I Am Project - Exuberant

I had big plans for the Exuberant portion of the I Am Project. I had envisioned a video entry that opened on an open field. Off in the horizon a figure would appear running toward the camera (picture Michael Palin’s “It’s” man in the opening credits of Monty Python’s Flying Circus). The figure would turn out to me me and basically I was going to be jumping and screaming in front of the camera in an exuberant fashion. Thought it would be an easy, fun entry but then the leg issues hit. Hard to look exuberant when you move like Quasimodo.

The longer I absorb myself in my training and the challenges of the UBBT, the more excited I get about the journey. I have run into so many roadblocks and obstacles in the first six months of the test and yet my personal growth has been exponential. I know that I probably will not complete everything I set out to do when I started this but at the same time I would be questioning how high I set the bar for myself if come February 2010 I had achieved everything. Kind of like asking $5000 for the car you are selling while hoping you will get $3500 only to find the first guy to look at it gives you the $5000. You’re definitely going to wonder if you were asking enough. It seems like I have been moving on my requirements at light speed with my cape billowing in my wake and yet it is going to take something miraculous to happen for me to complete everything I set out to accomplish. Hence why I’ve already enrolled for next year too.

My twenty student members have been a real asset to me on this journey. Their involvement has kept my accountability factor high and their excitement has fueled my own. I had not noticed how much of my time is spent keeping them on track and motivated, and the mental toll it takes on me, until I received a surprise letter from England this week. The letter, arriving after he had already returned, was from one of my black belt students. You never really know how much a positive word can affect you and your outlook. The fact that he took the time in his travels to write me this note really fueled my soul. It’s funny how those close to you can sometimes do or say exactly what you need when you aren’t even aware that you need it. I am definitely exuberant.

“Nothing ever succeeds which exuberant spirits have not helped to produce.” - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)