Try Chips

My friend and trainer Tim (aka, Timbo), and his friend Jerry (aka Numero Uno) are about to launch a good-for-you snack called Try Chips.

Try Chips are a crunchy chip made of dried fruit that they are marketing to athletes, or anyone who tries to do anything athletic, and wants a tasty nosh before, during or after their event.

Try Chips are healthy and good for you, so after you do something healthy and good for you like run or walk or whatever, you can feel good about eating these things.

They are going to be awesome.

The motto of Try Chips is, “Try Everything, Waste Nothing.”  And also, “Apathy is the Enemy.”

As we we’ve been working out in the gym these past months, Tim and I have been having talks about what it means to “try” something.  (‘Cause god knows I’ve been trying to get some arm muscles going here, people!)

We’re not talking here about “tasting” or “sampling” something, like, “Have you ever tried sushi?” No.

What we’re talking about is making an effort.  Getting off the couch.  Battling resistance and apathy and lethargy and laziness.  To get off the couch and go to the gym once is to “try.”

To keep going back to the gym day after day even when you don’t feel like it is called trying.  To try means to make an effort.  To keep trying involves persistence over time.  And it builds character …and eventually muscles!

So I’ve been thinking a lot about my dreams and my wants and my goals lately.  I’ve been reading my journal from this past year to see if there’s been any progress.  What I’m seeing is a hesitancy, a lack of bravery and courage when it comes to real-ifying my dreams, a reluctance to even try because some of my dreams are so outlandish!  So almost ridiculous!

So I’ve been asking myself this question:

What if everything we’ve ever dreamed of trying is in there, in our imagination, in our head, for a reason?

What if the reason we have dreams in the first place is because we are meant to follow them, act on them, real-ify them, birth them?

What if our dreams are not just “dreams” but the maps of our vocations?

And what if , if we don’t follow our dreams, or act on them, or go for them, or try to real-ify them, there will be real and serious consequences?

And what if the consequence of not going for our dreams is not that something bad will happen to us, but that nothing will happen to us?

What if the universe gives us dreams as tests, just to see if we’ll man-up or woman-up and go for them?

What if our dreams are sort of like the Twelve Labors of Hercules?  What if as soon as we conquer one, we are given the next, and the next, and each successive one is that much more challenging than the one before?

And what if each completed challenge makes us bigger, and braver, and more sparkly, and more alive, and stronger, and better, and kinder, and sweeter, and wiser?

And what if this is why we are given a life in the first place?