The second installment for “What is Your Purpose”: Family. No words can describe what your family means to you or should mean to you. If you can’t count on your family, who can you count on! I loved the line in the movie “Cheaper by the Dozen”, where the family in the movie had 12 kids. At the end one of the kids talked about another one of the kids: “There I times I want to kill her, but more important, there are more times that I would kill for her”. Now, it does not have to get to this extent, but the point of it was that we may not always get along every minute of every day, but in the long run, we would do anything for someone in our family! We have each other’s backs! We raised our kids to be active like us, and it carried on into their adult lives. We all have to put some effort into taking care of ourselves. That is also one of our purposes in life. We cannot just depend on somebody else taking care of us, or doing everything for us, if we are able to do it ourselves.
They learned right from the start that this family will be active, and we will support each other. We went biking, walking, running together. When I had some of my marathons early on, they were all there as cheerleaders. We support each other with what we do. Then as they got older, and their activities came up, we were in the stands or the sidelines cheering them on. Family support always. This is definitely one point to be grateful for, and one to be remembered for. We were a family, and I was Dad. Most men, not all, but most men can be Fathers, but we all earn the title of Dad. I want to be remembered for being the best Dad I could be. It was not always easy. Sometimes you had to put your foot down. They had to learn, and sometimes the hard way, to the point that you may not always be the most popular person. My kids may have thought, just like most kids, that we may have been tough on them at times. But it was actually tougher on Sarah and me!
Sarah and I still remain very active and will for as long as we can. We don’t just talk the talk but walk the talk! Just like the back of my shirt says on this picture: Success: A Journey–not a destination! Just like life! That is our purpose. Keep going on journeys. Keep exploring new things. Keep learning. Keep trying. Live!
We still try and get together to run races. Here we are at the annual Hump Day 5k. Our individual schedules may not always allow us to do them together as much, but we can still do them. On Thanksgiving, we have the annual turkey run here, and my daughter Molly and son-in-law did the turkey run in Marshall, MN.
One of the best titles I can claim is being a grandpa! I love spending time with Connor, who now just turned 6 months old. Molly and Tanner are sending us snapchats every day to show us what he is all doing. They are the highlights of the day! When I had my health scare almost 3 years ago, when I was 54, it was again a stark reality that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. My grandfather died at 54, and never got to see any of his grandchildren. No matter what, I got to start seeing mine, and spending time with them. I want to be remembered as being the greatest grandpa that ever was! As he grows up, he will blend right into the Reiffenberger family by walking and running races too. It is a family tradition after all! It will become second nature to him too!
No debate. Family is forever. Sarah and I created this family, and we are the foundation. I would be lost without her.
I want to go down as being remembered as a great husband too. Through thick and thicker! Together! Always! We have traditions to keep going, and races to run. Most important, we have memories to make. I want to stay on this ride for as long as we can. No regrets! Keep moving for your health. Keep your family moving. Keep moving everybody!
Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Some people have warnings, others do not. For those that do, I hear many times as I am seeing them as a patient, things in life they wished they had accomplished. Being human, we always have regrets. If only I had done this, or this, or this, and on and on it goes. When we have choices to make, make them! We all make mistakes, but over time we learn from them. If you are wondering yourself what your purpose is in this life, now is the time to really sit back and think about it. I went to a educational conference one time, and the speaker was talking about the day we may die. The conference did not start off in the most cheerful tone, that is for sure. But, he said something that really stuck with me. He told all of us to think about how things would be when we are no longer here in this life. He also made us come up with what we wanted to be stated in our obituary. Wow! What do we want said? What do we want to be remembered for? What is/was our purpose in life? Did we do what we wanted? Were we happy? Did we make a change to improve things when we needed to? All kinds of questions that could just keep going. So now is the time for all of us to think about what our individual purpose is. If it is not what we want it to be, then what are we going to do about it?
During the Winter especially, it is easy to get a little down just because of the weather. It is cold, snowing, and the wind is blowing. How do you look beyond that? How do you find something positive in everything? That may be the beginning of trying to find your purpose. Look beyond! Enjoy life, and do what you can to help take care of yourself the best you can. At least then you could always say that you did everything you could to help improve your life. Be happy! Some days this may take work to accomplish. What are you grateful for? What in life makes you happy? We all have different things we enjoy. Your purpose is hidden in here.
Life can get confusing. We all have pressures, some real, and some created in our own minds. We feel pulled in many ways. How do you juggle all of this? You can only be pulled in so many ways and stressing about it only makes things worse. Believe me, I have to tell myself this everyday also. Look beyond!
