feel the same way about the software industry. I enjoy my work, but it's not rewarding. Paychecks can be like golden handcuffs, I suppose.

Interesting insights. Thanks.

I'll give you a name when you die.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

Software can be like that, because it's so far removed from anything real. But it helps create things that are real.

My last corporate gig was saving a high tech mfg joint that made tiny intricate pieces of things that we basically didn't know what they would be when they grew up. It was weird, because some of the stuff we worked on was black bag, black helicopter stuff, except that we didn't really know for sure. But the experience was about helping an old man salvage his life's work. That part was real.

It also came to be about bridging gaps between Chinese Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani and Mexican workers. Learning about foreign cultures and how people's minds work when they are raised in countries so very different from our own. One of the mistakes many people make, is to assume that all people are basically the same, and basically good. All people are basically selfish, unless they have a sense of deep security, and only then will there be any chance for real altruism.

It's not important to judge people's actions or motives, but it can be crucial to learn to understand them and be able to predict them in the sense of who can you count on, and to what extent. You can generally count on most folks to do what they perceive to be in their best interest. Figuring out what that means, in any given situation, can be somewhat dodgier!

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Very interesting. Thanks for the read. So, what do you do now (curious where you ended up post-consulting, and how you got there).

I'm almost retired, except that I work about 60 hours a week as a personal trainer, swim instructor, spin instructor and tri coach. It's so much fun I can't believe it.

I was with Team Sheeper (South Bay Area, see reference to Tim Sheeper in the latest Triathlete for doing Worlds Toughest, WF and CaliMan in the space of five weeks) for a few years, and now I'm working for a high end health club. I coach a small but motivated group, and I have to say I have some great friends to race and party with.

I've been an athlete most of my life, and have a pretty good idea of what it takes to succeed and how to define success so that everyone benefits. Some days are joyous, some are heartbreaking (like Sunday). I also work part time as a crash-test dummy (long story).

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

someone please explain what this movie IS about to me...i've watched it a couple times and i'm still clueless.... :P

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

If you read some eastern philosophy (esp. Tibetan Buddhism - Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is a good starting point) you'll see quite a few similarities in the movie's underlying theme ("stop trying to control everything and just let go").

And you open the door and you step inside
Where inside our hearts

Now imagine that your pain is a white ball of healing light
That's right-your pain, the pain itself is a white ball of healing light

I don't think so

This is your life - Good to the last drop
It doesn't get any better than this
This is your life and its ending one minute at a time

This isn't a seminar. This isn't a weekend retreat
Where you are now you can't even imagine what the bottom will be like
Only after disaster can we be resurrected
It's only after you've lost everything that you are free to do anything
Nothing is static. Everything is evolving.
Everything is falling apart

This is your life
It doesn't get any better than this
This is your life
And its ending one minute at a time

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake
You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else
We are all part of the same compost heap
We are the all singing, all dancing crap of the world

You are not your bank account
You are not the clothes you wear
You are not the contents of your wallet

You are not your bowel cancer
You are not your grand latte
You are not the car you drive
You are not your fucking khakis

You have to give up
You have to give up
You have to realise that someday you will die
Until you know that, you are useless.

I say never let me be complete
I say may I never be content
I say deliver me from Swedish furniture
I say deliver me from clever art
I say deliver me from clear skin and perfect teeth
I say you have to give up
I say evolve, and let the chips fall where they may.

This is your life
Doesn't get any better than this
This is your life
And its ending one minute at a time

You have to give up
You have to give up

Join the Marines.

>>>Fight Club (one of the best movies of all time, especially if you realize it's not about fighting). <<<

Amen!!!!