Thank you, My Mentor _____________

I received some timely advice this morning from a man I consider a mentor and an inspiration. It came in the form of a short email.


Hi Riley: Stay focused. Sometimes it is good to go intense for a week! Try it. Go crazy for a week and take off a day. Love your blog. I want to read new material every day!! Hint.


Peace,
My Mentor


No, no, he didn't sign it "My Mentor." That's my name for him. He signed it _____________, but you don't need to know his name.


The timing of this email was perfect. I am a busy guy, but that's not an excuse. Everybody's busy. And I don't have children … yet. Parenting seems, from my vantage point on the verge, a big, big job. Huge. Think NFL offensive lineman-size huge.


I guess I'll find out soon enough. Nevertheless, I am busy now despite being childless and I don't apologize for that. Most of my awake time is eaten up by a job I adore, teaching English and journalism to high school students. One small addendum to that job is working at high school basketball games, which eats up one or two evenings per week. I love working the games, but on game nights I cannot work out at my usual gym. The school has a nice facility, which I need to make use of on game nights before the games begin.


There were two basketball games this week, Tuesday and Thursday, so it was tough to get in a calorie-burning rhythm. I did work out Sunday and Monday, but I need three to four workouts a week to feel like I'm making progress toward my 100,000 calorie goal.


Feeling sorry for myself, I showed up to work this morning tired and worn out from a long week at work, which has included the two aforementioned games, end-of-semester grading duties, administering of finals and yesterday's 8 a.m. pregnancy-related doctor's appointment at a hospital an hour from our house (a little frustrating, considering a hospital in the same medical family sits about 300 yards from our house).


Then I turn on my computer and see an email from My Mentor, sent at 9:18 p.m. last night. This guy and his wife are world travelers. He might be anywhere right now, possibly climbing a mountain in Fiji or kayaking in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Yet he turned on his computer and took the time to send me an email, letting me know he's thinking about me and my goal to get healthy.


I remember this guy telling me a story when he was my cooperating teacher during student teaching. Actually, I remember a lot of stories. Great stories. One story involved him seeing too many of his close friends dying young, which forced him to take a look at himself. He had been lifting weights a lot, but while doing so he had put on some extra pounds, which had resulted in a weight with which his body wasn't comfortable, which resulted in a doctor visit and the news his cholesterol was higher than it should be. He immediately set out to get in better shape. He did, too, because like no one I've ever encountered My Mentor does what he sets his mind to.


Last night, to my benefit, he set his mind to motivating me. The timing couldn't be more perfect.


Next week is the beginning of a new semester. Beginnings of semesters are generally less stressful than ends. In addition, there's only two home basketball games in the next 30 days, neither of which are next week.


I am going to allot 45 to 60 minutes per day to the treadmill. I am going to, as My Mentor wrote, "Go crazy for a week and take off a day." That "crazy" begins today. Who cares if it's Friday? Crazy starts now.


My schedule has a temporary opening. Once Baby A and Baby B arrive this summer those openings may be harder to find.


I better take advantage now.


Thanks for the shot of motivation, My Mentor _____________.