Life Can Be Crazy!

It’s 2005 and I’ve finally finished my bachelors degree.  Student teaching has led me 1500 miles away from my home town of Mayville, ND, population 2500 (on a good day, with a festival going on, with good weather, and probably a holiday).  I’ve executed the first stage of my 5-year plan.  See, at that point in my life I lived and died by my 5-year plan.  Everything I did was geared towards making my plan happen.  Here was my plan:

Step 1:  Obtain teaching position in Aldine ISD

Step 2:  Start my Masters Degree in year two of teaching (2007)

Step 3:  Finish Masters Degree (2009)

Step 4:  Obtain administration position after 3^rd year of teaching

Step 5:  Complete 2 years of administration experience in Aldine ISD

Step 6:  Move back to the great white north and continue my administration career. 

Everything was on track!  Steps 1-5 went off without a hitch.  I taught high school math for 3 years while obtaining my Masters Degree in Education Administration.  From there I moved into an assistant principal role at a Middle School in Aldine ISD.  I was pretty darn proud of myself.  I was a young, energetic assistant principal who was trying dearly to hold on to my “teacher morals” as an administrator.  As year one wound down and year two was on the horizon I realized how much I hated my job.  To say I was miserable would be a catastrophic understatement.  I began to feel myself care less and less about the kids at school and more about the politics involved.  I was stressed to the max and had lost sight of why I chose education as my profession in the first place.  To be completely honest, my experience was ruining the profession for me. 

While I endured year two of my administration position, my saving grace was that I had found CrossFit.  I started toying with CrossFit in my last year of teaching and continued to pursue it in the two years in administration.  CrossFit was my escape.  It was quickly becoming my passion and a much larger portion of my life.  I began spending more time at the box than I did at home.  I would wrap up my day at school and head to the box, spending 3+ hours working out and socializing.  I finally took the plunge and decided to get my level I certification.  I became CrossFit certified and began coaching on a very part time basis.  As I learned to love the coaching aspect more and more and hate my job even more, conversations revolving around opening another box became more frequent. 

Finally, in April of 2010 I made the biggest decision of my life.  I decided that my 5-year plan sucked.  I had flawlessly executed steps 1-5 of the plan and now decided to scrap it all, abandon what I had worked so hard to obtain to pursue the opportunity to own my own CrossFit box.  I put in my resignation notice at the school district to be effective that summer.  I began working more at the box and started the search for real estate to open what is now Pin Up CrossFit.  I was scared.  Really scared. 

I no longer had a 5-year plan.  Hell, I didn’t even have a 1-year plan!  I never dreamed of being a business owner and the thought of relying on an income that can fluctuate like an obese 60-year old’s blood pressure made me nauseous.  I lived week to week, month to month, hoping that we would pull in enough cash to pay my rent and fill up my truck with gas.  My savings account dwindled slowly.  I can still remember the morning I was sitting at my desk in my apartment crunching numbers.  I had a couple bills to pay and knew rent was due in just a couple days.  I quickly realized that this was the last month I could pull from my savings account to pay bills.  It had dried up.  Then, as if God decided it was time, I got a text from my business partner – “we made a profit this month!”  It was actually happening.  We were getting paid to do what we loved.  To coach other individuals into a healthy lifestyle.  

Today I don’t have to live week to week or even month to month sometimes.  I make a modest income and manage to squeak out a few luxuries here and there.  I don’t have a job.  I don’t have to go to work.  I don’t have a 5-year plan.  I have a passion, a gym, and a lifestyle many dream about. 

Life can be crazy.  You can bust your ass to execute your plan.  I can happen flawlessly.  But in the end, what does it get you?  Plan execution?  Don’t close doors.  Open them up as you walk by.  You never know what might be inside one that can change your entire life.  Let life be crazy – or you might go crazy.