blog – Subjects to change

Music of your formative years…

I think we can all safely agree that the music that came out from the time that you were 13 to 20 years old was the greatest music of all time. Everything that came before it was old and outdated and everything after was just garbage. I know I feel this way about the music that came out in the late ‘90s and early 2000s and I’m sure that whatever time frame you lived those formative years in has a special place in your heart for that music as well.

For me, that music was punk rock and its offshoots. Bands like pennywise and perhaps most importantly U2 was the soundtrack of that time frame for me. If you are familiar with both of those bands you may be thinking to yourself that’s two very different sides of what could be considered punk rock music. And to this, I would say that you are very correct in your musical assessment of what the instrumentals sound like. However, you couldn’t be more wrong when it comes to the lyrical comparison of the wordsmiths who crafted the anthems of my childhood. Songs about standing up for what you believe in, questioning authority, and the unwavering dedication to remaining a unique individual and not assimilating into the crowd and the eventual grind of adulthood.

I loved these songs when I was a teenager but I wasn’t quite sure why, they were often loud, fast, and aggressive. I sang the lyrics but I don’t think I ever gave them much thought as to what their meaning was, I just knew I liked them and they sounded really good when they were played at full volume.

A lot of things have changed in my life over the past 20ish years but those favorite songs of my formative years are still up there at the top of my playlists and they sound even better cranked up now that I’ve come to realize the message of the lyrics I had been singing all those years. I’m proud of myself that I still live the message in those songs I love. I stand up for what I believe in, I question authority and politely dissent when necessary, and one thing is for damn sure I haven’t grown up and changed into the adult I never wanted to become. Sure I wear a shirt and tie for work, well I used to when I wasn’t working from home. But guess what? That tie is a bowtie because I’ll play along with your rules but I surely am not going to dress up like everyone else to fit in with the crowd. Think about the last minute of killing in the name of by rage against the machine if you’re wondering where the inspiration for the bowtie came from

Those songs you loved as a kid, I’m sure you’re still listening to them as well maybe you even crank them up as well. Do you still live the lyrics, or have you forgotten the message that you used to scream at the top of your lungs? We’re you a punk rocker or a hippie that went to all of the shows and swore you would never sell out to the adult crowd and assimilate into the norm? If the answer is yes or at least most of the time I’m very proud of you for staying true to the message. If not I might suggest googling the lyrics to that song that means so much to you and reevaluate your life choices.

Like a lot of things I write about the theme isn’t always the message I’m trying to get across. I fully understand that music and lyrics are not the overbearing character witness of our lives but they helped form our social and ethical DNA. Do you still embrace those things that you once believed in or are you living a life that the 20-year-old version of yourself would be disappointed in?

B- effort…

I had a college professor tell me during a class that “I was the smartest student that he had ever had but the absolute worst student” I laughed at first and then thought about what he said and felt a little differently about the backhanded compliment I had just received. But like most things in the life of a young kid I was onto bigger and better things and that little nugget of wisdom went in one ear and out the other.

I hadn’t thought about that little moment in life for quite some time but hitting some golf balls this weekend at Topgolf for my brother in laws 40th birthday conjured up some old memories. You may be thinking that’s a random place to remember a story about squandering your talents but it will make a lot more sense after this. I used to play a lot of golf as a kid, like 27-36 holes a day at least 5 days a week for 4 or 5 summers. And not surprisingly you can get pretty darn good at golf when you play that much. Good enough to make the high school golf team and be a top tier member of the squad, good enough to win tournaments I was a single handicap golfer at the age of 14. I had the talent but I didn’t always have the mental focus to put it all together so when golf got moved to the swim season I decided to focus on swimming. I started on the swim team in my sophomore year I didn’t know a lot about swimming but I worked hard enough to figure it out and dropped a lot of time on my favorite event the 50 free. By my senior year, I was swimming low 22 seconds 50 freestyles and finishing 8th in the 5a regional championships for the state of Florida. A time like that wasn’t going to get me a full ride at a top caliber swim school but it was good enough for a walk-on opportunity at a D3 school. One season in me and my shoulders decided that 4 years of staring at a black stripe for a couple of hours a day had been more than enough. Besides I wasn’t doing that great in college,(see opening paragraph) and I needed a few less distractions in my life.

