2500km in 2025 Challenge: February Review

March 1, 2025 by

Two months down in my challenge and the continued experience of successes and challenges definitely continued. I find that February is the most challenging month of all due to there being less days to achieve set goals (28 days vs 30/11 days does make a big difference in the overall scheme of things). The way that the month fell I knew that at a maximum I had only 20 set running days, if I kept my usual routine of 53km a week, this would mean a maximum possible of 212km for the month which is just over the amount of 209km I need to run to keep on track. I needed to have a month with no complications… of well that didn’t happen.

In the second week of the challenge I hit the first hurdle, starting my run on the Thursday morning, I felt quite tight through my lower legs and my right ankle was quite stiff. I made the decision to pull out of my run. While thinking about the big picture is important, I knew that the repercussions were now I’d be sitting beneath the amount I needed to stay on track unless I pulled out some larger numbers later in the month.

Week three presented its own challenges. I was excited with some progress made, on the Wednesday I set a new PB over the distances of a kilometre, half mile and mile when I was doing my regular short run of just over 5km. This was followed by a great change of scenery run down in the Safety Bay / Shoalwater area along the coast. If anyone get the chance to do that, I would highly recommend it, lovely scenery and nice and flat. I thought that I was make good progress, however another hitch to the routine the following day. I ended up needing to visit the emergency room overnight and got zero sleep which resulted in another missed run on that Friday morning. That brought me to being down by 24km for the month going into the final week.

Not to be disheartened, I thought I would at least push to try and hit the 200km for the month by the end of Week 4. It would mean needing to run further than I would normally to get in the necessary distance. The week started with my usual routine and I completed 2 x 12.2km runs – this put me in the position of needing 39km from the last three days which I felt was manageable. Wednesday was the start of the increase, instead of my usual 5km run, I completed a 10.8km run. While this put me further behind (29km in two days) I still felt I could give things a good crack. On Thursday I increased the distance from my usual and completed 13.km which took me down to needing 15.2km on the final day.

Friday the 28th of February, the final day. I knew that I was falling short of the 209km needed for the month, however was still optimistic for completing my 200km for the month challenge – there was the added challenge of having a head cold and my head feeling pretty lousy. The run started at Lake Monger and I kept the usual route of then linking over the Herdsman Lake. As a got back to Lake Monger I brought up the 13km, as expected, from the circuit. Only 2.2km to go. I continued around Lake Monger to bring up the 14km before turning around and heading back by the same route to where I was parked. Upon completion brining up the 15.3km and ticking over the 200km for the month.

Where does this leave me in relation to the larger challenges?

The three month January – March Challenge I am currently sitting at 413.4km of the needed 625km meaning I have only 211.6km to do in March. I feel pretty good about this one! If I hit this target by the end of March then I will be on track for the larger goal of 2500km for the year, a quarter of the year will be down and I’ll have covered a quarter of the distance.

My statistics for February were as follows:

Total200.1km
Runs completed18 runs
Average Pace5’33”
Total time18:31:09

Looking forward to March and hitting a few of the medium sized goals that I had set for the year!

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2500km in 2025 Challenge: January Review

January 31, 2025 by

The first month of the challenge has seen amid of successes and challenges. I have managed to run the required distance for the month of over 209km by running a total of 213.2km over the month. While on a whole this is positive and included many memorable moment including getting to do a 13.5km run on Rottnest Island (my happy place), I didn’t get as many runs completed as I would have liked in an ideal situation by only completing 17 for the month. My usual running regime of running five days a week would result in me usually doing between 20 – 22 runs so I am really starting behind the 8-ball for the year.

My monthly statistics were as follows:

Total Distance213.2km
Number of Runs17
Average Pace5’24” per km
Total Time19:11:19

February will prove a new set of challenges with the commencement of the school year. A little more routine, but now there’s a need to balance the demands of my teaching position with the running regime – always a challenge!

