Ending The End

As we grow old several events in life make us think about the end. No it’s not my middle age crisis (yet). It’s just a consequence of everything that is happening around me. The world economic crisis terminates lots of companies, animal races are considered extinct, close relatives and friends die, one could really say – everything comes to an end.
Somehow I have difficulty in dealing with the concept. I never see an end in anything.
To me the finish line of the marathon it’s just the beginning of the next one, the divorce was never the end of a relationship, instead it was the very beginning of a beautiful love story, and even the recent and sad event of my father’s death was not an end for me. It was just a stage of knowledge transmission from father to soon. There are in fact concepts, principles and attitudes that we know but we simple don’t put to practice until the right moment. It’s a moment of “download” and it’s never an end. Its just life in other form, actions on another body, living memories instead of living cells.

This inexistence of end is however a complicated issue.
If you acknowledge no end, where are you going to? What’s your purpose, your objective?
On the other end it as some advantages. Frustration its not an issue. At least the one that comes of not achieving a certain end.

Pros and cons apart I believe more in the path we choose than on the destination we arrive to. Storms and winds can make you go to a different harbour, can make you change your transportation, can even make you go back a little. All these reversal fortune can not however make you assume it’s the end because there is only an end when one refuses to continue. When one quits.


Say no to the end. See a sunrise when others admire the sunset. Consider every forced stop as a starting of another stage. With different challenges, different struggles, different joy and different suffering, but never, ever THE END.

FEEL OLYMPIC!

(in memory of Tiago Alves … an endless warrior)

Running is indeed fantastic. Energizes, destresses, provides goals and motivation, contributes to better general health … is there a downside in all of this. Unfortunately yes! Like the old saying too much of a good thing …
Running can be pretty addictive and sometimes (many times actually) achieving the proper balance between personal life and our running hobby can be somehow difficult.
Back in the old days (yeah I consider myself quite old) when I was teaching Indoor Cycling instructors we use to present an old story about a Time Management Guru that I would like all my friend to read carefully:

“One day, an old professor of the School of Public Management in France, was invited to lecture on the topic of “Efficient Time Management” in front of a group of 15 executive managers representing the largest, most successful companies in America. The lecture was one in a series of 5 lectures conducted in one day, and the old professor was given 1 hr to lecture.Standing in front of this group of elite managers, who were willing to write down every word that would come out of the famous professor’s mouth, the professor slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said, “we are going to conduct an experiment”.

From under the table that stood between the professor and the listeners, the professor pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar. Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?” The managers replied, “Yes”.The professor paused for a moment, and replied, “Really?”Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles. Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, “Is the jar full?”At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions. One replied, “apparently not!”“Correct”, replied the old professor, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the professor poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles.Yet again, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?”Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, “NO!”“Correct”, replied the professor. And as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, “What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?”With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, “We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks.”“No”, replied the professor. The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is:

If we don’t put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later.

The auditorium fell silent, as every manager processed the significance of the professor’s words in their entirety.The old professor continued, “What are the large stones in your life? Health? Family? Friends? Your goals? Doing what you love? Fighting for a Cause? Taking time for yourself?”What we must remember is that it is most important to include the larger stones in our lives, because if we don’t do so, we are likely to miss out on life altogether. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (pebbles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leaving little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to us. Because of this, never forget to ask yourself,
What are the Large Stones in your Life? And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in your “Jar of Life”.

With a warm wave of his hand, the professor bid farewell to the managers, and slowly walked out of the room.”

I hope you have enjoyed this old story. Perhaps some of you already knew it … but remembering it is never too much. Also hope that it somehow make you put everything in good perspective.

Yeah running is fantastic ... but its not a large stone!

Feel Olympic!!