Back to last weekend. I hadn’t hit a golf ball in close to 2 and a half years so I wasn’t sure what to expect when it was my turn to get up there and put a few balls downrange. So I grabbed an 8 iron took aim at the 150-yard green and absolutely crushed it with a gentle fade right onto the target. I was able to recreate that shot over and over again with a variety of clubs that day. As we left an overwhelming sense that I had missed my life’s true calling rushed over me. I’m not saying that I was going to be tiger woods but I really believe I could have made a living off of playing golf. So what do I with this squandered talent now? The swing is there, the mental focus is better than ever but the time to go hit 600 balls a day and see if I could really make it is definitely nowhere to be found.

Why am I telling you this

The amount of things I’ve taken to what I have decided to call B- ability is staggering when I look back upon my life. I guess I should feel grateful that I’ve had the ability to progress that many things to an above-average performance ability and really a B- isn’t something to be that upset about. I would have loved to have a few more of those in college, my parents would have as well. It leaves me wondering if I had stuck it out and utilized those talents to the best of my ability where could I have taken them.

I’m not sure where my writing/storytelling ability lies on the grading scale yet. I’ve started and stopped on this blog at least twice now. Sometimes it seems pointless to type away at a computer screen when I perceive the limited impact I think it’s having on the world. What keeps me coming back is the hope that something I write is going to have an impact on at least one person’s life. I’m a different person today because a few people decided to write a book or start a podcast and I’m grateful for those people and the wisdom they have bestowed upon me.

Today I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts the 3of 7 project https://threeofseven.podbean.com and the guest Jeff Forester was talking about the book he had just written. He went over a quick overview of the process that got him started on the book and what steps he took to finish it. And like a backhanded compliment from a college professor there it was again, me having done a lot of the work but not showing up the rest of the way to make it happen. I had already done quite a few of the steps he suggested, I even wrote them down in a journal. Problem is that’s as far as I took it a couple of months back.

I’m not sure if the book will ever get published or let alone if it does if anybody other than a handful of people will ever purchase it but I’m assuring you this today. I feel that I have a talent for writing and I don’t want to find myself leaving another 40th birthday party wondering why I never did anything with it. So before my next birthday in the late spring-early summer of 2021, you’re going to be able to read something that may just give you the tools to make a few changes in your life.

Disconnect…

I’m only half kidding when I tell you that one of my favorite things about our national parks is the cell phone service and the ability to connect to the internet is absolutely horrible. And that’s why I’m a little upset to hear that at Yellowstone national park they are working to make upgrades to cell towers for better reception and more wifi capabilities through certain areas of the park. I’m all for faster internet speeds when I’m wearing a dress shirt and bowtie but when I’m looking at bison out in the pasture I don’t need to be posting it to social media for a live feed. P.S that’s a really excellent way to go viral as people would love to see someone get mowed over by a charging bison.

The internet and 24-7 news cycle have made it easier than ever to be connected and better informed on everything that is going on in the world at any moment. In a lot of ways that is a magnificent thing and in others it absolutely horrible. I have tried and often not succeeded at disconnecting from work, and the influences of the news/internet during weeknight family time, weekends, and most importantly family vacations. I like to think I was getting better but after a week and a half in northwest Wyoming, I’ve come to the conclusion that a modern man can indeed survive without access to WIFI and cell service and popular to contrary belief you can actually thrive.

It’s amazing how much time you have to go on walks, throw airplanes, look at the stars, play games, imagine what the clouds look like, run, swim, jump, and 10,000 other things that you could dream up when the allures of the modern world are as effective as a paperweight.

I took a lot of things away from that trip to our oldest national park but the thing I am trying to use the most is disconnecting from the news/internet and not getting angry at the things that I can not change or have little to no impact on my life. Instead, I choose to use that time to do things with my family like go to the beach, the park or simply play in the front yard and talk to neighbors about the weather.

Call to Action

Turn off your phone, put it down, and then walk away. Do the same for the television and then go outside and do something for a few hours. I believe in you, you can do it. I promise you that you will feel better afterward. Try this 1-2 evenings a week or maybe a whole day on the weekend. Worried that a family member will need to get in contact with you? Well if you have an iPhone I’m going to clue you in on one of my favorite ways to disconnect but let people know that you still somewhat care about them. It’s called the do not disturb while driving mode. Sure it may be a bit of a fib but when someone calls it will go automatically to voicemail and if they text a custom message will be sent automatically letting them know you are not by the phone. You can also set it up to where only certain numbers will be allowed to override the feature so you can take that call from your mom.

