Use the Tools
Okay, today was an exciting day. First off, Michelle is doing great after surgery, things went well and we are excited to see what the knee looks like under all the bandages. She's doing all her machines and being a good patient and relaxing, and taking her pain meds. It's fun having her here and I'm glad she trusted us enough with her recovery. All is good for now! She's got a long road ahead of her, but we are excited she's now on the road! We video blogged today about being friends. It's a sappy one, kinda cute too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up1LKuMZRu8
So, a kind of exciting thing happened today. Melissa Hartwig, one of the Whole30 founders emailed me last night to say that she was featuring my Whole30 journey on the Whole30 website today. She included a lot of the email that I sent her back when we were having the great "Whole30 debate" on my blog. I swapped a lot of emails with Melissa when I was frustrated at being challenged on my Whole30ness back about a month ago and I'll admit that I got to a good place with all this, thanks a ton to Troy for his insight and lots of the comments you all left on this here blog. Food is controversial, that I definitely learned. So the jury rang in, and I think the verdict is that I'm not a technical Whole30er, and that's okay. I completely agree, and I'm honestly proud of myself for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It's in my personality when things get controversial and I'm being called out to just walk away. I've done this with relationships, so it was a sign of growth for me to be okay with the middle ground. Just being honest here.
Also, Melissa thinks I am a professional triathlete. She asked to look through my blog and for a non triathlete I totally get how she could think that. Those of you in triathlete-land know that I don't have a Pro card, but that I could if I wanted to and I have qualified to do so. Most of you know that I have been trying to win my (amateur) age group in Hawaii for several years now and thus haven't taken that Pro card. Also, just my opinion, but in order to win my AG in Hawaii I think it will take a mid to upper Pro pack performance to do so. Most pros don't make much money although they are technically racing for it, that's the reality of the sport. However, I think most athletes in my situation make the decision to go or not based on what will challenge them and keep them improving. My Hawaii goal continues to challenge me and keeps me questing for improvement. So, long winded here, but just an explanation for if/when you read this article.
What I learned from this experience is that there are a lot of tools out there. Now more than ever tons of health minded people are putting their opinions about what health/development looks like out on the inter web. They are developing books you can read, programs you can follow, movements you can latch onto. I think this is awesome! I always want to jump on them! I'm a self experimenter at heart! In this day and age you can write a book, and then engage with the people who loved the book in new and exciting ways. You can create classes, programs, challenges online, twitter and facebook followings, and turn your book readers into your network of followers and advertisers. It's getting pretty crazy...crazy cool! Whole30 has done it, the Happiness Project has done it, Brene Brown has done it, I can keep going here.... It's everywhere in our "new-media" age.
I think this new way of reaching and engaging people is pretty neat, but to the individual, I want to stress that these are tools. I personally feel that health for each of us looks different. It's like your favorite outfit (StitchFix is awesome by the way), it may be Classy Chic, but it's a jet black collared top with impeccably tailored tan slacks and a set of black heels. It's yours, it's unique, it's a reflection of your taste/needs. Someone else may have the same slacks, but not the same heels. We are each unique and your favorite outfit most likely will not work for me. You have to try things on, see how they feel, throw out the black heals and put on a tall pair of boots. Use the tools at your disposal, but know that you have a heart and a soul guiding you, that your intuition is uniquely you and is a voice that needs to be allowed to speak.
That's my take away from this situation. Use the tools in this awesome world, not to paralyze you, but to educate you. Take what you like, toss the rest. Give things a good college try and consider yourself and your life an experiment of one. In the end, it's you that has to live with the decisions you made, so you need to make decisions that you can live with the consequences of. What I am really thankful for today is the level of engagement that Melissa at Whole30 was willing to have with me. She cared about my journey both personally and as a teachable moment. I value that sort of engagement. I adopted a lot of the Whole30 recommendations, and some I did not. I'm not going to do another "Whole30," I've learned from that tool and will most likely continue to education from other tools in the future. I feel lucky that I live in todays world, I'm jazzed about the trajectory and about how many new subjects are finding a voice out there.