Today is also my sister’s 27th birthday.

My mom’s favourite number was, you guessed it, 7.

In honour of my mom, I’d like to share 7 things I’ve learned/discovered since moving here on May 7, 2005.

1. My passion. I’ve always loved sports and knew that whatever I ended up doing had to involve sports but I wasn’t sure how to make that happen. While I was trying to figure that out, I spent all of my time and money playing ultimate frisbee and starting 2 years ago, disc golf and dog disc and last year overalls. I now know that I want my life to involve disc sports. Teaching, competing, performing. I’m very lucky to have had the opportunities I’ve had but I’ve also worked very hard to get there. I know that the last year was just the beginning and I’m so excited to see what is to come.

2. Myself. When I moved here, I was lost. I didn’t really know who I was, I was following what I thought at the time was love, and I was really moving here to get away from my past. Losing my mom was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through and I was hoping for a fresh start moving out here. Over the past year and a half, I’ve really come to love myself and learn who I am. I’ve realized why I was the way I was and am now a better person.

3. My friends. I don’t see my friends a lot but they support me and are there for me when I need them. I try to do the same but I know that I tend to get caught up in my own things and could be a better friend to them. I’ve realized that your friends all bring something unique to a friendship and it’s through those connections that we can grow as a person and enjoy where we live. To me, living in Calgary, Halifax, Edmonton, they are all the same pretty much. But it’s the people you choose to surround yourself with.

4. My family. I don’t get home to see my dad and sister very often but I talk to them every week at least. I do miss them but I’ve learned that there’s no point wishing I could go home more when I’m traveling to many competitions. If I wanted to go home more often, I could, but I choose not to. I love them for respecting and understanding that I’m going after my passion and my dream and I know that when the time is right, we’ll see each other. Being able to have my dad come with me to China last year was one of the highlights of my life.

5. My career. While it’s great to do what you’re passionate about, sometimes your passion doesn’t always pay the bills. I’ve been very fortunate to have some great jobs over the past 7 years and I have learned a lot from all of them. From office moving to metal pipe cutting to teaching skating to building catalogues, I’ve realized what truly inspires me and what doesn’t. In my current role, working in marketing for World Health, I’m able to explore my passions because I have an incredible employer. I’m also able to share with our members my fitness and nutrition passions. Helping them become healthier by being more active and by eating healthier. I’m truly lucky to have the opportunities I have and for that, I thank World Health for making them possible. I’ve always wanted to help people and right now, I’m able to do that in my professional and my personal life. It’s a great synergy.

6. My body. I’ve always been active but I haven’t always been the healthiest. I’ve never smoked, have rarely drank and have never done drugs but I have eaten my fair share of sugar, junk food and fast food. I’ve battled the demons inside for a long time and over the past 2 years, I’ve really taken a look at the choices I’ve made, I’ve started to research more about health and nutrition with books, documentaries and talking to my friends and colleagues and what I’ve learned has changed my life entirely. I have also gotten into barefoot running (and barefoot living in general) and I feel so much better in every aspect of my life. For me, there are always 2 sides to the story and in my experience, usually the majority of people are on the wrong side. The side that has been created and influenced by marketing, by corporations and by the people who want to make profit. The health care industry is a perfect example. There is no money to be made by people being healthy. The popular slogan “take a pill for an ill” is proof of that. It’s sad and unfortunate and I hope to help others realize what is going on. We are stronger than we realize and we don’t have to be depressed, we don’t have to be sick and we don’t have to be unhealthy. The answer is simple but it requires us to take responsibility for our own lives and many people aren’t willing to do that. I hope to inspire others to want to take that responsibility.

7. My future. I see many amazing things happening all around me and I want to continue to surround myself with that. I want to continue to live a life full of passion, a life full of drive and motivation and a life full of goals and dreams.

11 questions we should be asking:

1. What is your dream job?

For me I interpret the question as “What do you dream of doing with your time on this earth?” For me that question has always been sports. I didn’t know to what capacity, or in what role that would evolve as but over the past few years it’s become quite clear – as a coach, as a teacher, as a mentor, as a competitor, as a performer and most importantly, as an active participant. The majority of my time I spend thinking about disc sports (ultimate frisbee, disc golf, dog disc, and there are others). I love frisbee. I love throwing. I love watching a frisbee fly through the air. I am always amazed how far a frisbee flies with my hand being its only source of energy. The frisbee is truly unique since it doesn’t follow a predictable flight path like a baseball or football does. The frisbee is not a slave to gravity – rather it flies through the air, and it’s flight can be controlled with the amount of force put on the frisbee and the amount of spin given to the frisbee.

I got off topic but to answer the question – my dream job involves a frisbee – teaching, competing, performing.

2. What fulfills you?

This one is easy. Learning. I learn through reading, through watching (movies, people), through practicing (sports) and through listening. I love knowledge and it drives me to be a better person everyday.