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Features of the religious, political, social and economic conditions of life during the New Testament.

January 26, 2025 by

The New Testament presents the acts, teachings, Passion and glorification of Jesus Christ as its central focus and the beginning activities of the Church[1] in 1st Century Israel and the Mediterranean[2]. Exploring these times reveals a world of complexity and diversity in the conditions experienced by individuals and communities. The land of Israel, Palestine, was under Roman military occupation, an outpost in the expanding Roman Empire since Pompey’s conquest in 63BCE[3]. The region “fell under the administration of the Imperial Province of Syria… governed by a military governor called a Legate”[4] with troops commonly stationed to keep peace and order. 

The empire was undergoing consolidation, trying to unify its people after through centuries of conquest in a time known as “Pax Romana”, the Roman Peace[5]. The stability of a unified Mediterranean saw local administrators “continue as long as the Roman dominion was not threatened”[6], like Herod the Great and his sons in Palestine. Local customs were integrated and assimilated into the empire as an age of “globalisation where cultures and people…encountered each other in ways never witnessed before… a Greco-Roman veneer to all life…language, architecture, religion, trade, commerce and cultural identity were all influenced”[7].

The Jewish culture was no exception the Greco-Roman influence. “Jews from all walks of life adopted aspects of the Greco-Roman culture…promising a way to political influence and a better station”[8]. This did not overrun the Jewish way of life, adherence to the Torah was still prevalent, they were also “exempt from any obligations which conflicted with the demands of their faith”[9] including exemption from military service, observance of the sabbath, paying annual temple tax and not making sacrifices to the emperor[10].

Not all Jews were accepting of Roman rule, passive and active opposition including violence resulted in Palestine being a volatile region. In the previous one thousand years, the land of Israel had been occupied for over half of the time by successive empires[11], Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, prior to the Romans contributing to an ever-increasing sense of powerlessness and alienation[12] contributing to Roman resentment. There was a common belief that God would send a Messiah to free Israel from their Roman oppressors[13], establishing God’s Kingdom that the Reign of God would “ensure…justice among the people…[especially] the poor, the oppressed, those who had no voice”[14]. Several messianic claimants calling for intervention against Roman rule resulted, leading to unrest in Jerusalem and the execution of leaders for treason against Rome, “preaching a kingdom that was not Rome threatened the prosperity and stability of the Roman Empire”[15].

Table 1: Ruling control of Israel 1025BCE – 135CE[16]

Judaism was the customary term describing the religious-cultural life of the Jews, the ethnic group who shared the ancestral heritage of the Israelites or Hebrews[17]. At its heart is an understanding of the covenant: the binding relationship initiated by God between God and his people (Israel) through God’s grace. Prosperity and success were promised to those who kept the covenant; being careful to do everything written in the law, keeping it on their lips, meditating on it day and night[18] and keeping it in their hearts[19]. “Most Jews maintained observance of commandments and Laws of the Torah, especially dietary laws, the observance of sacred days and festivals, and refusing to make graven images”[20]. However, a more legalistic view was the motivation, with Judaism losing sight that “membership of the people of God is dependent on God’s grace”[21] with the required obedience to the Law not earning salvation or gaining membership but was the “response to the gracious act of God making a covenant with the people of Israel”[22].

A diverse range of practices and beliefs developed in Judaism throughout the late Second Temple Period “not only between Palestinian and Diaspora Jews… but also between different groups: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots”[23]. While belief in the three great pillars of Judaism: the Jerusalem Temple, the land of Israel, and Mosaic Law was shared[24]they “promoted distinctive visions of the past, present, and future of God’s people”[25] due to their difference in understanding what it meant to follow God’s call to be a Holy people[26]. 

