Tag: Spring

Daily Life, Health, Motivation

Anticipation

It was quiet. Birds chirping. A light breeze blowing through the tops of the trees. The occasional whoomph as a clump of snow fell somewhere off in the distance. Most importantly, it was warm. I had to stop several times and simply stand with my face turned towards the sun, soaking in the rays. It was glorious. I was out skate skiing with my dog and had been looking forward to this for several days. That epic blue sky ski outing was the perfect antidote to a long gray winter.

The spring like weather continued over the weekend, and we took full advantage. Gardening, spring cleaning, taking the storm windows off. Yesterday I napped in the sun for an hour and sat in the backyard reading a book late into the afternoon. As I lay in the sun, my mind continuously went over things I could do this week with this window of perfect weather. I’ll get the motorcycle out. The trails are probably dry enough to go for a mountain bike ride. I can hike the dog without the trails being a muddy, sloppy mess. I might dust off the drone and go flying. So many possibilities.

As I lay there sunning skin that is pasty white from a long winter of coats and pants and flannel, I had a bit of an epiphany. It wasn’t just the sun that was putting me in a good mood. It was anticipation of all the things I wanted to do. I was starting to plan and look forward to the future again.

People always say that as you transition into retirement it’s important to stay busy. To maintain a schedule. They say that to be happy you need to have a purpose. I think that’s only partially true. What we really need is anticipation.

With that warm weather ski, I decided to drag out my camera gear and make a little video of the hound running around with me. Editing that video got me thinking about what I wanted to film this summer. That turned into several hours of organizing camera gear and ordering some parts for the drone. I watched some videos of tips for filming different camera angles and it really got me excited to try them out soon. The anticipation – the feeling of looking forward to something gave me that little dopamine hit that put me in a good mood.

Similarly, I was chatting with a buddy that I ride motorcycles with. He said that he really wanted to do more motorcycle camping this summer. That led to hours of researching which campgrounds will be snow free the soonest. It gave me a good feeling to think about the trips we might take, planning routes, and getting gear ready. Anticipation.

We have a trip to Mexico coming up. Another trip to see some family we don’t see often enough. Friends are driving across country in their motorhome to see us this summer, ride motorcycles and explore the area. I’m looking forward to all these things. I want more of that feeling of “looking forward to”.

If you think about it, anticipation is everything. The restaurant you’ve been wanting to try that you made reservations for. A concert you’ve been wanting to see. A tee time at a new golf course. Meeting friends for lunch that you haven’t seen in a while. It doesn’t matter what it is, the key is having that sense of pleasant anticipation.

That’s what keeps us moving forward.

Lose that and it’s over. If you’ve got nothing to look forward to, then what’s the point?

This winter was harsh. Bad snow, limited ski days, gray, storms, and cold. With, what felt like limited options to do anything, I found myself I found myself more and more frequently retreating to my comfy chair to read and nap. More napping than reading realistically. The more napping I did, the less inclined I was to go plan something to do. Sloth begets sloth, as the saying goes. I now realize that the prescription for next year is pre-planning things. A sprinkling of quick trips to explore cities we haven’t been to. Scheduling ski lessons to improve skills and keep me motivated. It doesn’t matter what it is. What’s important is to have a steady diet of anticipation for something.

I think this is why spring feels like such a joyous time. After a long winter, warm sun brings out the feeling of possibility. You can bust out the shorts and bathing suits. Think about swimming in the lake, riding your bike, or heading out on that summer vacation. It’s the anticipation that makes us feel good.

I’m going to spend the next few weeks planning activities. I think I’ll overcompensate this summer and try to have non-stop activities. I want to be in never ending planning mode. Upcoming motorcycle trips, camping trips, road trips, day outings, and activities. I want so much god damn anticipation I’ll be begging for some down time.

The dopamine rush from a warm day and looking forward to possibilities is addicting. I want more of that feeling. I don’t want to go back to the monotone feeling of sitting in the comfy chair and napping.

Now excuse me, I’m going to go get my dog a hike. He’s been looking forward all day for his run and chasing birds.

Anticipation.

Daily Life

Spring Cleaning

In my part of the world, spring has been very slow coming. Winter just won’t let go. I love winter and winter activities, but you don’t realize how much you miss warm spring days until you don’t have them. It’s been day after day of wet, grey, and windy. But finally, it looks like sun and 70 degrees this week (hopefully I didn’t jinx it). Thank god, because I’ve felt my mood dimming a little more each day. There’s just something about that first week of spring warmth and sun to recharge and lift your spirits. I live in a very active town and the first week of nice weather usually prompts an explosion of hikers, mountain bikers, and runners. Everyone is generally in a better mood. It’s a tangible feeling throughout the city.

