The Bear and A Fat, Homeless Woman (And How This All Makes Sense)
A shot at life worth living means living a life where you call the shots.
Last Sunday, I had the great fortune of having dinner with 3 very awesome guys: Joel Runyon of Blog of Impossible Things, Mark Lawrence of Lifestyle Ignition, and Brandon James of New Life Travel.
Meeting at Rosa De Lima, delicious Peruvian cuisine in my Chicago neighborhood of residence, Bucktown, things couldn’t get better – or funnier – than $6.00 ¼ chickens with 2 sides and a hilarious helping of fun times.
How we got from talking about how to ignite our lifestyles with doing what we love to a small Japanese man Kobayashi competing against a gigantic bear in a hot dog eating contest is beyond me (the bear won, gosh, what a surprise!). But it was funny and a good time, which is what matters when meeting new friends.
What I really found amazing and inspiring about these 3 men were:
1. They each have their own passionate pursuits. What makes them stand apart from others is they’re actually pursuing them.
Joel is the Marketing Director at Fat Atom Internet Marketing based in Indiana. He does “impossible” things that others look at as crazy … and that’s more the reason why he does what he does. He was in Chicago last weekend for the Chicago Triathlon, the largest Tri yet! And he survived. Yay!
Brandon is traveling by bike from Berlin to Beijing. Wow, simply incredible!! And he chronicles his journey via video posts at NewLifeTravel.tv.
Mark … well, he’s infamous for his Body Paint Girls during broad daylight in downtown Chicago. You have to be a little crazy to do something like that!
2. They are happy doing what they love and not doing what they hate.
Both Brandon and Mark exiled themselves from corporate America and into the rich fields of freedom. I had the opportunity to listen to both their stories, and how it all went down, and found it incredibly inspiring to continue down the tunnel. I may not exit the corporate offices in the same fashion as they, nor would I want to. Each person who leaves his day job voluntarily to pursue what matters to him has his own unique story. It is their story that they need to write for themselves. I’m writing my story and you’re reading it as I progress towards my ultimate goal of freedom.
Joel (who looks eerily like a young Tim Ferriss, not that Tim’s that old anyhow), thankfully, is currently happy with the company he’s at! Because I’m sure if he’s not, he’d throw a javelin at each one of his bosses. And then turn on the rest of the employees.
He’s doing impossible things such as triathlons, mud races, javelin-throwing, and the like. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dominated the world next (wait, is that on his list?).
The Part Where You Ask About How the Fat, Homeless Woman Fits Into All This
When a fat, homeless woman from Texas approached Mark asking for something to eat, something was quite wrong with this picture. He denied, which resulted in her spewing claims of him going to hell for not helping his neighbor. Apparently, she must’ve eaten the part in the Bible where it says to not be a glutton.
Don’t ask for something in which you already have within yourself! It may not be tangible things, like food for the woman in the story above. Rather, it is the fiery intensity to make a difference … starting with your own life. You have it in yourself. You may not realize it and think, “Oh, those Gen Yers, they can do it but I can’t. I’m too old, too young, too married, too single, too burdened by debt, too fat, too skinny, too broke, too time constrained, too ugly, too beautiful … (insert anything that is an excuse).” No. You mustn’t defeat yourself before you even tried. You have got to give it a shot. A shot at life worth living, not just merely going through the motions like a brain-dead zombie.
Because fact of the matter is, a shot at life worth living means living a life where you call the shots. Thank you Joel, Mark, and Brandon for inspiring others to live their own lives, one crazy adventure after another. I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)
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