The land of Israel was of religious significance to the Jewish people. It was the land given to them by God as a physical sign of God’s covenant with them[27]. Throughout the Old Testament, the Promised Land is referred to as “flowing with milk and honey”[28], suggesting that it is rich and fertile land able to support a significant population. Located in “The Fertile Crescent”[29], the fertile plains of Jezreel, Sharon and Shephelah, the Jordan valley surrounding Jericho and the terraced farming techniques for stony soils in the hills of Galilee and Judea[30] present a contrary image to the modern arid, stony deserts pictures in Hollywood movies[31].

Additional to the primary industry of agriculture, several other industries were prosperous: fishing in the rivers and Sea of Galilee provided smoked and dried fish all the country[32] and Garum, a fermented fish oil popular throughout the empire [33]; building and construction works on the Temple, the cities of Tiberias, Sepphoris and Julias, and Pilate’s new aqueduct; craftsmen for everyday needs[34]. The vibrancy of the economy should have seen prosperity for many, “taxation and the unjust distribution of wealth”[35] kept most people in debit with wealth held by the sovereign court, Jerusalem priestly aristocracy, great merchants, chief tax collectors and great landowners.[36]

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition. (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), n124 (hereafter cited as CCC)

[2] Dennis Duling, The Jewish World of Jesus: An Overview. (Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1982), 1.

[3] Etienne Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament. (SCM Press, 1999), 24.

[4] Duling, The Jewish World of Jesus, 4.

[5] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 24.

[6] Francis Moloney, A Friendly Guide to The New Testament. (Garratt Publishing, 2010), 8.

[7] Maurice Ryan, Jesus & the Gospels, (Lumino Press, 2012), 26.

[8] Ryan, Jesus & the Gospels, 26.

[9] Jerome Murphy-O’Connor OP, Paul a Critical Life, (Oxford University Press Inc., 1996), 41.

[10] Duling, The Jewish World of Jesus, 4.

[11] The Catholic Youth Bible International Edition New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, (Saint Mary’s Press, 2019), 1548-1549. (Hereafter cited as CYB)

[12] Duling, The Jewish World of Jesus, 10.

[13] Rebecca Denova, Jesus Christ, World History Encyclopedia Website. Published on Jan 05, 2021, https://www.worldhistory.org/Jesus_Christ/

[14] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 65.

[15] Denova, Jesus Christ, 2.

[16] CYB, 1548-1549.

[17] Duling, The Jewish World of Jesus, 1. 

[18] Joshua 1:8 (NRSVCE)

[19] Psalm 40:8 (NRSVCE)

[20] Ryan, Jesus & the Gospel, 26

[21] David G Horrell, An Introduction to the Study of Paul, 2nd edition, (T&T Clark, 2006), 93.

[22] Horrell, An Introduction to the Study of Paul, 93.

[23] Horrell, An Introduction to the Study of Paul, 5.

[24] Daniel J Harrington SJ, Meeting St. Matthew Today: Understanding the Man, His Mission, and His Message, (Loyola Press, 2010), 6.

[25] Ryan, Jesus & the Gospel, 163.

[26] Horrell, An Introduction to the Study of Paul, 5.

[27] Albert Nolan, Jesus before Christianity, (Orbis, 1993)

[28] Exodus 33:3 (NRSVCE)

[29] National Geographic Education, The Fertile Crescent, (National Geographic Society, 2023). Retrieved from https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/fertile-crescent/#:~:text=fertile%20crescent%20illustration&text=Its%20area%20covers%20what%20are,runs%20through%20part%20of%20it.

[30] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 26.

[31] Ryan, Jesus & the Gospels, 27.

[32] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 26.

[33] Ryan, Jesus & the Gospels, 35.

[34] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 26.

[35] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 26.

[36] Charpentier, How to Read the New Testament, 26.

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2500km in 2025: New year, new challenges.

January 1, 2025 by

On the back of my success in 2024 with the “2024km in 2024 Challenge” I have decided to up the expectations in 2025 by challenging myself to run 2500km in 2025. While I know that this will be a little bit of a stretch and will definitely challenge my endurance over the year, I know that it is something achievable, that is, as long as I stay uninjured!

