What You See Isn”t Always What You Get

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving, I certainly did. Alicia and I finished up on Tuesday in Kingman, AZ and had 5 days to get to Roswell, NM. Since we finally had some time we decided to stop off and finally see the Grand Canyon. I’ve flown over it numerous times, seen the pictures and heard the stories, but when I finally got up to the edge and looked down I have to say I was a bit disappointed by what I saw…white. White? What’s that? It turns out that we decided to visit on one of those glorious days where the entire canyon was filled with clouds and it was raining…a lot. In fact, it didn’t stop raining that whole afternoon, night, and when we woke up on Thursday I looked out my camper and guess what…white. It snowed!

I have to admit that my first impression of being there on the ground was quite lame. My second and third impression fell into the same category and I was getting ready to write the whole experience off to one of those that you vow never to talk to anybody about, when the clouds broke for just a moment…hold the phone, that’s awesome! The clouds came and went for the rest of the day and for those brief moments that I could see, it was amazing.

I had been expecting one thing when I got something totally different. In fact, what I ended up experiencing was a rarity and something that the majority of people don’t get to see. Snow capped peaks and valleys, flowing clouds that were adding volume and depth to the beautiful scenery and the best part…very few tourists. With the weather the way it was, very few people were venturing out to the park which made for a much more peaceful experience for us. Once I got past my disappointment with the clouds, I really had a great time.

I’ve talked about this before, but I think it’s important to make sure that we all keep our attitude and options open when we walk into situations. With the way the world’s turning right now you might feel like being frustrated going into the holidays, but watch it! You might just be missing the best Christmas you’ve ever had just because you were expecting something else.

This time of year is also the time that most people give up on their exercise program and pig out. Maybe you had goals this year like losing 20 lbs. or fitting into a smaller size pants and you didn’t get there so you want to toss in the towel. Now is not the time to quit! Sometimes you feel like you’re not getting what you were expecting, but if you take a step back and look at things you find that perhaps you got something else that was even better. Maybe you made some new friends or found a new exercise that you enjoy doing. If you can’t think of a single thing to be grateful for over your past year of working out, it’s time you make a change! Dump your entire workout and do something totally different and see what that does for you. If you hate what you’re doing, what could it hurt to try something new?

My suggestion, try jump rope. No, not that sissy jumping you remember from grade school, do it for real. Pick up my Jump Rope Basics DVD and try to do everything on it. It’ll require some partner work to do everything, but this is a great opportunity to ask those other bored people at the gym to join you and see what you can all do together.