You Might Not Even Recognize Me

Some of you that follow me, have known me for a long time. Some of you have not known me for such a long time. But even if you have only known me a few years, you may find it hard to recognize much of who I am today.

I am much stronger, healthier and more driven today then I have ever been. I also have more courage than ever. Most of you will probably even say “I can’t believe YOU are writing a blog.” Most days I don’t even believe it myself.

Courage is a tough quality to come by, so I am working hard on holding on to it.

These things didn’t just happen. It’s taken a lot of work. And it still takes a lot of work.

Just think of a duck swimming in a pond. While the duck just appears to be gliding on the water with minimal effort, the real work happens underneath the surface. Those legs are moving so quickly and going nonstop. All the effort happens where most won’t be able to see it. And if you look at the water flowing behind where the duck just floated, you can see the lingering signs of where it has come from. And remnants of the work it took to move forward and get there.

That duck knows where it’s going and is working hard to get there.

What about you? Do you know where you are going? How hard are you working to get there?

These are questions I ask myself too. There are moments of self-doubt. Am I really working hard enough? People can’t see how hard I am working, so I either have to work harder or give up. One of those is hard and one of those is easy.

We can all have those doubts. But it’s what we do with those doubts and the moments of doubting, that matter. What are you going to do?

The work I am doing includes all kinds of things, like working on the discipline I need each day to get enough sleep, drink enough water, eat the right kind of stuff, and not just sit in front of a screen for hours on end.

But some of the toughest work I have done has been on improving myself on the inside. Improving my mental health. Trying to learn something new every day. Working on being a better friend. A lot of this work won’t be usually be seen by an outsider. And a lot of the results of this work won’t easily be seen by someone from the outside. But that doesn’t mean it’s less valuable. People can easily pass judgment on us from the outside, and that can throw us off course if we put too much value in what others think.

By the nature of current circumstances we have become a culture that lives life much more separated and isolated from each other than ever before. So you might not even recognize me anymore since I’ve been taking lessons from the ducks, and doing a lot of work underneath the surface and under the radar to get to where I am headed.

While I am not even sure you would recognize me when you see me, I look in the mirror some days and I don’t even recognize myself. I’ve come a long way and I have a long way to go, but I find that encouraging to look back and see where I have come from.

What about you, where are you headed?