I have decided to approach this BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) by breaking it down into smaller targets to hit over the course of the year as follows:

Goal 1 – Three month targets.

In breaking down the goal, I have set a smaller target to hit every three months which will be equal to a quarter of the overall total. This means I will need to run 625km every three months. I have broken the three months challenges up as follows: January – March; April – June; July – September; October – December.

Goal 2 – Term targets.

While setting three month targets is great, I find that having the definitive end can be a danger in providing a full stop to where I am up to. I have overcome this by continuing my “Term Running Challenges”. Each school term I am going to aim to run a minimum of 450kms, this will create an overlap with the three month goals.

Goal 3 – Monthly targets.

While having the above medium sized goals is great, they are still a little too big. To overcome this, I will break down the goals even further into “Monthly Goals”. I need to run 209km a month to achieve the goal of 2500km for the year. Each month I tend to run more than this, so I am going to continue with my “200km Challenge” for each month.

Goal 4 – Weekly targets.

This last goal is the most important one, the one that if I focus on all the above will be achieved. Calculating out the kilometres I need to run each week is around the 48km mark. I am going to aim to run 53km each week, this being similar to what I have run previously. The runs will be broken down into 2 x 12km runs on the first two days of the week, 5km run on the middle day, and 2 x 12km runs on the next two days followed by two days rest.

Looking forward to what’s ahead.

This year’s challenge is a really exciting one. I am confident that it will be possible to achieve but it will take a considerable amount of planning, commitment, and a little luck to stay uninjured! I am going to aim to write one post a month as an update into how the challenge is going.

Here we go – bring it on!

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2024 in 2024 – Goal Completed.

December 31, 2024 by

I set out at the beginning of 2024 with what I thought was a pretty significant and challenging running goal for the year, to run 2024km in the 2024 calendar year.

I knew, given my previous running efforts and the distances that I had been running, that it was inside the realms of possible but it would take dedication and consistency throughout the entire year (something that hasn’t always been there over such a long period of time).

Despite the year starting off really well, there were some significant challenges that arose in the middle part of the year – injury. In April I started having pain in my right foot which kept getting worse. After seeing a podiatrist and having scans done it was discovered that I had torn my plantar fascia with there being a 1.5mm tear near where it connected in my heal. Interestingly, this wasn’t from the running but from going back to play hockey and having the wrong sort of shoes, the soles were too soft and didn’t provide enough support). In addition to this, I strained my hamstring on two separate occasions, again playing hockey…maybe there is something in that I should have considered when having my goal! What this meant is that having being able to run over 1,000km in the first four months of the year, I was only sitting at the 1280km at the beginning of October. At this point, I had two choices – abandon the goal or find a way to go for it and see what happened. I chose the latter.

The final three months of every year I have decided to repeat an additional challenge called “the 90 day challenge” where I try to run 700km in the final 90 days of the year. If I managed to do that in 2024 it would take me just short of my final goal of 2024km so there was some additional incentive. The challenge started off reasonably well, with me running 216.8km in October. I was pretty happy with this effort as it was the first month I had been able to run over the 200km mark since April and it was done with no pain. It did, however, set me behind the km rate I needed per term to reach the goal which would mean increasing the kms in the last two months.

November proved a great turning point for me and another challenge helped me significantly in my efforts – participation in Movember. The school that I teach has participated in Movember for the last few years and I was asked to organise the school team for this year. Movember is a charity that raises awareness for Men’s Health, unfortunately too many men die young due to not looking after themselves and their health. As well as raise money and grow a moustache, it is possible to set a physical challenge. I used this to set the challenge of running 250km in the month of November which I announced at a staff meeting to the entire school community. This was a big goal for a few reasons: 1) I had only ever managed to run 250km on one other occasion and that was during school holidays; 2) November only had 30 days making it a shorter amount of time. The task went well, but I got to the final running day and needed to complete a 21.2km in order to reach the goal. Under the encouragement of a good friend, who joined me for the last 11km of the run, I undertook a different running route to reach the goal as I started in Attadale and ran back towards the South of Perth Yacht Club in Applecross before turning around and running back to Leighton Beach on the coast. This took me to a total of 253.1km for November and a total of 469.9km for the challenge – a big December was going to be needed.

