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Today I am writing about the four main parts of my life that equal up to 100% of good spiritual, mental and physical fitness.  This is my list and may vary from what you think are your top four.  For me all of these are necessary for me to live my life with vigor, intent and pursue my dreams.  These four areas are Faith, Family, Friends and Fitness.  I will explain each and how it applies to my overall well being, goals and inner self.  We all have things that drive us, traits, behaviors, beliefs and actions that define us to our family, friends and community.  These four are my main definers and are equal parts to the overall well being of my spirit, mental and physical condition.   I have not always been focused on all of these and they probably were not equal parts.  My faith defines me and drives my interactions, behaviors and thought process with people.  My family is a priority and taking care of them, being a good father, husband, brother, cousin and all those other roles is ver

Today I am writing about one of the biggest problems, issues, conflicts or whatever you call it we have as adults. Balancing work and everyday life is a daily challenge, chore and task that at times can get the best of us. I have been working as an adult now for well over 35+ years and have already transitioned through the various cycles we see in our life cycle as adults, parents, working people and all the other stages we enter and leave in our life. During all of these stages of life one monster was always in the way and that was finding a way to balance home life, work and play. First lets define how I see balance in the parts of your daily life. Work-life balance is basically the concept or way that you prioritize your time, energy and commitment to work, family and fun activity. It is a way to encourage you to divide your time in a way that is best for you and the family. The benefits of prioritizing work-life balance include increased productivity, higher work engagement,

Today I am writing a quick blog post about simple ideas and changes that will allow you to begin the process of losing a few pounds at a time and getting healthier in 2021. I myself began the process of working on my health and weight back in the middle months of 2020 just prior to getting sick with heart issues and then Covid 19 hit me hard. I had lost about 15 pounds by making some small changes and was beginning to feel the physical effects (positive) of the small weight loss and changes the wife and I had made to our diet plan, exercise routine and activity. When Covid hit me in December of 2020, the weight started flying off literally as I have since dropped about 30 pounds so far and things are starting to level off now as I am healing daily, gaining my appetite back and strength a day at a time. I plan to continue to lose weight, get lean and work on total health in 2021. I am not talking going crazy and becoming a gym rat, just small simple changes that will help me live a

Today we are talking about ten essential job and life skills that are a must in todays world of work to remain competitive, grow and drive your life and career to meet your financial goals.  Most of these come with time, energy, experience and just putting in the hours on the job learning.  As a high school teacher trying to prepare students for how they want to work, live and play after graduation I always spend time teaching these ten principles, having them complete job skill assessments, personal inventories, learning style inventories and identifying their strengths and areas of opportunity.  We all have specific areas of strength that guide our daily work ethic and help to deliver results needed to be successful on the job and in the career. We all have areas of growth or opportunity areas that we must also attack and work to grow as these may be holding us back in life, on the job and in relationships.  Taking an active role in understanding your current skill set, being open an

Some of my readers may or may not know that 2020 was a very tough year for me and my family.  I personally have battled heart issues, covid and other sickness since September of 2020.  I had three hospital stays, a couple of real scares as far as living another day and this has took a toll on me mentally, physically and spiritually.  But it did force me to take a hard look at my past, present and future growth in all three of these areas that are required for us to function healthy in life each day.  Taking this hard look will enable me to build a brighter future in all three areas of my existence.  You may not need all three, but for me they go tit for tat and connect the dots of the life style I live.  I must have all three to be strong of mind, body and soul.  Everyone writes a bunch of new year resolutions that they intend to work on for the new year and go flying into the new year all fired up and on a mission.  Then soon, the mission becomes less important by day as things begin

  2020 was a tough year for me physically as I was faced with multiple health conditions that truly tested my physical, mental and spiritual durability. As the year wound down along came the COVID 19 virus and it took major hold on me attacking my health, lungs and body. The biggest challenge was mentally as the virus took its toll on my breathing, energy levels and the other problems it created. It eventually becomes a mental battle when your energy levels are squashed and it wears you out just to take a bath, dress or walk into the kitchen. We got sick about a week before Christmas Day and things escalated from there quickly. COVID started out slow but began to roll along and challenged my health quickly. Next thing you know, I am in the hospital like many people have been fighting for my health and future. As a career coach and teacher I have always spoken to my student athletes about being a fighter and suddenly I had to stand to my own words and fight. And a fight it has be

