A Student Of Chaos

Step into this life holding nothing too tightly in your clenched fist. Be ready to learn and receive from a place of curiosity rather than judgment. Be a student of the chaos, not its critic.

There will be things in life that are difficult, and others that are refreshing.

You’ll go through chapters and, at the end, do your best Tiger Woods fist pump. You know the one. It’s his sacred flex. The seismic twitch that tells everyone, “I own this moment”.

Other times, you’ll mutter under your breath, “This is all a bunch of cosmic horseshit.” You’ll want to hang it up. Close the book. Set fire to the shelf.

Honestly, I hope you get to experience both.

However it all goes, allow the stories and experiences to marinate in your spirit with an intention of growth. Tune in to the moments your mind pulls the mental emergency brake. When this occurs, stop. Sit back. And consider: what in your own story was pierced so precisely that it drew blood?

Ask yourself, “What about that sparked this within me?”

The willingness to consider how others’ stories affect you is a powerful catalyst. If we desire to increase our capacity to grow, we must hoist our sails to catch the wind of discomfort and battle the internal desire to drop anchor in the storm.

Let’s seek our edges.

Don’t avoid it.

Step into it.

Ask the questions that blister.

Answer with the kind of honesty that feels impossible to say out loud.

Allow it to take you where it takes you.

And when you arrive, wherever this mysterious there is for you, don’t look for a manicured highlight reel. Scan your soul for the scars. Remember the questions you kept asking when it would've been easier to simply coast. And recall the internal truths that refused to stay quiet.

This is how you’ll know you’re moving in the direction of your own evolution.

Because this pursuit isn’t about perfection. It’s not about the stat line.

It’s about training your heart to learn to connect with yourself pushing you to live in authenticity. It’s about fighting for an inch forward on the days when your soul is battered and bruised. It’s about becoming the type of competitor whose spirit refuses to bow in submission, especially when it would be easier and safer to do so.

Be the one who sharpens in the shadows while others seek the spotlight.

So go ahead. Step in. Know it will bruise you. But, don’t forget it, it will build you.

In the words of my dear friend Jesse Coddington…

Dig.

Repair.

Grow.

Repeat.