Can my mustache beat cancer? We’re gonna find out.

Dearest Friends and Family,

As many of you know, cancer has been a serious f&#%ing bitch to me this year…  but now it’s my turn to do something to get back at it.

This November, I’ll be participating in “Movember”  – which means I’ll be growing a mustache (yes, only a mustache)  for the entire month of November.  The purpose is to turn myself into an utterly ridiculous walking billboard for cancer awareness.

If there’s anything in the world that I am absolutely AMAZING at, it’s growing facial hair…  so I fully expect to have quite the burly upper lip by late November.

So, why do I wrote today?  To ask for your support.  We’ve all been touched by cancer in some way, and this is our way to do something about it.  Each and every day that passes I wonder if there’s something that I could have done to help save my mom from this wretched disease, and I’ll be damned if I’ll sit idly by and watch it tear other people’s lives apart.

Earlier this week all of the guys that I work with agreed to participate in the mustache growing month with me, and our company, SIDEARM Sports has generously decided to create a contest for all of our clients where we sponsor their mustaches too.  I’m humbled by the support I’ve received already.

I’d love to hear words of support, mustache style requests, and if you’re able…  a donation to our team for the Movember Foundation, where proceeds help fund LIVESTRONG and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.  If you’re up for it, sign up and grow out your ‘stache too.   I’ll be posting photos of the pending ‘stache often, so you can follow my progression to upper lip bliss.

I hate to proposition and ask for money.  But, any amount helps.  Do it for my Mom.  Do it for your Mom, your Dad, or your best friend. Do it for your cousin, your 1st grade teacher or your neighbor.  Do it for each and every person you’ve ever met.  We must find a way to stop this horrible disease.

Please visit: http://mobro.co/SIDEARMSports to learn more about Movember, and to visit our team page to sponsor my mustache mayhem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact: A HU!SD Challenge

I missed a phone call this weekend from a friend I hadn’t heard from in ages, and as I looked for his name in my phone’s “contacts” section to call him back, I realized something.   I doubt that I’m the only one, but this particular part of my phone seems to operate much like the Hotel California – people check in, but they never check out. As I looked for his name,  I scrolled through people that I talk to every day, people that I should talk to every day, and people that I’ll probably never talk to again.

Your challenge this week is to go through your phone’s entire contact list.  Analyze each entry, and make a decision: to contact that person this week (call, text, email, smoke signals, whatever) or, delete them from your phone’s memory.

The last thing I want you to do is delete everyone from your phone book – instead, I want you to stop taking time for granted, and to reunite with some friends you haven’t thought of in awhile.  I’d love for you to report back that you haven’t deleted anyone, and instead called some old friends and shared some memories.  One of my best friends lost a college buddy this week due to a freak accident, so if you needed any further reminder that you should talk to you friends more often – that should do it.  Don’t forget how precious time is.

Are you up for the challenge?  If so, post your stats the comments section.  How many friends did you contact, and how many did you delete?

Comfort Ruts

Human beings are naturally habitual creatures.  We find comfort and stability in setting some kind of routine for ourselves.  Chances are, your day probably looks something like this:

Wake Up

Shower

Get dressed

Eat breakfast

Brush your teeth

Drive to work

Work

Drive home from work

Eat dinner

Go to bed

and you “rinse and repeat” for at least 5 out of 7 days a week.

Most of us could probably do this entirely on autopilot.  I know there have been times when I’ve gotten to work and really have no active recollection of driving in, much less anything before it.   You probably eat a similar breakfast, drive to work on the same roads, listen to the same radio stations and take the same path from your car to your office each day. We’ve subconsciously created a regiment for ourselves that makes us comfortable.   Unfortunately for us, nothing spectacular ever comes from being comfortable, and if you ask me – comfortable breeds laziness.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time lately thinking about my own “comfort ruts” and what I can do to change them.  For example, on an average day, I mindlessly trudge from my car to my office on the shortest path possible – it’s about an eight minute walk.  This week, I started taking a slightly different path thats a little longer, but takes me through a more populated area, and I’ve already run into two old friends I hadn’t seen in ages.   Proof positive that even a small change can make a difference – instead of a normal unexciting day, I had a day that had a moment to remember.  To me, setting yourself up to have as many “moments” as possible is what life is all about.

Now, this isn’t to say that being comfortable is all bad – sometimes it’s absolutely perfect. A rainy Sunday afternoon spent in your pajamas with your family at your side…in my book, there’s few things better.  But at the same time, if you get too comfortable, you start to lose track of time – weeks, months, even years can fly by in the blink of an eye.

So, I urge you – take a step back and make tiny changes to help you out of your comfort rut.  Listen to a different radio station on the way to work – maybe you’ll hear a song that makes you think of an old friend, and gives you the urge to call them.  Get out of bed fifteen minutes earlier in the morning- I think you’ll be shocked at how much more time you have to get your day started.  Flip through a cookbook and pick a new meal to try – if it works, awesome – if not… I bet your favorite restaurant isn’t too far down the road.    There’s no right or wrong here – it’s all about that “moment” where you decide to grab the wheel and drive, rather than leaving your life on cruise control.

We’re probably all guilty of some kind of  “comfort rut”  – what’s yours, and what  can you do to change it?

Coping. Grieving. Learning.

I consider myself an exceptionally lucky person.  I have an amazing family, a group of friends that would do anything for each other, and I am able to get up each day and look forward to the next.  I’ve been fortunate enough to not have had too many sad times in my life.

Today, my mother would have turned 57 years old.  She left us a little over two months ago after a year long battle with lung cancer.

When you lose a parent, your world feels like it’s flipped upside down.  I have some good days, some ehh….”ok” days, and some seriously shitty days.  Sometimes I’m sitting in my car and for no particular reason at all, I just start to cry.  I have days when I feel like I’m out of sync with the world.. and I have some days where I just completely forget that she’s gone.  I think I’m still learning how to grieve.

For me, grieving has taken the form of learning how to deal with “days” – I think there’s three kinds: average run-of-the-mill days, special days, and holidays.  For me, learning to cope is learning how to deal with each of those sets of days.  As of now, I think I’ve gotten a handle on the average days.  The other two will unquestionably be more complicated, but I’m trying.  I will openly admit, today has been rough – a day when we’d normally be celebrating her life, we’re left thinking about times that have passed.

But, I can assure you – the very last thing my mom would have wanted me to do is start a blog about how sad I am.  Don’t get me wrong, she’d understand exactly how I’m feeling (because she always did), but she’d also offer to throw me a “pity parade” too.

So, on to the real purpose of this blog.

When you watch someone die, the idea of “death” becomes extremely apparent to you.  To be honest, before June 20th, I really hadn’t spent too much time thinking about it at all.  It was always just something that’d happen when I’m old. I don’t know about you.. but I wouldn’t consider 56 to be “old” – so I’ve altered my outlook.  Now, before I get too far…I should note..  I have not become psychotic.  I do not wear a tinfoil hat everyday, and  I absolutely do not worry about the endless ways I could die.

I do, however, spend a lot of time thinking about how to live.  I’ve decided to use my mother’s death as inspiration for making sure that I’m getting every last drop that life has to offer.   As cliche as it sounds, you really have no idea how much time you have here…  so you better be enjoying the hell out of time that you do have.

I’m dedicated to changing my life for the better, and I urge you to be too.    Less crap, less stress, and much, much, much more life.  The hurry up slow down is not similar to the frustration based “hurry up and wait” kind of mantra…  it’s a call to action. Hurry up and slow down (your life)!

As I re-prioritize and reorganize my life, I’ll be posting ideas how you can, too.  I hope you’ll join me.