I took a few days off from blogging as I have been recovering from Covid 19 over the Christmas Holidays.  I am writing this to tell my story of the battle I fought with Covid and how it has impacted me and the family this past week and a half.  Since Covid hit we have been very focused on avoiding it the best we could and took precautions to not contract it.  That all changed a week and half ago as we were exposed to someone that did not know they were a carrier and within a few days the wife and I started feeling bad and suspected that we may have contracted it just prior to the Holidays.  It started out like a common cold with runny nose, chest congestion and stomach ache.  We tried for three days to find a testing site close to the house and eventually drove down the road about forty five minutes to be rapid tested.  We were steadily getting sicker and within  a few days of the test we got the results back that we were positive for the virus.  At this point we cancelled Christmas wi

My wife and I have grown kids and they are always asking us what we want for Christmas.  Many parents out there of grown children can relate to this dilemma and we all probably give the same answer over and over.  We say "I don't know", "I don't want anything", "I don't need anything", or my favorite which is "I just want to be with you on Christmas day".  I sometimes even tell them "my two front teeth" just to get them riled up.  My wife and I are blessed and we really do not have anything on a list that we need.  Heck, we all have online ordering and next day delivery for all those things we want to buy.  I wrote yesterday about A Covid Christmas which is what we are celebrating this year as we all have Covid and are separated for the Holidays.   We all have family traditions like gathering, eating, fellowshipping and sharing gifts with family and friends.  For years we have always opened one present Christmas eve as a fa

This week my wife and I tested positive for the Covid 19 virus and are locked down at home for the Christmas Holidays.  We have been very careful to avoid people, mostly staying at home and using proper protective measures for months.  Our oldest daughter has it also and is stuck in Florida for the Holidays, while our youngest daughter is finishing up her covid lockdown from being positive a few weeks ago.  We have called all the family to advise that we cannot meet with them on Christmas day to eat breakfast, open presents, fellowship and most importantly celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   This however does not mean that Christmas cannot be just as special because we will get together in a week or so when everything clears up and everyone is well enough to be safe to gather.  This Christmas will be unlike any we have ever experienced with covid lockdowns, infection rates spiking and the need to being safer than ever.  People are stuck at home, in nursing facili

Today I am writing about seven things that I look back on that I should have done a bit different when I was twenty.  Thirty four years later I have learned many lessons in life and am grateful for those lessons.  Setbacks, disappointments, tragedies, and unexpected life events allow us to grow and become who we are.  These events give us wisdom to share with our children and the next generation.  These events make us tough skinned and give us direction to overcome obstacles.  I am mostly satisfied with the way things have worked out so far, but looking back I now see doing these may have opened doors for me, my family and prepared me for life as an adult. 1- Get rid of toxic people- We all have family, friends and co-workers that we know are energy vampires.  We do not look forward to being around them or hanging out with them.  These negative people drain you and will hold you back with their poor pitiful me routine.  Get rid of them, see them less often or whatever it takes to keep

 Today I am writing about toxic relationships that people have and how they destroy families, friendships, marriages and cause chaos.  I have been fortunate in my life to find a loving and wonderful wife that seeks a great relationship with me.  We get along mostly, disagree at times, but in the end we are together and strong.  I see this in many of my friends and family as well.  Positive, supporting and loving relationships that are far from perfect, but in the scheme of things are solid.  Then comes the reason I am writing this today as I see so many toxic relationships, people unhappy, angry, upset and constantly fighting. These are very unhealthy and will eventually destroy the relationship, create hostility and resentment which leads to divorce, breaking up or worse (possible abuse).  I put together a quick list of five warning signs you should avoid once you see them come to light.  As soon as one of these pops up, you best get out now or eventually face chaos, fighting, anger a

** Please Read All of this top to bottom and try what I have given you.  I promise it will help you (if you are open to cleansing) and really focus on it.  I would appreciate any feedback on the process and any comments that you would like to leave for me and my readers **.  Today I am giving you a relaxation activity designed to help you cleanse your mind, body and soul of open wounds from our past. These inhibitors of your future are sitting behind open doors constantly reminding you of your past, pestering you about your current situation and holding you back from a bright future.  These doors are open and flowing negative energy into your life and are holding you back from being the wonderful person God created you to be.  To get rid of these bad memories, negative thoughts, relationship issues, anger, fear, envy, self-loathing, pride fullness, disappointments and anything else standing in your future you must put them behind you.   Most of these events, emotions, and internalized

