Activations: Livin’ Right

Activation – noun: making active and effective

In the past five months I’ve been to nine different states — five for races and four for weddings or to visit friends. Throw in a trek to Newfoundland, Canada, (“North Siiiide!”) for the ITU World Championship Duathlon, and it has been a busy time. Through these experiences I’ve been fortunate to meet some quality people who I believe will become lifelong friends. I’ve also strengthened existing friendships and reconnected with old friends.

As active people, we spend lots of time fine-tuning our bodies, equipment, and schedules. We chase goals of a PR, podium finish, age-group medal, head-to-head victory, or simply finishing a challenging event or distance. And when we’re living our “real” lives — at the office or in the classroom, lab, shop, basement, or kitchen — we do our best to excel.

These worthy pursuits are the fiber of our being and day-to-day purpose. But in and of themselves, they aren’t enough. We’re human, not robots. Sure, it’s nice to earn a trophy or achieve success. We want to be viewed as being good at something that offers us personal fulfillment and an enjoyable lifestyle — however we define it. Yet when it’s all said and done, most of us won’t be remembered for an invention or have a long-lasting effect on the world.

Times change, technology evolves, our contributions and accolades fade into the horizon of time. The people around us may know a little about our accomplishments. But what they’re going to remember is what kind of people we were. They’ll remember whether we were honest and upbeat. They’ll never forget that we were there when it mattered most — at the wedding, birthday party, funeral, hospital or even on the other end of the phone.

The people I’ve trained and hung out with recently are what I call “livin’ right.” They’re good at what they do, generous, helpful, honest, grateful, positive, and health-conscious. They “exude clean-living,” as one friend describes it.

Are there things you’d like to address before you can honestly say you’re livin’ right? Can you make changes for the better? Boost your attitude? Say “thank you” more often? Have the opportunity to say “you’re welcome” more than you do now?

We’re all a work in progress. If we know what we need to work on, then why not try? Seeing so many people close to us who are livin’ right is inspiring. We’re drawn to these folks for their positivity and willingness to share their experiences.

Alternatively, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Bad company corrupts good character.” And in Matthew 24:28, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”

Live right, don’t gather with the vultures.

How you livin’?

Respect,
JPD

This also appears in the October issue of SwimBikeRun St. Louis Magazine.