Here’s a link on how to set it up. I promise you its a game changer!!

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/turn-on-do-not-disturb-while-driving-iphae754533b/ios#:~:text=Go%20to%20Settings%20%3E%20Do%20Not,detects%20you%20might%20be%20driving.

The Search…

The problem with life is that it doesn’t come with a set of instructions on how to assemble a plan for it. You know a detailed step by step set of instructions on how to make sure what you build ends up looking the picture on the box. How great would it be to turn to the book of life and read “make sure you do step G and let it dry completely for 24 hours before moving onto step H.” How much pain and frustration could we avoid in our lives if we just had the directions to get from point a to point b in the most efficient path??? On the surface, this sounds pretty nice until you start to realize that would probably lead to the most boring, beige, milk toast, and pedestrian life you could ever imagine.

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s book note’s from the underground he espouses that if the world were perfect and nothing ever went wrong the first thing people would do is break something or desire for even more of a great thing just to see what would happen. Seems pretty counter-intuitive if you ask me but leaning back on past life experiences I tend to see the wisdom in his thoughts. If everything were perfect nothing spontaneous or truly miraculous would ever happen and although that predictable path may be efficient it sure would be boring.

I recently had the chance to drive route WY-22 between Jackson Wyoming and Victor Idaho. Its a mountain pass between the two towns on the southern edge of the Teton Range. Its by far the scariest road I’ve ever driven in my life and if you’ve had the privilege of driving that stretch of highway you’ll probably agree with me. With its 10% gradients, switchbacks, and sheer cliffs that but up against the edge of the roadway its a “10 and 2” drive the whole time. One minute your flooring it to get up the hill and a minute later it’s stomping on the breaks to make the 180-degree turn. The road is about 20 miles between the two towns but at an average speed somewhere in the 30’s it sure takes a long time to make that drive in comparison to traveling down a highway in pancake-flat “boring” Florida.

Once I safely got my wife, kids, and father in law over that mountain in our rented minivan my first thought was ” I want to do that again but in some kind of sports car so I can really push it” And there it is I made it through something perfectly fine and there I am wanting to throw caution and speed limits to the wind and charge up and down that mountain like there’s no tomorrow.

For my money, I’d rather my life highway be somewhere between Wy-22 and I-95 through north Florida. A good amount of ups and downs and some turns out of nowhere with plenty of miles of open road where you can get out and cruise for a while. In other words, a life that has some adventure and unexpected surprises smattered in with the day-to-day predictability of suburban life.

I’ve been absent from this writing thing for a while. I’m not really sure why it happened other then maybe the tank ran out of gas in what has been a long stretch of windy roads that has been highway 2020. Never the less on that little detour we had quite a few adventures and I’ve got some new fodder for our journey together on this adventure of life where we can make it up as we go along. If we were given directions we would have chucked them out the window a long time ago anyways.

epiphany at the sub shop…

I can really remember two profound moments of clarity in my 30’s and they both came in the weirdest of places, but maybe that’s where the greatest epiphanies come from. Life and discovered wisdom rarely look that perfect scene of a mountain vista and a quote bubble that we see on social media. The two things that drastically changed my life were a conversation by the trash can with a neighbor and a sign by the bathroom at a local jimmy johns. Were going to focus on the later one today.

several years ago my wife called at lunch and asked me if I wanted to meet at a local Jimmie Johns for lunch and I took her up on the offer. I got there before she did and found the only two available seats way in the back by the bathrooms. somehow the idea to not look at my phone seemed like the right thing to do so I started reading all the random signs around the restaurant. Most of them are just silly but there’s one that is solid gold. It’s the parable of the Mexican fishermen and American investment banker.

https://financialmentor.com/true-wealth/the-parable-of-the-mexican-fisherman-and-investment-banker/2422

STOP!!!! Did you read the parable? If not go back and read it, its a prerequisite for the second half of our lesson.

The value of an item.

MORE, MORE, MORE, I NEED MORE, GIVE ME MORE. I’LL BE HAPPY WHEN I HAVE MORE!!!

That 45 seconds worth of reading completely changed my thought process on how I was living/spending my life away. Prior to that story I had been saving for an Omega Speedmaster watch, aka the watch that went to the moon. Its really sweet looking and the history behind it is pretty amazing. In fact every single Speedmaster is built to NASA specifications and is approved to travel to outer space, how cool is that? You could own a watch that’s approved for space travel!

