Day 52:

Today’s Task:

Challenge yourself to do the right thing and don’t think twice about it.

Jump off a cliff, figuratively speaking. 

While I had originally planned on covering quite a bit in today’s post, I decided to split them up, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to read about breathwork. Today, I want to talk about the importance of good planning in communities as it relates to active living and mental health.

I’ve just made my way from one part of Costa Rica to another, both on the Pacific coast. I went from the bustling town of Santa Teresa – known to the locals apparently as a town full of hippies…no wonder I was so happy there – to the small city of Jacó. 

There’s a pretty stark contrast between the two places when it comes to the energy of the place. As I sat on the beach to watch the sunset yesterday, I asked myself, ‘I wonder what it would take for everyone to just ‘step back’ and stop working so hard?’ I think in many ways that the pandemic sort of forced us to do so, in kind of a horrifying way, and there were a lot of people who took that time to establish new standards and norms for themselves. It was actually an opportunity to become a new person, to recognize that there were things they loved to do, or people they loved, that they weren’t actually prioritizing. 

There are many people who are still waiting for things to go back to normal. And then there’s those of us who didn’t blink twice when they decided to continue to get together or travel internationally at the height of the pandemic. The second question that came to mind is if stress is actually a choice?

Despite the fact that I’ve studied informally (through books, podcasts, and articles) trauma and the emotional connection to our physical ailments, and know that stress can actually be passed on genetically and energetically, there’s still a lot of room for humans to be trained in the art of making stress dissolve. I watched an amazing video from Alan Watts about a week ago and he talked about the fact that we are obsessed with this idea planar and structured objects and items. We find beauty in straight lines, square edges, and viewing that as perfection, when really everything outside of our built environments is anything but that. 

It’s wild, it’s organic, it’s unstructured. And it, too, is beautiful.

Something that I’m taking away from my time here in Costa Rica is the vital connection between movement and overall happiness and satisfaction with life. I’ve worked so long with an active transportation planner through my professional work but don’t think I ever really appreciated the impact of that work or what it means with regards to community and economic development or even the work of people in the social sector. 

Is it possible that places with high rates of physical activity also have lower rates of crime, less demand for social workers, and even social assistance programs? Is there a link to wealth and wealth-building opportunities?

Active transportation refers to any mode of transportation that’s not powered by a car, train, or boat, for example. It’s moving with your body: Walking, biking, skating, scootering, kayaking, etc.

The communities with a reputation for having a high physically active population tend to be those that have a culture where outdoor recreation is the norm, and the community is designed in a way to make those resources available to the public. Key here is the public.

Growing up, Frisco, Colorado was one of my favorite places to visit in the summer because of the crisp, clean air, the streams running through the town with beautiful boulders and scenic views of aspens, conifers, the walking and biking trails, and mountains in the background.  It seemed like all the restaurants celebrated sourcing local food, and my parents always had a good time visiting different breweries. I realize now what a privilege it was to get to travel so much as a kid and see various cities all across the U.S. 

In Santa Teresa, the people I was surrounded by didn’t work much, but they surfed a lot, did yoga, and made enough to at least cover their basic expenses. People’s levels of happiness were generally quite high. I almost never came across others who were in a bad mood, and if so, it wasn’t for anything major. 

Here in Jacó, it’s a very different environment. There’s a lot more people who are overweight here, there’s definitely higher levels of crime, prostitution, etc. In any city, there’s places that you just shouldn’t be at night. But that happens anywhere you go. I see a lot more darkness in people’s eyes, something I realize isn’t normal for everyone else to see. But to me it comes from a troubled childhood, abuse, and really anything else traumatic that someone has experienced. When you’re not surrounded by people who smile at you on the street and instead just stare you down, it’s not the most friendly of environments. 

Kansas is pretty cool in that way. 😀We smile at strangers on the sidewalk, nod, say good morning, hello, even when we don’t know the person. I guess you could say that Lawrence is a pretty active place.

The thing that I’m wondering, though, is why we always put ourselves in this place of feeling like we have do that thing to get to the next level and then we have to do that other thing to get to the next level. I feel like we’re often following these guidelines of life that keep us trapped in a really unhealthy mental space, and no one is telling us that we have a choice. 

You have a choice of whether or not you choose to get upset at what the person told you. You have a choice of whether or not you take advantage of the opportunity in front of you. You have a choice accept the circumstances as your own or create a different reality. 

No one else is likely to tell you this, because they’re caught up in the same shit as everyone else.

But once you decide to leave the system of thought that your future has to be just like everyone else’s around you, and instead join the club of independent, critical thinkers, you’ll start to meet more people who share the same philosophy in life. 

So let’s bring it home by talking about today’s task, which is to challenge yourself to do something altruistic and to not think twice about it.

The way that this opportunity presented itself for me in the last week was through a dear friend of mine who told me about a course he had paid for in digital marketing, and that the only thing he needed to get started with it (creating a fully monetized website for his business by the end of the 10-month program) was a computer. 

This had been a theme of our conversations for the previous three years. And over the course of that time I got to know him very well. Enough to fully trust and believe in this person’s capacity to do anything that they set their mind to, given the right tools and resources. It’s so interesting because I wonder if people who awarded me scholarships throughout college saw the same thing. 

I’ve always wanted to work my way towards being the person that could invest in others in the same way that people have invested in me. Without their support, there’s absolutely no way that I would be where I am today. 

And while I could have donated almost $3K to a non-profit that feeds hungry children in Africa, I chose to purchase a new laptop for myself for work, get my old one set up like new, and give the computer away, under the understanding that once this person’s business starts generating money, that I would eventually be paid back.

While I’m not wealthy by any means, and I’ve spent the last 60-ish days digging myself out of an emotionally dark whole with regards to my finances, I’m nowhere near the level of need that this person is, and I have the financial capacity to do the right thing. 

As soon as my friend told me they needed a computer, I knew exactly what I needed to do. And I didn’t care what others would think because I know the doors that having a laptop can open. It’s one of the best investments that someone can make in their business. And that’s how I thought about it about two years ago when I spent almost $2K on it.

Los cambios siempre son para bien.

Changes are always for the better.

It’s one of my friend’s favorite phrases, and one that has always stuck with me. In line with the rest of today’s post, it’s critical that you start to become aware of where your thoughts are taking you. Do you constantly assume or expect the worst? Do you see the half glass full or empty? How do you respond when things don’t go as planned? 

Maybe today you won’t come up with something on the fly that you can do, but trust that the opportunity will come, and you’ll have the same feeling in your stomach – This is just the right thing to do. And do it. Don’t look back, smile, and know that you’re on the right path.