I was a middle school student in Stafford, Virginia when “The Simpsons” was a really popular show. Actually, I’ll toot my own horn… I could do Bart Simpson’s voice pretty accurately. Phrases like “Don’t have a cow, man” and Homer’s “Doh!” were part of middle school conversations, the show’s relevance solidified by Bart Simpson even having a song.
It was in this part of my educational career where clothes and shoes became a status symbol. Michael Jordan shoes, Starter jackets, wearing clothes backwards were all part of middle school. “The Simpsons” t-shirts were common also. The one I had featured Bart Simpson with a simple, rebellious message:
At some point my parents said I couldn’t wear that shirt anymore. I guess they had decided the idea of underachieving wasn’t something they appreciated. I mean, how many successful people have ever boasted about being lazy? I didn’t understand it then but now many years later, I get it. It reminds me of those stickers you’ll sometimes see on cars that play off of the 26.2 or 13.1 stickers. Have you seen the ones that say 0.0? I have more thoughts about those here. Since those days in middle school, I’ve developed a real distaste for laziness and maybe it all goes back to how my parents handled that Bart Simpson shirt.
But “rest” is healthy… an important part of quality of life, keeping ourselves from injury or sickness, and taking time to recharge. Rest can look like laziness but it’s very different. Total transparency: there have been many times in my life where I’ve been lazy. Sometimes I just don’t want to get out of bed. On cloudy days, I just feel less productive. Sunny days I feel like those people in the Skyrizi commercials– nothing is everythiiiiiing.
My parents did a wonderful job of teaching me the importance of being active, of work, and of earning. I give them all the credit for that. It’s translated into so many areas of my life from work to recreation, from pursuing hobbies to exercise. The most recent thing I’ve achieved is finishing a sprint triathlon. No, it wasn’t an Ironman or even a half Ironman. The next level down is Olympic triathlon, I haven’t even done that yet! Go down another level and that’s where I am: Sprint. This one was a 600-yard swim, 13-mile bike, and a 5K run. I’ve done them before but this is the first one that had an epic bike crash. It may or may not have been caused by a traffic cone that I clumsily rolled into with my bike. I’m usually not accident-prone but one ER visit and a lot of bandages later, here I am nursing a stitched up wound and a few road burns. I say all that because I want to include a photo from the race that I love. I want to set it up though, by saying I’m not trying to impress anybody. There’s nothing impressive about going over the handlebars after being such a goofball that I hit a stationary traffic cone. But there’s a bill coming in the mail from the ER and I know it’s going to be a chunk of change. So why not get a few blog posts out of the whole experience, you know? Here’s one of my favorite photos from last Saturday… crossing the finish line and the faces of the onlookers is pretty funny.
I may make clumsy mistakes while I’m swimming, cycling, or running… but I would rather do that than ever be called a proud underachiever.
-Out of the Wilderness
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Out of the Wilderness 