3. What’s your greatest fear?

I don’t have a greatest fear anymore. When I was 18, my mom died. Up to that point, that was my greatest fear. Since then, I live randomly, spontaneously, sometimes recklessly, but above all, passionately.

4. What do you want more of in life?

I want more freedom to do the things I love. Right now that means financial freedom although it frequently means more time as well.

5. What is your greatest accomplishment?

To date, I would consider my greatest accomplishment to be the fact that I DO. There are many people who talk, but I do. From that, I am a World Champion, I hold 2 World Records and I am also a Guinness World Record holder. The difference between me and many others is that I did. I’m not saying that to brag. I just did it. Anyone can.

6. What are you most ashamed of?

I’m not really ashamed of anything. I sometimes wish I had treated some people better in my past but I’ve realized why I treated them the way I did and I know we are both stronger because of it.

7. What makes you sad?

The number one thing that makes me sad is how ignorant and naive so many people are. There are so many things in this world that can be prevented and which shouldn’t happen – obesity, mental illness, poor education, debt. People are so complacent and don’t believe enough in themselves to stand up and be happy. That makes me sad.

8. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever experienced?

The hardest thing I’ve ever experienced was losing my mother. Nothing will ever compare to the pain that I went through. She was an incredible woman and she is a big reason I am who I am today.

9. What is great about you?

I really like how passionate I get for what I’m involved in and I like that I’m constantly looking for ways to improve myself and be better. It’s frustrated many people but that’s a big part of me and those who understand and appreciate that I think, like me for those reasons.

10. Who are you?

I’m a kind soul who cares too much, who over commits constantly and who is looking for real people and real experiences. I’m concerned that technology is taking much of the “realness” out of life and so I try to be aware of life around me to ensure I don’t lose sight of what matters.

11. What inspires you?

My passions. People who have pursued their passions. And the more I learn, the more my friends and family inspire me. How supportive they are. How much they love me. And how they are always there for me even when I think they’re not.

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

The poem gained lots of popularity with the 2009 movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. However, in real life, Mandela never read Invictus while in prison, or at least not the way it was portrayed in the movie. But it’s a great movie, the title fits it and the poem works wonderfully with the plot.

The poem in its entirety is below. What is your favourite poem?

Invictus

Each of us has such a bank. Its name is time. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow”. You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success.

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

Disclaimer: I didn’t write this. I’m just reposting. I’m not sure who wrote it but I loved the simple message so I wanted to share.

I found a great explanation that I will use here to frame the rest of this post.

Passion – when people admire you for it

Obsession – when you do it too much and people think you’re weird

However, how does one truly impact an industry, a culture, a generation without people thinking they’re weird? Especially when what you choose to be passionate about/be obsessed with is different from what everyone else is doing.

What happens when you’re literally the only person doing what you’re doing? Do you keep going because you have such a strong belief in what you’re doing? Do you keep going because you know you have the ability and the opportunity to impact a lot of people in a very positive way? Do you keep going because you love what you’re doing and the more you do it, the more you see the potential?

How long do you keep at something before you decide it isn’t worth it? How often and how much do you listen to the opinions of others? Do you reach out for help from your friends and family? Do they believe in your journey?

I truly believe that the difference between passion and obsession is a fine line. I believe that it is defined differently by different people.

Why am I asking this question? I admit that people think I’m weird for what I do. I’ve been made fun of but through it all, I do what I do because I deeply love throwing a frisbee. It’s like meditation for me. I don’t just throw because it’s fun. I throw because I’m good at it, and because I want to be better at it.

Do people think I’m weird because I’m passionate about frisbee and they don’t understand frisbee? Or do they think I’m weird because I am obsessed with frisbee? I would think the first because I don’t consider what I’m doing as an obsession. I think obsession means that it impacts you and those around you in a negative and harmful way.

Sure my involvement in frisbee has cost me thousands of dollars. Sure it’s taken up a lot of my time that I could have spent developing friendships and relationships. I’ve no doubt lost relationships because of the time I spend doing what I love. Ideally I want to involve as many people in my life as possible in disc sports. For me, it’s a lifetime of living an active lifestyle. There’s a reason we joke “when a ball dreams, it dreams it’s a frisbee”. There truly is no other toy than a frisbee.

So I ask you, what do you think the difference between passion and obsession is?

Don’t get pulled in so many directions that you don’t have time to focus on any one area.

Know what matters to you. Give it your proper attention. Know what your goals are. Work towards them. And when you get distracted or something/someone gets in your way and pulls you off course, realize that your goals and dreams are what is important in your life.

As Steve Jobs said:

That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

Be safe. Be healthy. And be thankful.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and all that

And enjoy one of my favourite Christmas songs – Happy Xmas by John Lennon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That happened on Saturday night and to say I was upset is expressing it lightly. I was crushed. I felt like my friends, my family and my fans were going to disappointed since I hadn’t set the record. I felt that everything I had done up to that point didn’t mean much since I wasn’t able to perform when it counted most.

