ENDURE: Feb 1, 2013

If yours has been anything like ours so far, 2013 is shaping up to be a wild ride. Nothing new in that statement I suppose, when wasn't life a wild ride? After a few connections I've made and contacts I've had in these first 25 days of 2013, I've found myself thinking about it more and more lately.

The Ups: Last weekend I had the chance to help out our Fuel Good Cafe' team with a private party & catering event at our BaseCamp31 facility. That part of our team has recently recruited a guy who has had a strong influence on my life.....my maternal grandfather who would need an extra set of hands this night. Carl (or "pop" as we know him) has a long history in the food business and, since he's recently back in the area, the Fuel Good team decided to pull him in, listen, learn and adapt everything they could in order to fit Pop's wisdom into their mission of changing lives through healthier eating experiences. So there I was standing shoulder to shoulder with my 89 year old grandfather watching him light-up as he reminisced about years-ago and some of the amazing experiences he had "back then". You could see the frustration come over him as his body (again, at 89) wasn't able to give him what he wanted and he (reluctantly) asked me to take something out of the oven or bring this pan from here to there (wisely, moving and carrying stuff is about the only thing I'm allowed to do in the Cafe) but the frustration didn't last. He smiled and laughed most of the night, obviously enjoying the familiar bustle of the kitchen.

The Downs: On the other side of the spectrum, this week I walked into a meeting where I would be talking about health and prevention only five minutes after an announcement would be made about a colleague who's life had been cut tragically short and had left a young family due to an unfortunate health event. And even though literally 10 minutes prior a guy who I've known for years and has been working hard to get a handle on his health shared with me that his positive steps were paying off (to the tune of a 50+lbs weight loss), there I stood in front of a room of a few hundred holding back some strong emotions about a tragedy. Knowing that most health-events like the one that took their coworker are preventable was helpful, but it was not enough. It couldn't change the grief in the room.......we hadn't reached this particular guy soon enough.....and by our standards, that's simply not good enough. His event guaranteed that his grandkids would never stand shoulder to shoulder with him and experience the kind of joy and happiness that I had just a few days prior.

If you've been reading along..... you know that at Pro-Activity we believe that "doing extraordinary things" (achievements) can change our lives........and when enough lives change for the better, by definition, our world also changes for the better. We know this seems mushy and soft to many people.......but, despite the downs and drops we are lucky enough to see it every single day and know it to be true.

If you've been reading along......you know that at Pro-Activity we set-out to guide people toward the extraordinary things on their life's journey by employing five simple ELEMENTS: MOVE, FUEL, RECOVER, ENDURE, CONNECT........ elements that, although in our own words, capture the overwhelming conclusions of a growing body of research on human achievement, performance, longevity, happiness and quality of life.

And, If you've been reading along (we hope) you know that at Pro-Activity we are here to help you in anyway we can, whenever you are ready. Very soon, you will see the next evolution on our (currently under construction) elements site where we strive to bring together the research and stories that can help you to live the fullest life possible.

Until then, our message couldn't be more straight forward: This year will likely be a lot like every year, it's going to be a wild ride filled with the "ups" that come with incredible achievements, and the downs that sometimes feel like the bottom dropping out. The ups won't last forever, and thankfully neither will the downs. And although falling down and staying down look and sound a lot alike, we ALL know they couldn't be more different. Despite the difficulties and challenges, ANYONE can do something extraordinary.......and we're here to support you when you're ready.

Now go do something extraordinary,

Mike Eisenhart, PT