Regular is OK

I want my blog to be pithy and insightful. The kind of blog that someone might stumble upon and be struck by the witty commentary on life and thought. But such is not to be. I am not terribly pithy or witty--at least not in ways that come across well in print. Yet I am becoming more satisfied with the reality that I am a pretty regular guy whose most outstanding accomplishment is providing a platform for the exploits of my kids. I can be OK with being regular, instead of some well-known world changer. I don't need headlines or notoriety, just a sense that I am doing some good in the spheres of influence in which I find myself.

Training is similar in that not every training run is spectacular or noteworthy. For example, this morning's 3.5 was over a familiar and often-run course, at a pace that I am settling into (just under 9:00/mile), and with a view of an ordinary summer sunrise. No particularly insightful thoughts or revelations. No extraordinary animal sightings. Nothing particularly notable. Yet regular is OK. It is part of the training process and will have an ultimately good result.

As a kid I remember being told that I could be anything I wanted. And for many years that is what I told my own kids. But I have come to realize that the statement, though well-meaning, is simply not true. I have now shifted my focus to helping my kids/myself find out what I can be really good at and enjoy, and following that path. Rather than trying to be something or someone that I was not created to be, why not simply do all that I can to be the best me?

This is not a mater of selfishness, but of efficiency. A pliers is not selfish if it chooses to pursue being used to tighten and loosen nuts, rather than to be used as a hammer. It is simply being itself. There are hammers for hammering and pliers for plier-ing. The pliers doesn't have to do all of the tool jobs. No one person has to do everything--in a home, an office, a church, a team. As each one does their own part well, the collective will be better off.

What do you enjoy doing that you do well? How can you align your work, service, home to do more of that?