But, as the seconds turned into minutes turned into hours turned into a few days, I’ve been able to look back and see the good in all of this.

First of all, I got a free trip to China (and was paid for my appearance) and my dad also had his trip paid for. How sweet is that? I also:

Got to spend the most time I’ve had with my dad in years

Got to spend a few hours on the Great Wall of China

Met Anthony Kelly, who holds many Guinness World Records and travels all over the world (such as Most Tennis Balls Caught in 1 Hour, and he has also caught an arrow while blindfolded!)

Met Peter Rosendahl, who also holds many Guinness World Records and has been to more than 55 countries (such as Fastest 100m on a Unicycle – 11 seconds, and Most Skips in 1 minute with a unicycle)

Met 2 guys from Storm Freerun team,  Tim “Livewire” Shieff and Jan ”Jashman” Barcikowski (they freerun with Damien Walters!!)

Met Liz and Rob, the 2 Guinness officials from the UK, who were awesome and super supportive

Met Cathy from CCTV, who set the whole thing up for me and flew my dad and I over

Went to the Hongqiao Pearl Market and bought some “good fakes” (a watch, headphones and a flash drive)

Got to see a new culture and experience history that is many times older than Canada

So, if you look at my trip to Beijing with the sole intention to set a Guinness World Record, then yes, I failed. However, to do so would be shortsighted because the opportunities and knowledge I gained from failing are worth more than had I achieved the record.

The setup of the world record was actually not done properly so I will be filming an attempt in the next few weeks – if successful, I will be submitting to the Guinness officials who will award me a World Record. I also didn’ t know there would be a minimum requirement so that was a surprise. I’m glad Guinness is giving me the opportunity to give it another attempt and I will not disappoint this time!

I am going to be working with Anthony and Peter and hope to do more Guinness shows in countries like Italy, India and possibly China again.

I had a very difficult time Saturday night trying to digest everything that comes with not being successful at achieving something. But I’ve realized that I will have many more attempts at World Records and not every attempt can be successful. All I can do is make sure that I’m as prepared as possible and that everything I can control is done properly (like the setup of the World Record, which I will make sure of next time).

I want to thank all of my friends, family and fans for your support these past few weeks and I look forward to sharing with you my Guinness World Record when I am successful. I will keep you posted on the progress of my attempt and will share videos and pictures with you from that event.

I look forward to going for coffee with my friends and telling you all about my trip. I have many more planned so I know this is just the beginning. It’s opened my eyes to what is truly possible when you do what you are passionate about.

I’ve been discovering just how lonely this pursuit can be. I don’t go out drinking with friends. I practice for hours on my own. I go on long trips by myself. From the outside, people see my accomplishments and are proud of me and are happy for me. But what they don’t see is just how much you have to give up in order to achieve something.

I’ve always loved sports and most of those sports were team sports. You achieved something together – you could celebrate victory together or mourn defeat together. But, when you choose to go out on your own and do what you truly love, who is there to cheer you along and celebrate with you?

I am starting to see why celebrities and athletes at the top of their game will do things that other deem non conventional. When you do so much great, it’s a hard fall on those down times. The highs are very high and the lows are very low.

I’ve had in the back of my mind a few things. One is a quote and the other is a scene from a movie.

The quote is:

It’s ok to think about what you want to do…until it’s time to start doing what you were meant to do.

I’ve always known what I wanted to do. Play sports. That’s never been a question in my mind. But as to what I’m meant to do – I don’t know. I feel like the past 10 1/2 years I’ve been floating around sort of lost. Losing my mom in 2001 was the hardest thing that could ever have happened to me. I feel like the past year I’ve finally been able to start feeling more “normal” again but it’s a very difficult process to go through something so sudden, so unexpectedly and at such a young age (I was only 18).

The scene from a movie is from Men in Black:

Kay walks over to Dee, who sits sullenly. Dee says that it didn’t use to happen. He looks up at the stars and says that they’re beautiful. Accepting his imminent retirement, he tells Kay that he’ll miss the chase. Kay puts on his sunglasses, sets the neuralizer to 1961, and replies, “No Dee, you won’t”, and then flashes the neuralizer.

Have you had a  moment like that before? When you look up at the stars and see beyond them – realize that there is so much more out there that you’re capable of and could be doing? Or do you look up, see them for their beauty and go back to your life, being happy in what you’re doing?

I tend to overthink but at the same time, it’s gotten me where I am so I don’t regret it.

However, I’m curious how you approach moments like this in your life?

I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following. – Mohandas Gandhi

I may not believe in God but I do believe in smart people and good quotes.

If we do today what we love doing then tomorrow will be filled with more of the same.

If we worry about what we can do tomorrow to be happy, then we will always feel that we’re missing something in today.

Be happy today.