The two big problems with that watch are your going to spend at least $4,000 dollars to own it and I don’t know about you but I don’t have any reservations for the International Space Station booked any time soon so in all reality its a bit overkill.

There’s an awesome line in the Tao Te Ching an ancient book of chinese wisdom that says.

A teapot is useful not for what you can see. It is useful for what you cannot see — its emptiness.

When we understand that the value of an item whether it be a teapot or a watch or how we chose to live our lives is rooted in its functionality versus its outward astetic appeal we start to live the life of the fishermen versus the dream of the investment banker.

Sure a $4,000 dollar watch looks cool on your wrist but it tells time just like a $20.00 Timex watch. A Ferrari will get you looks at a traffic light but if you drive the speed limit you will get to work just as fast as the Ford following behind you.

I’m not going to lie to you I am guilty of consumerism, I like cool stuff on the outside of my “teapots” It makes me feel good about myself, but what is the long term cost of such a luxury item. Is it a few more long nights at the office, missing your kids events or even a couple of extra years at your job.

Live the dream now.

Maybe its un-American or anti-capitalistic of me to say this but I know that the fisherman is living his life the right way in our parable. He provides for his family financially but more importantly, he is happy and present for his family. Sure if he bought the extra boat and fished longer hours he could buy his wife a fancy car and his kid the newest iPhone to replace the love that’s gone missing by his absence. That love looks a lot like a fancy logo slapped on the outside of a “teapot” if you ask me.

Does the fishermen in our story have a fancy designer teapot decorated to let everyone know his wealth, negative, ghost rider. He has something better a boring old “teapot” on the outside that is filled with love, purpose and contentment on the inside.

I don’t remember what kind of sandwich I had in the shadow of those profound words by the bathroom that day but the wisdom imparted on me that day has served me well.

You are Here…

How many imaginary finish lines do you think we cross in our life? I bet its in the hundred of thousands, who knows though that number could be a gross exaggeration or a massive underestimate. Think about all the races across the school yard when you were a little kid. If having an almost 5 year old son has taught me one thing it is that everything can and probably should be a race with a finish line.

Sure the vast majority of finish lines are insignificant in our lives but what about the major ones like graduating from school, getting a job, getting married, buying a house or having kids. All of these are huge goals that can be way off in the horizon and take years and years of hard work and dedication to achieve. But what happens when we get there to the “finish Line” of that race in our life? From my experience a small amount of happiness floods in and then the reality that maybe all of that work leading up-to the finish line was just a precursor of what was really in store for us.

I’ve been kicking this idea around in my head for a while and it was really cemented while listening to one of my favorite podcasts the 3 of 7 project. https://3of7project.com/podcast/ Chadd the host and Ian Thomas recounted their adventure in an ultra race called bob big back yard. The race format is pretty simple, run 4.16667 miles within 60 minutes and if you do so you can run the next loop when it starts on the top of the hour. There is no set distance for the race it ends when only 1 person is left running. In the 2018 race the last person running logged just over 283 miles or 68 hours of running.

I don’t want to give to much away as I really think the podcast is amazing and you should totally listen to it. but with out a bit of a spoiler I cant finish this blog post so with that being said… Ian had a goal distance in mind that he wanted to achieve and with that out on the horizon although difficult at times it was a motivator to keep moving towards it. When that self imposed finish line came happiness arose but the desire to keep going waned and he threw in the towel. Chadd the ultimate motivator tells Ian ” Don’t die in the chair” we go out like warriors on the battle field. And before the next top of the hour the two are off running again for yet another loop.

Ian ran a really, really long way that day. But I wonder how far he could have ran if all the wind wasn’t let out of his sails when he crossed the “finish line” and then I thought about all the times I could have gone further but the finish line got in the way of what I was truly capable of.

THERE IS NO FINISH LINE

who says there has to be an end to any chapter in our lives. why does the learning have to stop when we graduate, why can’t the high school track star keep running and competing ? Why do we have to grow up and be adults all the time?

I know I’ve wasted time in my life thinking that I had arrived at my destination to only realize several years later that I was still standing in the same place wondering how all those people got so far in front of me. Maybe there finish line was further out in the distance or they learned before I had that there really wasn’t one. When you stand still at your destination thinking you’ve arrived you might as well be going backwards.

Call to Action.

