What Are You Looking Forward To?

Albuquerque attorney and fitness author Clarence Bass, now in his 70s, says that trying to maintain your fitness level saps your energy and is downright depressing.  What he means is that just staying where you are, with no vision, and no goals, is contrary to the real nature of the human spirit. Let’s talk about that today, because since the Expo I feel like  I need more vision and fresh goals!

See, going to the Expo has been my vision for the last several months. The Expo was a mountaintop experience for me. A mountaintop experience is where you feel so much joy and exhilaration that you can hardly contain yourself. And that is how it was for me. I saw so many people I had only ever seen pictures of; I sat on a panel with two of the prettiest ladies you’ll ever see and a real live hero (Kelly and Alexa Adair and Mark Unger); it was terrific seeing and hugging some folks I truly love, and meeting the new champs was exhilarating as well! I came home happy, and yet nearly worn out from the experience as well.

After a few days of rest and a lot of work, I need a new vision, something to really look forward to, and I need some new goals. We’re not made to experience the mountaintop stuff all the time. It’s a rarity, but in between those kinds of experiences, we ARE MADE to always strive toward something bigger than our current life can hold.

Here are what I’m looking forward to:

1. Getting some copies of the new book, Champions Body for Life, the minute it comes out, and figuring out a way to make them available to those who truly will benefit from it. This is NOT an unselfish goal–I’m in the book! I mainly want to see if they made me look as humble as I really am! O.K., bad joke, I know…

2. My son’s wedding on June 7. (We are already empty nesters, but there’s something about marrying off the last one that provides a launching pad for a freer lifestyle.

3. Going to the Kansas gathering! It will be another mountaintop experience–I guarantee it!

4. Setting a personal best in wide grip pullups. (I did 19 yesterday at the gym without even warming up, and I’m thinking that 25 will be in reach if I work hard.)

5. Understanding a really hard parable, The Parable of the Dishonest Steward in Luke 16.  (I will accept all help available if you think you already know the real point there.)

6. Summer in Michigan. Last year it was on July 18 I think!

Something about just putting those things down on the blog makes me more empowered and more excited about the rest of this day! Something about having goals and visions just makes us a more complete human. Want to see how many people truly have goals, visions and desires?  Just for one day, find a way to ask people you have more than a passing conversation with “what are your personal goals this year?” Or, “What in your life would you like to change within the next year?” You’ll see blank stares, and hear and occasional “it would be nice if……” but you’ll find that most people live unexamined, directionless lives. So, for them, it’s somewhat like the old saying that “if you don’t know where you’re going, any old road will get you there.”

If you are left wondering if you really have vision and goals, start here by putting them down in writing. If you already have done that, why not meet me in Kansas City in June?

Aren’t you glad today that you have Body for Life, and that because of that you have structure, goals and vision? I am!