That improved mood motivates people to start working on their yards, to wash cars, and the inevitable spring cleaning. We went all in on this tradition yesterday. We’re having our hardwood floors sanded and refinished this week. To prepare, we had to move all the furniture. This meant opening drawers and removing contents to make things lighter for moving. As you start pulling stuff out you ask yourself, “why in the world am I still keeping this?” One thing led to another, and we decided to do a massive clean out of every room.

We were brutal. If it hadn’t been touched in the last six months or so, pitch it. Everything went. It’s amazing the crap you hold on to. I’m definitely worse than Mrs. Troutdog. I had multiple boxes of old phone chargers, cables, electrical fittings, pieces of Velcro, fasteners, and odd parts I couldn’t identify. Why? Because I might need to use them someday. You realize “someday” hasn’t happened in the last five years… no reason to think it’s going to happen tomorrow. Out it went.

It’s interesting. We never had to think about a massive spring cleaning because we tended to move quite a bit. We were sort of gypsies for a while. We’d throw tons of crap out simply because we didn’t want to have to move it. But we’ve now lived in one place for just about the longest we ever have. And with that comes the accumulation of stuff.

It reminded me of something I’d written about before. Our current house required a major remodel before we could move in. So we put all our belongings in storage and moved into a motorhome for a year. An entire year with nothing but a few pots and pans, a couple pairs of pants and shirts, a mountain bike, and some lounge chairs. And we were happy as could be. I didn’t miss all my “stuff” in the slightest bit. When we finally moved into the house – BOOM, we started buying and accumulating things. And then you have to buy shelving and bins to store and organize all that stuff. And then more furniture. And clothes. And more and more and more.

The old adage is true… you will expand to fit whatever space you occupy.

So even though I need to be pushed into letting things go, I highly recommend it. It’s cathartic to start anew. And spring just feels like the right time to do it. The birds are chirping. The sun is out. So, take your next weekend and clean out your house. Top to bottom. If you haven’t touched something in six months, out it goes. Be brutal. Nothing is off limits. Clean slate. It feels good to be minimalist, at least for a while. Because you know you’re going to fill up that space again. It’s human nature.

Like a clean and empty desk to start a project or a blank sheet of paper – that emptiness is a new start. Anything is possible. It’s exciting. So just do it. You’ll thank me.

Cool, Daily Life, Lists

Notions Of Cool V.017

A random list of things and shower thoughts that an old Gen X dude finds cool or worth pondering.

  • Spring appears to be here (in the West anyway). Blue skies and no signs of further snow in the forecast. As much as I like winter, I’m done. Been thinking more of the bike than the skis.
  • Speaking of skis, my new ones are scary fast. Super stable at speed with no chatter. Several times yesterday I caught myself at ludicrous speed and thought… crashing would be bad right now. They are forcing me to be more aggressive, which is a good thing I suppose.
  • We had to hire a crew to remove our snow disaster at the house. These folks worked their asses off for days. The vast majority of the population in this country has lost that all-day farmer strength we used to have. We’re doomed when the zombie apocalypse hits.
  • Speaking of zombies, a great book to read is “World War Z” by Max Brooks son of Mel Brooks. It’s what the movie was loosely based on. And by loosely I mean they share the same name, that’s about it. One of the neat concepts in the book is that post-apocalypse, society flips. The blue collar folks become the sought after leaders because they know how to actually fix and build things. The white collar workers are useless without electricity and become the new ditch diggers.
  • I’m fascinated by the Instagram algorithm. How is it that an account with 1 post has several hundred followers, but others with many hundreds of posts have only a few?
  • My shoulder is still messed up several years later. I can’t do pull ups or back squats due to pain. I need to fix this somehow.
  • Hard to gage who will be the democratic front runner. Kamala would be their better choice, but Bernie has the dollars. Beto, Booker, and Warren will be busts. Yang and Schultz could be interesting. Biden is corrupt as hell and I’m not convinced he’ll run.
  • An interesting interview by CNBC with GOPRO founder Nick Woodman. I still think the main problem is the learning barrier to editing and creating a watchable video. People buy the camera, use it a few times then it sits. I may or may not be referring to myself.

Song of the day: Rebelution “Feeling Alright”