Sunday! The end of the week! Or the beginning if that's what you think of it as. I kind of think of sunday as being its own little thing, not really a part of the week, just kinda, set aside.

Anyway. This week has been nutso! Amid the struggles of mmbio tests, physics homework, looming calc tests (which I'm actually really excited for the calc test, I LOVE that class), and sleep deprivation, I somehow managed to visit a few friends (some new, some old) and to have a great time. I would like to apologize right now to everyone that I was really late to picking up, didn't keep in very good contact with, bailed on, and anything else I probably forgot about. It's not you, it was me trying to keep my head from exploding with busyness!

What with all this busyness though, I had an interesting experience at Mountainworks (the local climbing gear shop) this week.

I was at the Quarry (climbing gym adjacent to the store) and decided to go into the shop to ask the store owner some advice on the next pair of shoes I was thinking of getting. There, I got to meet a man who actually just finished a tour of climbing/hiking each of the high points in all 50 states (here's the news article for your reading pleasure: Provo man summits all 50 states' highest points)!
This is pretty impressive, not really because of any technical skills required per se, but mostly because of the sheer time and dedication that it takes to do something like that.
But, because I was more interested in getting my shoe advice and getting out quickly, I offhandedly said something like, "Wow, there's no way I would have time to do something like that."
Aaaaaaaaaand that's where the experience got interesting.

I learned that Andy (50 summit man) is actually a lawyer, has a wife and children, and still somehow manages to gather enough time to be a mountaineer. He was a very humble guy, so the majority of the story came from Jen (the owner's wife), but she told me of multiple occasions where they would drive for a total of 24 hours in one weekend just to be able to snag multiple peaks before he had to return to work on monday.

Then Andy told me that you just have to figure out what you want to do and plan out your life and priorities in order to achieve your goals and dreams. And I think that's what really struck me.
Here was a full-grown man telling me, a college student who's supposed to be well practiced in spending inane amounts of time doing things I consider fun, how to commit to a dream! And he was schooling me!

I think, as humans, we are meant to dream and aspire. I actually think that having a dream and aspiring to do or become something is what fills us with a purpose that's vital for a satisfying life.
The thing is, though, how many of us toss our dreams aside as "implausible" or too difficult to mesh with our current life? Are we scared what that change might bring with it? How many of us fail to see that we could achieve something if we were willing to make the effort?

Enter "time".

Time is curious because it seems to be like a vessel for something. Let's say that time is a pitcher and what we do with our time is what we choose to fill the pitcher with. There are lots and lots of good things that we enjoy drinking and there are probably more things that we don't enjoy drinking. If we waste our time or squander it doing something that we don't enjoy, it's like filling our day to day pitchers with things that we hate (for me that would probably be a mixture of muddy water and radishes, gross.). But we can also spend our time by doing things that are productive, enriching, and that will give us ultimate satisfaction. That's like filling our pitchers with delectable refreshing goodness (pure spring water with lemonade and mixed berry juice for me!). At the end of the day we have to drink what we fill our pitchers with, so we've got to be careful. Although we may fill it with something good, maybe some days we prefer one drink (or activity/thing) over something else. Both are good, but we want our favorite.

This all boils down to the fact that we get to choose what we do with our time. Whether that's summiting 50 peaks, spending more time with family, training for sport climbing (my little plug here), or just taking a well needed nap, we have the decision and there's never an excuse, "Well I just don't have the time."

Anyway, sorry for the long post this time, I'll try to be less long winded in the future!