  Recently I had a friend ask me if I thought that dogs and cats went to heaven.  Before I could answer the question another man sitting near told her that the bible makes no mention of animals going to heaven. My personal opinion is that dogs and cats have souls and they are special in Gods eyes as animals are mentioned all throughout the bible.  If you do some research you will find a very long list of animals if listed A-Z are too numerous for me to put on this posting.  I will highlight several of them and where they are located in the bible if you would like to reference and read about it. We love our critters, dogs, cats, hamsters, cows, pigs, and all those other things people call pets.  I have never had anything other than dogs, a few cats, some fish and a hamster or two.   My favorite are dogs, yes I am a dog lover and we currently have three grand dogs that we enjoy greatly.  We all come to love them and enjoy spending time watching them gallop, play, fight, roll around with

  Today I am writing about remote learning and giving some basic ideas and tips on how as parents we can not only survive but thrive during this Covid 19 mess.  As a career teacher it has been a daily learning experience for myself and my students.  It is up and down roller coaster ride of positives, negatives and in between.  With the various stages of Covid, spikes, slow downs and the gaps in between kids have learned 100% online, hybrid learning, and some even in class fulltime.  It is frustrating as a teacher and parent as it has added even more stress, anxiety, and tasks to our daily schedules that are already jam packed. I did some research and put together a simple list of things that have worked for me as a teacher and have helped the students and parents I teach to do a good job of maintaining grades, assignments, and online schedules.  It has been very challenging and is not the best option for most kids, but it is what it is for now.  As parents and teachers our options are

Today I was thinking about some recent changes in my life that are spiritual, mental and emotional.  These changes are all positive and something that cannot be seen by the eye.  Sure, people may be able to sense or see a difference in a persons attitude or behavior.  However, changes like these are internal and occur within ourselves in the heart, mind and soul.  These are not tangible things one can touch and therefore hard to describe to people at times.   I have had a spiritual awakening of sorts is the best way to describe what is occurring within me and to me.  As a good friend described her similar changes to me as "Shedding my old skin".  That made perfect sense to me and got me to thinking about belief and how it guides our lives, actions, behaviors and reactions to events. I started thinking about Christmas and the gifts we all receive during the Holidays and celebrations.   I am not talking about the gifts under the tree as those are tangible things we can see, fee

This weekend my wife and I went to Myrtle Beach to buy an ornament at our favorite Christmas store.  The store is at Barefoot Landing as is called the Christmas Mouse.  It has every kind of decoration and ornament a person would want.  About every kind of interest from traditional, country, city, sports, hobbies and about anything one would want.  We have been going to this store for twenty years or more to get ornaments for our family tree.  Ornaments are a tradition in our family and we have filled the family tree up with them at this point. The store brings back memories of traveling to the beach with my family, mom and dad and friends.  We always find time to go by the Christmas Mouse and grab some ornaments.  The store smells so good with all the wonderful greenery, candles, and traditional Christmas smells that reminds us that the Holiday is upon us.  Even if you go in the summer time when most people head to the beach, it makes you feel Christmas in July and those special memori

I was coaching at my old high school in 2009 and in the middle of the season I suddenly lost my dad. My dad was a 30 year retired police officer who also served over 30 years volunteering at the local high school as president, vice president and secretary of the boosters club.  My mom and dad along with several great parents had helped raise millions of dollars and build most of the very nice athletic facilities the school has today.  They loved to go to football games home or away.  For over thirty years on Friday night if they were not rotating in the concession stand they sat in the same seats at home games every Friday night.  My dad sat on the top row, on the brick at the corner.  I can see him now sitting there watching me, my brothers, cousins, and nephews playing football on Fridays.   Dad and mom were road warriors and followed the football team wherever they played.  They went to every game home or away for a minimum of 30 seasons. Even when their health started to fail them,

 Today I am continuing my series of stories about my family and today I am focusing on a true and hopefully funny story about my Dad.  Please enjoy and share! Lady Speeding, Rookie Cop, Got to Go Right Now Dad told us a story about a woman that was speeding one day. He was new to the police force and had just been let loose as a patrol officer.  He was patrolling a major road in town and a lady drove by him going 55 in a 35.  He instantly turned his car around and turned on his blue lights in hot pursuit of the speed demon flying down the road.  He got behind this lady and flashed his lights in an attempt to stop her.  She kept going and actually sped up so he wasn't quite sure what to do as a new cop, so he called it in.  They told him to continue pursuit and follow her, stay in radio contact and help was on the way to assist him. He stayed in pursuit for several blocks and the woman suddenly pulled over slamming on her brakes to stop making him almost hit her car.  He swerved to