I’m sure there’s something that you are curious to learn about right now and boy oh boy are you in luck. Access to information has never been this easy or cheap to access. I’m currently learning about organic gardening practices as well as creating a food forrests. I haven’t stepped into a classroom or paid tuition, I’ve learned a ton through the magic of youtube. Just be careful that the cute cat videos don’t suck you in to deep.

Stagger you goals. I have a goal for my trail running, its a pretty big one and its going to take a few more years to get there. In the mean time I’m going to come up with what the next step is so I’m not standing at the end of the race wondering whats next. When that happens it’s easy to take the foot off the gas and go into idle.

Go out and challenge yourself to something that you don’t think your capable of right now. Hitting the register button is often times the hardest part. Go out and train, prepare your self mentally and go out their and execute the mission. When you achieve that goal it will light a fire inside of you as you realize that there’s a lot more in the tank then you ever would have imagined.

This is really cliche but life is truly a journey and not a destination. It’s a long hard road filled with tons of work and hopefully a healthy smattering of happiness and contentment along the way. Whenever I feel like quiting I think of these words from Dr. Martin Luther King

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Whats the Point???

Covid is running rampant, cupcakes are delicious, beer is cold and in the end when your only promised death and taxes does it really matter if you eat that third slice of pizza. In the grand scheme of things one days worth of decisions doesn’t really add up to much or does it?

We as human beings are the sum collective of all of our life experiences and what we do today, tomorrow and the next day will have a profound impact on who we become a couple of years down the road.

Sure our genetics have some impact on our overall health but its a lot less than most people think. According to the National Institute of Health – https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/longevity Our genetic make up accounts for 25% of our overall health. Leaving us in charge of the other 75% of how our life plays out. I’m not sure about you but I really like those odds.

With that being said If there is another constant in life we can count on its this, LIFE ISN’T FAIR. Not even a little bit most of the time. I had a coworker that ate healthy, exercised like crazy and fought and ultimately lost his 8 year battle with cancer a year and a half ago. It sucked really bad to lose him but there is no doubt in my mind that the way he lived and ate had a profound effect on his quality of life and why he fought as long as he did.

So whats the point when healthy people die suddenly of heart attacks and people who eat McDonalds and smoke a pack of cigarettes a day live to 100? LIFE ISN’T FAIR, some times you get pocket aces and the professional poker player gets double 2’s and he walks away with all of your cash.

I’m not a doctor or a dietitian so all of my advice is anecdotal and I surely hope that you don’t walk into your kitchen after reading this and throw out all your junk food, that isn’t the best way to make a long term change.

What I am advocating for is a slow and steady change to our diets and exercise routine. My mom has a few things that I’ve heard her say a couple of hundred times in my life and one of the best goes like this. “How do you eat an elephant, Brian? One bite at a time! (Thanks mom, I’ve been listening all these years. Love you) When your 8 and trying to write a book report its a little annoying but now its become one of my favorite mantras.

Falling back to the Exercise is where you find it post – https://subjects2change.food.blog/2020/04/13/exercise-is-where-you-find-it/ You will remember that we need to go from 0-10 before we start thinking about whats happening around level 90-100. There we go again how do we get back in shape, one bite at a time.

Call To Action

All things considered the decisions we make today, tomorrow and the next day add up and we can take “control” of our health. You wont see or feel the changes today, tomorrow or the next day but if you remember what my mom always says you will see and more importantly your doctor will notice at your next physical.

We are living to an average age of 78.7 years in America and that number has decreased over the past two years for men. The sadder fact is that we are also losing independent quality of life on top of that, this means we are living shorter and less healthy lives.

I’ve always thought the point of life was to live a long and healthy life so that you can continue to have an impact on the people who need you the most, and that seems like a pretty good point to me.

When? how about right now.

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the second best time to plant a tree is right now.

How can today be the second best time? wouldn’t 19 years 364 days ago been a much better time then today to plant that tree. If you would have done it then you would already be sitting under that tree with a cold drink, reading a book and basking in the glorious shade it’s providing.

But alas we don’t have time machines and living in the past is for the dummies. We cant change what we have done or more importantly haven’t done in our pasts, and well that’s pretty darn important if you ask me. One of the two things I learned in college and actually use on the regular are, those who fail history are doomed to repeat it. In layman’s terms, learn from your mistakes dumb-dumb and don’t repeat them.