I entered December hopeful of being able to not only reach the goal of 700km in 90 days, but also now feeling confident of possibly attaining the 2024km in 2024. Success would depend on a few variables, mainly me staying disciplined throughout the month and not getting injured. The month started well, the first week was the final week at school which helped me setup a good routine and structure with the early starts. I ran all five days including four runs of 16km each and one 12.5km run, a solid effort. The next two weeks saw my running route change with us going on our holiday to the town of Denmark in the Southwest of Western Australia. I knew that this time would make or break the challenge and committed to the early morning starts, running not every morning but seven of the ten days we were away and increased my distance up to 18km per run. Upon our return, in the lead up to Christmas I kept this rate going completing two 17km runs before a shorter 13km run around my holiday route of Lake Monger and Herdsman Lake. The final of these runs on Christmas Eve took me past the 2000km. Unfortunately, at this point my calves tightened up and I had to take the next four days off. The final three runs of the year were an 8.4km run followed by an 11km run (this took me to the goal of 2024km) before finishing the year on New Year’s Eve with an 11km run.

The 2024 year is now done and my stats for running are as follows:

Total Distance:2,030km
Total number of runs:176
Average runs per week:3.3 runs/week
Average distance per run:11.5km/run
Average pace per run:5’38” /km
Total time running:190:24:48
Average time per run:1:04:54 /run

The feeling of accomplishment I have for being able to complete this challenge is hard to put into words. In doing this challenge I have learnt many valuable lessons about myself and what it means to overcome challenges and adversity and a lot of negative speak from others. So many people told me that I wouldn’t be able to do this and joked that I was setting myself up for injury.

So where to from here?

2025 starts tomorrow and I need to set myself some new goals to achieve running wise. Reflecting on my strengths, having smaller achievable amounts seems to work well with me achieving a bigger overarching goal. One thing is for certain, I want to set myself an even bigger goal – something that seems impossible unless it takes 100% commitment. I won’t be just trying to run 2025km, but rather will aim for 2500km.

Looking forward to hitting the pavement again tomorrow.

A new day, a new year, a new challenge awaits.

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Gratitude Journal Day 14 – Hugs

October 12, 2024 by

Today marks the end of the second week of my challenge to keep a gratitude journal through until the end of the year. I have noticed that over these two weeks I am beginning to observe smaller moments that I am stopping and enjoying amongst the hectic and stressful pace of life. Today’s three moments, I think, captures this perfectly.

Time with kids being dad.
One of the things I love about my Saturdays is getting to spend time watching my kids do things. Sitting at a local sports venue watching one of them flourish in their chosen sport, smiling, improving, laughing and having a great time. It makes me remember why I do what I do every day – to provide these opportunities for them to have an amazing life and grow in their gifts and talents. I am grateful that I can have Saturdays to do this and connect, I know not everyone has that opportunity.

Random hugs.
While at the sports venue, the youngest would randomly come up to me and just give me a random big hug and announce “I just want to give you a big squish”. I am grateful for that authentic love and affection that is shown and cherish the moments I am the recipient of it.

Couch time.
I was sitting on the couch completing some work and the eldest came in an sat down next to me. I asked “what’s up” and the response was “nothing, I just want to sit with you.” I am grateful that they just want to hangout, may I never lose sight of these times and moments as being what it important in life.

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90 Day Running Challenge – Day 11

October 12, 2024 by

The running challenge is rapidly approaching two weeks since commencement and so far I am feeling quite confident with its progress. Despite it being early days, I am feeling quite optimistic and confident into how it is going.

