Like many people, I’ve spent a fair amount of time reflecting on the past year, and planning for the coming year. Which resolutions were met, which were not.. the hows and whys of it all, and what I want to accomplish next year (which will definitely need a post to itself, eventually!).

Today, though, I had a bizarre set of coincidence happen… and it really put some things into perspective for me. Wanted to share!

Very early on this morning, I read a tweet which asked if anyone was racing at the last minute to meet their 2009 resolutions. This triggered an immediate pang of guilt in me – I’d only met one of my 3 resolutions this year, and because that was way back in January, I don’t think it counted (too low a bar for a real year goal!). Another goal – to lose that 100 lbs once and for all – well, I managed to make NO net progress on that one, by the end of the year. Sigh. Maybe next year?

The 3rd goal was one that I was POSITIVE that I’d accomplish, with commitment and a lot of work. I started out quite committed, but then got distracted by work, sidelined by injury, etc. THAT resolution was to be able to leg press 1000 lbs.

Back about 4 weeks ago, I realized that it was the only resolution that I had any hope of accomplishing – I was up to about 925 lbs already. I came up with a grand plan of how I’d reach my goal in only 5 weeks or so… then was too busy to work on it. Hence the reason for my guilt early this morning. Interesting how perspective would change, just a few hours later!

I had just left the post office, and was headed back to the office. Up ahead, I noticed that someone’s car had stalled out in the middle of the road, perpendicular to the flow of traffic, blocking almost all traffic. Now, I have a weird confession – I LOVE pushing cars. Love it! A little bit of adrenaline, a little bit of goodwill… and a whole lot of appreciation for my own body. When you look like I do, that last point can be in short supply, so it’s nice when I can feel good about it. Plus, I’m just plain GOOD at it, and it’s always nice to do something you’re good at. I’m like the double-X-Chromosome-Valjean-of-Car-Pushing. Or something. Anyway.

So I got out, had him get in the car and steer while I pushed him up out of the middle of the road, and out of the way of the commercial driveway he was also blocking. Between the bit of incline and the little bit of slip the snow provided… I felt good. Strong, useful.. just good. I realized then and there.. you know, it honestly doesn’t matter that I was 75 lbs short of my goal in the gym. I have real-world applicable strength, I just pushed a couple thousand lbs, by myself, with no problem. I was useful, and could help someone, and that’s much more important than an arbitrary (though, round and impressive!) number that I’d chosen as a goal.

It was my first opportunity to push a car in a long time, so I found the timing interesting. It had instantly alleviated all of the stress and guilt I felt earlier this morning. THEN things got even more interesting: As I started walking back to my truck, my chiropractor drove by, pulling over to say a few kind words about my “good samaritanship”.

Without going into all the boring details, I have a LONG history of beating the crap out of myself, physically. I also have a long history of not taking the best care of myself, in a lot of ways – not tending to injury properly, powering through when I shouldn’t, etc. At the present time, I have a crappy hip injury and a bad knee.. along with the chronic upper back pain that’s been at me for a long time. To sum it up… pushing a car was kind of a dumb thing for me to be doing, and the sudden appearance of my chiropractor made me feel a little guilty about it.. until I decided to take it as a bit of a sign to go in for preventative care, right then and there.

It’s always hard to me to take all the connected dots in my head, and lay them out in a blog.. but the whole thing struck me as very significant, in a very short amount of time. Aside from the realization that 1000 is just a number, and that I SHOULD be happy where I’m at (not saying I’ll stop aiming for 1000, just that I won’t beat myself up any more for not reaching it by the start of 2010!)… the appearance of my chiro came across as a definite sign that in the new year, I really should focus more effort on actually taking better care of myself. That health and (Relative!) lack of injury really does matter more than meeting a crazy = and random – goal.

It’s been an interesting year, introspectively, for me… and I think I have a decent plan for what/how I’d like to improve, personally, for 2010. Taking better care of myself doesn’t stop at the physical, but a lot of the “emotional well being” is very much tied into my resolutions for the business in 2010.. so stay tuned for that.

In the wedding / event industry – and really, just small business in general – there are many times when you have to fill out questionnaires about yourself and your business. Whether it’s for an interview, a profile on a website, or even just for a bio on your own website.. you really find yourself answering the same few questions repeatedly. You know, “How long have you been in the business?”, “How did you get your start in the business?” etc.

Bah.

Well, early this morning I was filling out another such questionnaire, and was pleasantly surprised by a question I’d never been asked before: “Is there a book, person, or story that comes to mind which has had a strong impact on your career?”. Wow! I like it!

I’m sure that there are “proper” answers to that question… something by Preston Bailey, or Martha Stewart… maybe a business book… who knows. My answer came to mind immediately, and immersed me in a sense of not only nostalgia, but confidence and happiness. It definitely inspired me to write a blog entry, so indulge me while I share!

My answer is a fairly obscure children’s book from the 70’s, from the Value Tales series: The Value of Believing in Yourself : The Story of Louis Pasteur. I owned it when I was 4, maybe 5 years old. Weird as it may be, silly as it may sound.. it really has had more impact on any book I’ve read since! I can still visualize the illustrations in my mind!

It was the story of how Pasteur, one of the fathers of microbiology, developed germ theory and created the vaccine for rabies. I’ll spare you all of the nerdy details. I knew from the age of about 5 that I wanted to be a scientist, that I wanted to work with diseases, and that I really looked up to Louis Pasteur as a role model.

Yes. While other kids would name athletes, musicians, or movie stars as role models.. I looked up to Louis Pasteur. I was a weird kid, but I maintain to this DAY that he is a much better role model! (I’m looking at you, Tiger Woods!). Anyway, I digress. The book was inspiring on many levels.

For one, it formed the basis for my early love of science, and experimentation. While I did end up very off track from my original life goal of a career in virology, I’ve never stopped enjoying experimentation. I think that comes out in my flavors list nicely, in some of the design techniques I’ve developed, as well as in my upcoming cook books. While none of that is ever going to get my name immortalized in any science textbook… that book was foundational to my lifelong love of learning.

On another level, I really do think that the book accomplished it’s main goal – I do think I learned “The value of believing in myself” from it. In the early days of microbiology, a lot of germ theory seemed VERY off the wall.. and a lot of people thought that Pasteur was kind of off his rocker. He had ideas that could be regarded as weird or crazy, and believed in himself enough to develop them, see them through. We now vaccines, a much better knowledge of immunology, and pasteurization, all of a result of his “crazy” ideas.

While my “crazy” ideas are never as history-impacting as his were, I do believe that the book had formative impact on my desire and ability to not only think outside the box, but to just go for it, and really see crazy ideas through to fruition. I think THAT has really gone a long way to making work – and life – fun!

“The Value of Believing in Yourself” was from a series of about 40 formulaic books. Each told a fictionalized story of a historical figure, illustrating a certain “Value”. There were titles for values such as Adventure (Sacagawea), Leadership (Winston Churchill), Determination (Helen Keller), and so forth. “Believing in Yourself” was the only one I owned, unfortunately

The books have sadly been out of print for a long time, and it’s really unfortunate. If the rest of the books were anywhere near as good as the one I owned, I truly don’t think that any household with kids should be without the entire set. A bold statement to be sure… but damn, being impacted by that book almost 3 decades later? To have it be the first thing to come to mind when asked that question? Even after giving hard thought to whether or not there were any other books that have affected me so, I draw a complete blank. THAT is a powerful book!