Today marks exactly 7 years since I moved to Calgary from Halifax.

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.

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Some would say there’s a fine line between passion and obsession. First of all, what is the difference?

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?

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Last week I flew to Beijing, China to attempt a new Guinness World Record – “most targets hit in one minute with a flying disc (frisbee)“. Guinness set a minimum requirement of 20 targets hit and although I was close on my 2nd attempt with 16 targets, I was not successful in establishing a new Guinness World Record.

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.

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One of my favourite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw:

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”

This is a huge theme of my life – dreaming. My favourite movie is Rudy, a true story about a kid who dreamed about playing football at Notre Dame, and achieved his dream when he got to play 1 play in the final game of his final year.

Now, in life there are people who dream (like Rudy) and there are people who do (like many people who work 8-5, Monday to Friday). Everyone can dream but too many people don’t because they’re too afraid of not being able to reach their dreams. So what do they do? They try to fit their dreams into their current life instead of working to make their current life match their dreams.

Well I like to live with both a dreamer’s and a doer’s mentality. I’ll admit I often look at things that are and ask “Why” but I’m also quick to ask “Why not”. I don’t care if something has been tried before – there’s usually a reason it didn’t work the first time. Once that reason is known, why not try again?

And the nature of my passion (disc sports – ultimate, disc golf, distance, self caught flight, dog disc, etc) allows me to often dream of something and ask “Why not?” And the beauty of it is that I can actually do something that hasn’t been done (or hasn’t been done for more than 25 years).

Sometimes it’s a solitary pursuit and many people don’t get my passion but looking back over the past 11 years, I realize that I am who I am today because of frisbee and I know that when I look back on my life 11 years from now, I’ll be glad I made the decision to make frisbee such a big part of my life. I know that the more I do, the more I will inspire and amaze people and that is what keeps me going. To know that there is a chance others can share in my love for frisbee even a little bit is an incredible feeling.

So I ask you – are you a dreamer, a doer, or both?

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