Give Back.

We're all told to give back and it's usually implied that it should be monetarily. Although that is still well and good and very necessary at times, my personal opinion is that we can give back with something far greater than the money that we might have. We can give our time.

Let me take you back to an event I did at the beginning of August. It was hosted by the same guy who I've been supporting and following along with on his current event, the 2.5 miles on the hour for as long as possible. Anyway, this event was a 24-hour continuous effort type of event. I'm not going to go into all of the details but I will say that it was, in fact, a continuous effort for 24 hours. One of the guys who was there helping put on the event and supporting us was a guy named James Hobart. James was there to help us with anything that we might need, get us anything that we might need, and also push us along when we needed it. Before I get too far off track and continue to ramble let's cut right to the part where that all ties into the story. James started this event with Tosh with the goal of getting to 40 hours. A big number for him that would beat what he had previously done on a similar event.

This last Saturday night was going to be big for him. He knew that. We all knew that. It was the time where he was going to hit his goal of 40 hours and then hopefully break through it and push even further than he thought he could. I showed up Saturday afternoon ready to help and support those guys but not really sure if I would stay the night and help out into the morning. But once I saw the struggle he was going through and how he was pushing to not only hit his goal but push past it, I was in. I decided to stick it out until his end and do whatever I could to help him do just that.

I remembered back to that Diesel Day event and how much he helped me push through at different times and I felt like this would be a great way for me to pay him back for that help.

What I noticed about it as we went deeper into the night is that I didn't really have to do a whole lot. Me just being there and walking with him on that trail was enough. Now, I'm not trying to beat on my chest or toot my own horn here I'm just pointing out how much even silent support can help someone through a difficult time. Yeah, sometimes we talked and laughed on the trail, sometimes we talked about somewhat serious stuff, but for a good chunk of it we just walked in silence. And, to me, there's a lot of satisfaction in looking back and knowing that you helped someone achieve a huge goal. I'm not taking any credit or saying that I got him there. Hell no. He grinded and he pushed and he gave it everything he had. He earned that. But just the fact that I was there and ready to support in any possible way that I could gave me a feeling of satisfaction and pride. Knowing I was a very small part of his ultimate success was very fulfilling to me. I feed off of that type of energy and believe that even though I wasn't doing the event, that I grew and learned valuable lessons that night. It was cool to be able to see an event like that from the other side in a supporting role.

I'll leave you today with this, who can you support in your life to contribute them to achieve a big goal? It can be in anything but I encourage you all to actively seek out who you can help. It may seem like what you're doing is small. But trust me, you're doing a lot more than you think. I've now been on both sides of it.

Thank you for reading today and have a great day!

Get After It!