Stretching yourself….

Kyle Attempting a Wall Climb at a Tough Mudder Race many years ago…

First of all, welcome to the new home to Integral Words!  We decided to incorporate it into the new website for my company, Integral Design Services.  Nothing will change as far as the content or the messages I will share, but we felt both entities would benefit from a shared platform.  I am excited about the future and am eager to dig into the new platform and see what other opportunities it will present.

This week I feel much better than last week.  I am not sure if it was the short work week due to Independence Day, or what exactly it was, but I definitely felt much more positive in my thinking and actions. 

It was not an easy week.  I had several things that I had to do that I had never done before.  Things at work, my company, home, etc.  Lots of new challenges to “Stretch Myself” on.  Honestly, I haven’t succeeded in every one of them yet, but I still feel great about what I was able to accomplish last week. 

Life has a way of throwing curveballs at us sometimes.  It seems like whenever I am comfortable in life something happens to either make it worse than it is, or like last week something comes to knock me off my “A” game.  It sure is funny how easily we can get off track or even lost like I was a couple weeks ago.  If we are steady and strong in our belief in ourselves, we are easily knocked off our path. 

New challenges are always fun for me.  I don’t shy away from them like some people do.  I see it everywhere in life.  It could be repairing a machine, taking a test, trying to find a new vendor, having a baby, etc.  The list goes on and on of things that challenge us in our lives.  The question is, How do you react to it? 

Some people get nervous, scared, and shut down in the event they have to do something new.  I never have felt that way.  I have always thrived on learning and experiencing new things.  I am not one to shy away from a project even if I have no clue about it before I start.  There is definitely times when I should have left a project to a professional, but you know what, I learned why they are a professional at their craft if nothing else came out of it. 

If you don’t try new things, you will never grow.  That is just a fact.  Will you love everything you try, no you won’t.  Will you be successful at everything you attempt? Nope.  Will you be proud of yourself in the end if you give it your all? Absolutely!  I have learned so much from times when I failed at something.  The problem is these days, no one wants to fail.  I am not sure if its due to the illusion social media has created in our society that everything is always perfect, but there are a lot of people who are terrified to not be the best at something. 

My challenge to you is to try something new this week.  Expand you knowledge, learn a new skill, take on a new task.  You may succeed or you may not, but either way you will learn something about yourself that otherwise you would have missed out on. 

This passage is about there being a time for everything.  Ecclesiates 3: 1-15 NLT

1 For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

2 A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3 A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7 A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8 A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13  And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 15 What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

Kyle trying to learn to snowboard back in 2012….