To live instead of exist

One of the lessons I re-learned over the weekend is to not fight time. Odd how that works, but think of it this way: alarm goes off, what’s the first thing we do? Hit the snooze, of course. Not once, but maybe three or four times. Hey, we even set the alarm earlier to enable us to hit that snooze. Why? So we can fight time? So we can have some false sense of control? The other morning, I was helping wake my wife up and said, “hon, don’t fight it, just get up.” No use fighting, we end up with a negative view of things. We’re going to get out of bed at some point, right? So why not CHOOSE to do so, and in so doing get on with LIVING?

Before I give the story, I have to explain a few things. First, I am an Army officer. My branch, or career field, is Field Artillery. Big guns, right? So, for the last 12 years, when I’ve been on exercises, we sleep on trucks. Any truck will do, really. Essentially, since 1991, most of my field problem sleeping has been relatively sheltered. This weekend, I was with my ROTC cadets on a field problem. Great weather – sunny and warm during the day, freezing at night ( ~29 deg F). So, not a bad situation. First night out, I decided to sleep on the ground, under the starts. Great choice! The modular sleep system (two nested bags, one gore-tex cover, excellent piece of gear, Pete, you gotta get one of these) kept me nice and toasty, even in skivvies. Definitely worth doing again.

Oh, the field problem went well, but life took on a little more color, just moving out of my comfort zone.

Enjoy!

So, to work on this one, the idea is to do something INSTEAD OF what I would normally do. This evening, for example, it’s get on the treadmill instead of cruising the internet. Or read a book instead of playing all night. Something that will change my routine, something I enjoy.