This week marked the commencement of Term Four and with this, the challenge kicked up a gear with me completing my full running load from pre-injury for the first time since May. I have managed to complete 53.3km over the five runs on “Bridges Course” between Mt Henry and Canning Bridge along the river. The weather this week has been stunning and the sunrises over the waters of the Canning River breath taking to behold. My times haven’t been anything to write home about, the average time being 5’56” for the week with the fastest being 5’48”. However, this doesn’t bother me as I am focusing on the consistency, injury prevention and overall distances covered for this challenge – it’s not a matter of times.

Today (Saturday) is my first rest day for the week and I feel like I need it with my calves feeling quite tight despite the stretching and strengthening exercises that I have been doing. I have had the compression socks on all day to try and provide a little faster recovery. Hopefully, come Monday I will be ready to go again with another big week.

One thing that I will need to look at addressing is my distance deficit for the larger goal – running 2024km in 2024. I have calculated that I am going to need to an additional 5km for eleven weeks if I will make this goal by the 31st of December. I am going to take some time to think about the best way to make this happens – by next post I will have a solution (I hope).

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Gratitude Journal Day 13 – Generosity

October 11, 2024 by

Today I am grateful for the generosity that people continue to show towards me. This may seem a little cliche, but I want to especially focus on the small things: coffee for a meeting, authentic conversations, and open selfless actions for the benefit of others.

Coffee for a meeting.
Friday mornings we have our Pastoral Care meeting during Period One. Every meeting our Head of Senior School, John, brings us all a cup of coffee or beverage of our choice for us to have during the meeting. This act of kindness is not necessary but models a level of generosity and appreciation for all the team members and helps to build community between all of us. I am grateful for the authentic care that he show for us as a team.

Authentic conversations.
One of my colleagues who is also a great friend came by my office to share some amazing news about one of their children. I was asked if I had time to come for a walk and further chat, despite having work to get done I felt that this was the opportunity to connect and went for the walk and talk. We shared deeply and openly due to the time being made for connection. I am grateful for having colleagues in my life who have become friends, that there is a true meeting and connection in living life together. It has also reminded me of the importance in always putting people first before tasks and jobs – jobs can always be done later people are with us for a shorter moment of time.

Open selfless actions for others.
I am grateful for the selflessness of my wonderful wife. I got home to have confirmed that she had been booked to work night shift. I am grateful of the contribution this makes to our family in providing opportunities to our kids and paying for the food that we eat each week.

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Gratitude Journal Day 12 – Setbacks

October 10, 2024 by

This week, some personal experiences combined with one of the books I am reading has made me reflect on setbacks, rejection, adversity, and bumps in the road of life and how we deal with these when they come along. It has made me reflect on my own resilience, how I have responded when faced with adversity and used these as opportunities for reflection and growth. It has also made me grateful for each these experiences for while it is painful in the short term, I know that time and time again these have been used as motivation for continued growth and feeling my own personal drive for excellence.

Sorry you have finished second.
I think that most people have heard this phrase in over the course of their life whether it is through having applied for a job that they just missed out on, an audition for a part in show, or coming second in a competition. My personal experience is that the bitterest pill to swallow is when the phrase is combined with phrases like “you’ve just missed out”, “there is nothing I can give you feedback wise – you’re just unlucky as there was someone better”, or “we don’t know how you’ve missed out”. I can think of many times that I have experienced all of the above but I am grateful because everyone of these have provided me an opportunity for growth and show gratitude through my response to the disappointment. I believe that how I respond in these times is a reflection of my character and it is in these moments where who I truly I am needs to shine through. I am grateful for the people who provide me the opportunity to seek feedback to grow from these experiences and discuss the reasoning behind the decisions made. Interestingly, on a number of occasions I have found in doing this it has led to me being given other opportunities that open up in the future.