So with that being said NOW, RIGHT NOW is the second best time to go out and do something that’s going to pay off in the future. And quite possibly right now, in the middle of this epic dumpster fire of a global pandemic that we are all struggling through may be the best time in our life time to get out the shovel and start digging.

The Problem with trees.…

Is that you put one in the ground and you go out and water it every day for a couple of weeks and almost nothing happens. It hasn’t gotten much taller, there’s no fruit and the only thing getting some shade are the ants crawling around under neath it.

Things of great significance don’t change drastically over night they change little by little everyday, in fact most days its so insignificant that it doesn’t look like anything is happening at all. I don’t know about you but that’s pretty frustrating. I bought an orange tree because I was thirsty for juice now, not 5 years from now. It’s pretty easy to lose the drive to fertilize and nurture the tree when the grocery store down the street has a gallon of OJ cold and ready to go for just a couple of dollars.

I’m sure you’re thinking by now. Why are we still talking about trees? I don’t own a shovel or have the land to plant one in and for that matter who wants to get dirty.

Good because I have nothing else clever to say about them, so here’s the moral of the story…

Planting a tiny oak sapling and looking for shade is a lot like managing our health and well being, you are barging with the future. The decisions that we make today, tomorrow and so on will impact what happens to us in the future for better or worse. We can make wise choices and thrive and grow to our fullest potential or we can ignore the call and stunt our growth in the shadows of what could have been.

Call to action.

A lot of us are finding ourselves with extra time on our hands right now. Honestly I wish this wasn’t the case. This life right now is a nasty roller coaster and I’m ready to get off, but were stuck and might as well try and make the best of it.

Whats your big oak tree that you wish you would have planted 20 years ago? Is it better health, a shorter honey-do list,that book you’ve always wanted to write or maybe it’s just a simple ole shade tree.

Once you’ve decided what that tree looks like, stop imagining what it looks like and go grab the shovel and start planting. Set up some short term and mid range goals to measure your growth, this way you can see where you’ve been and where you are going.

Trust the process and one day you will find yourself under that tree drinking a glass of fresh squeezed O.J appreciating the work that you put in and being grateful that you started the project so long ago.

who can change the world.

“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”

John F. Kennedy

So not to brag but I am an O.G Facebook user (15+years) not sure how proud of that I am but I figured I would put it out there. Today I got one of those memory posts that came across my feed from 9 years ago today and it was the above quote from JFK. I’ve always loved that quote, I just wish that I could remember why I posted it almost a decade ago.

Fast forward to today and that quote means more to me now then ever. We are in truly uncertain times right now and the stress of this global situation is weighing heavily on everyone, me included. I get busy with work, the kids, making dinner and then you see a news report about all the bars closing in your state for a month and then it hits you right in the gut again, this is going to be a long and bumpy ride.

The only thing that gives me solace in those low moments is that although limited we can have an impact on how this chapter of our life’s plays out over the rest of 2020. The actions that we take in this early phase of covid-19 could significantly speed up or slow down the spread of the virus. This is where you and I can make a difference and we rally need to put a little effort into this.

I have always believed two things when it comes to government. The divine sovereignty of the individual is the fundamental building block to western democracy. The second is to never follow blindly anything the government is trying to sell you, having a healthy level of skepticism helps keep things in check.

Now is not the right time to stand on those principals. If the federal government, CDC and your state at local government is asking for you to stay home and self isolate it’s not just to keep you out of a bar so you can keep your St Patrick’s day drinking to a minimum. They are doing it to slow down the exponential growth pattern that viruses like this one tend to follow. Just for a reference point here’s an exponential growth pattern.

2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512 and 1,024. Everything is pretty manageable in those first 5 iterations but it starts to get out of control really quickly in that last 5 of the sequence. Research on the virus has suggested that it doubles every 3 days, so that sequence above is 2 peoples impact played out over a period of a month.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be the person responsible for making 1,000 people sick in a month. If that means I can’t go to the beach or a restaurant for the foreseeable future I’m good with it. I want this thing to be over just as much as anyone right now so we can get back to “normal” its up to us how long it takes.

If we all fall in line and do as we have been asked maybe this thing blows over in a couple of weeks and everyone can tell me they were right and I was an idiot for being so worried. In fact I hope your right and I can take the insult, I’ve been called a lot worse then that in my life. But maybe we keep this rebellious streak working and the math starts to add up and were stuck in our houses until August then what?

Here is our chance to live the message. One person can make a difference and if we all try the results could be huge.