The Baseline

For a long time I've labored under the suspicion that lessons learned in one part of life apply to other parts as well. And there is always a lesson. I was born a curious child, always wanting to know why, always wanting to understand new things. For me all of life is a lesson.

So I've always seen life from a certain angle, slightly skewed perhaps, like looking at mountain peaks but not seeing the foothills where all mountains meet and become one land. There are three parts of my life that have been fairly constant over the past three decades. Three areas that I have always felt were important to me. But I never felt they connected, not really.

I have church, physical activity (sports, working out, hiking, whatever), and writing. It's hard to think of times when these weren't in my life, although I have periods defined by the lack of each. I've applied lessons from church to writing. Things learned at the gym have been a way to better understand my faith. Writing has given me the motivation to do one more mile on a run.

But all I ever saw where the peaks. Three distinct points. Three groups of friends, activities, and interest that never overlapped. My gym friends aren't big readers. My writer friends are not all gym lovers. And the people at church are a grab-bag of individuals but I still hesitate to invite them spelunking. Old people with frail bones are not the best companions for a white-water rafting trip.

Despite my mental separation of all these things, there is a baseline. There is a common denominator here.

All the things I love are edifying; I learn something and become a better person for doing them.

All the things I love are long-term investments; there's no over-night success or one-day-a-year investments, these are all lifestyles. Every choice I make is influenced by these things to some degree.

All the things I love make me happy; sure, I hate burpees with the fiery passion of a thousand fallen angels, but I feel better in the long run.

All the things I love are something other people don't understand; not that no one understands or enjoys these things, but all of them have detractors... atheists, people who want skinny pills, people who hate reading... for everyone who loves these things I do I know there's someone out there who thinks I'm insane for "wasting" my time on them.

All the things I are not a waste of time; even if no one reads the book I write, or if I never become Photoshop Phabulous, it doesn't matter. You see, being happy and healthy is never a waste.

Society doesn't encourage women to think like that. There's is no money in telling a woman she's good enough. The money comes from breaking people down, telling them their worthless, and then promising to cure this malady with whatever has come out of the R&D department in the last month. A woman who thinks for herself, is happy as she is, and isn't desperate to change is a terrifying thing.

That's okay. I enjoy being terrifying. It's what Evil Twins are for.

I have my baseline now. Anything that does't fit this, won't fit my life.

The end.