Drive for improvement.
I am reminded of a quote from “Batman – The Dark Knight Rises” about failure. “What do we do when a fall down – we get back up again” while it may seem so simple I do believe that it is one of the keys that I have always had to working through setbacks. Putting it simply, after a period of feeling disappointed, I reflect personally, receive feedback from people collectively, reflect again personally and then get back on with what’s in front of me. I must admit that my personality to prove people wrong also tends to kick in and I end up using the setback as motivation for further growth to try and not end up having the same result the next time round. I have done this many times: Hockey when I missed representing Western Australia due to not trialling well one year to come back and get selected the next; Music – missing out on the course I wanted to do and meeting with the people telling them I would be driven to succeed and pursue music which lead to me being offered a position when a withdrawal occurred; or in various roles at work. I am grateful for the ability to be able to not stay still and ruminate on what could have been, instead lifting my eyes back to the multiple other opportunities that are untapped out there waiting to be explored. Of course, this philosophy and ability would not have been possible (I believe) without the support of others around me.

People who have called me out.
I am grateful for the trusted people I have in my life, especially my wife who is also my best friend, my closest friends, mentors at work and family who speak truth into my life during these times. They all help me reflect by listening but also, when the time is right, provide encouragement with how I can grow – sometimes this means giving some hard truths and realities about how I need to grow and also asking the challenging questions as to whether certain opportunities align with my worldview and life philosophy – is it something that I would passionate about. It does go further than this though, right back to my childhood from my parents who would always be supportive but not allow us to dwell too long on disappointment. We were taught to embrace disappointment, acknowledge it and then move on. Control what is in your control and let the rest go, don’t worry about it.

I am grateful for these lessons, I do believe that it continues to help me deal with any setback that comes in life.

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Gratitude Journal Day 11 – Growth and development

October 9, 2024 by

As I sit and reflect on today I can’t help but think about how grateful I am for having the opportunity, ability and capacity to learn and grow. I am aware that not everyone has had the same opportunities as me, I am very fortunate and privileged to have the upbringing, friends, family, education, and experiences that I have had over my life. These have helped shape me, form my values and philosophy on life, and provided me the skills to continue to learn and grow. These are things that I know can be taken for granted.

The ability to read.
I am grateful for the ability to read and comprehend information. As I reflect over my life this ability has been fundamental in me being able grow and develop in my skills, knowledge, understanding, and practise. I am currently reading two books, both on different aspects of development and growth with one being on Grit while the other on working with boys in their teenaged years and helping support them to grow into good men through rites of passage. If I couldn’t read, I would not be able to integrate this practise into my day and would therefore my growth would be inhibited. I would not be the only person who lost in this situation as whatever I read I try to reflect and practise until a habit is formed in my life – those in my spheres of influence who I interact with everyday would therefore also be inhibited in their growth as I wouldn’t have as much to offer.

People and mentors.
The interaction with significant other people in my has directly influenced my ability to learn and grow. I believe that the saying the a man is not meant to be an island is completely true – we learn and are influenced by the people that we associate and live life with: “”as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”. It is important to note that this can be either positive or negative depending on who the people are which is why surrounding yourself with people who will lift you up, challenge you to be all you can be, celebrating the good times, calling out poor behaviours, and supporting in the heartaches of life is so important. It also means to be careful about who you allow to speak into your life and have those places of importance – not everyone’s opinion or feedback actually matters, there is a responsibility to “guard your heart for it is the well-spring of life”. I am thankful for the people who do this for me in my life, it isn’t something that I have said to them often enough but definitely an area I have been working improving indecent times.

Education.
My love for learning and wanting to grow has been born out of the education experiences I was provided as child. I went to a good school, had great teachers (I didn’t agree with all of them), was connected to good friends and had a family that set high expectations of excellence in terms of being the best that you can be which is different to needing to be the best. I believe that these set me up to be a lover of learning and has helped motivate me to continue to grow.

Filed Under: Gratitude, Wellbeing Tagged With: ,
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