Sometimes things get so routine, you forget to any pay attention to things that are around us all of the time. If we learn to focus on those everyday things a little more often, we can actually find some satisfaction, and happiness, in it. Appreciate what you have. Challenge yourself. Keep setting goals. Have fun and enjoy life! That is your purpose!
What Is My Life Purpose? sign
What is your life purpose? What is my life purpose? Over the next several months, I will tell you what my life purposes are. I will have it intermixed with some of the other weekly blogs. My life purpose is going to center around: Family; Friends; Work; Running/Exercise; Goals. I, just like you, have lots of things to accomplish yet. One thing in my obituary I would like to have said is that I “lived life to the fullest”. Don’t waste any of our days. We can always live life to the fullest with the help of others. Never is this more important with everything going on in this crazy world. Come up with your purpose…the reason for which you do something! Whatever it may be, give it purpose. What do you want written about you for your obituary? When I talk about some of those things for me coming up, I will refer to it as my “purpose series”. Maybe some of this will hit home for you as well. As the first picture of todays blog shows, my first purpose will be related to family. Keep moving everybody!
Winter is here! We have a saying in our run club: There is no such thing as cold weather, just the wrong clothes! For most of the Winter, that is true. These last few days when windchills have been between -20 and -40, it is better to come up with alternatives inside for exercise. Whether you have exercise equipment or not, there are other activities that you can do just by doing body weight exercises. In general, if you are going to be outside, you need to have the right gear on. Especially something that helps block the wind.
Our dog Dakota always wants to go out no matter what the temp is. We can’t take her out when it is this cold either, but when we can at least be above zero, we are out there. You need to wear a thick coat that the wind can’t penetrate, and a face covering are both a must. Sarah’s hands tend to be very sensitive to the cold, so she has hand warmers put in mittens as well.
You need to have a good base layer on, and something that can breath when you are sweating, but that can also block the wind. I love my goretex equipment. In the Winter, I won’t run outside without it. Huge benefit, and well worth the investment. When it is too cold outside, especially with the windchill, you resort to indoor activities.
Of course, Dakota has to help when I am riding the bike also. This is where it can be a good investment for at home, or have a membership to the Wellness Center, or other gym, and have use of multiple pieces of other exercise equipment.
Sarah and I will be out in the “Reiflex Center” quite a bit (a corner of my garage that is heated) and do body weight exercises. Push-ups you can do anywhere, anytime. My friend Tom will continue to go up and down the stairs in his house for 30 minutes or more for one of his workouts.
We will do planks, kettle bell activities. lunges, squats, box steps, jumprope, and on and on. The list is ongoing as to what you can do. But, if you do venture outside, there are always things that still can be very enjoyable to look at, even when it is cold outside.
Just remember to be creative, and do something else that you can enjoy as well. A workout is a workout. We can all stand to have some variety. But you can’t wait for the weather to always be perfect. We live in South Dakota afterall!!
The biggest thing is you have to remember to keep moving to help stay warm!
No more excuses. Either get outside and get going, or be creative and do something inside if the windchills are as bad as they have been this week. Bottom line, it does not mean you can’t do anything. Think outside the box. You don’t need to have all kinds of special equipment to be active doing something. We have lots of Winter here! Keep moving everybody!
We are beginning a New Year! Time to be done, really, with the last 2 years. Here is hoping 2022 will be better. We cannot control many issues, but we can control our attitudes. You also just have to remember; we are all in this together. Control what we can control, and continue to keep making your own goals.
Time to move on. Make 2022 a year for you. Make it one to remember for different reasons other than the last 2 years of covid. What can you do to change things? What can you do to change your attitude? Why would you change things? These are all questions you need to answer for yourself.
Take your dreams and turn them into reality. You have to move to do something about it. What is it you want to accomplish this year? Make a plan and stick to it. Be patient. Take small steps to make big changes.
The only limitation is what is between your ears. If we think we can, we will. If we don’t think we can, we won’t. Your attitude is truly everything. Make it your goal this year. The sky is the limit. Have fun with things, and if needed, get a training partner, or partners. It makes working out much more enjoyable.
It is time to see what you are made of! Are you one to sit back and see what happens, or as I have said in previous posts, are you going to be in the driver’s seat making things happen? The choice is yours. The road to those goals may not always be easy. Consider them as temporary roadblocks that you need to maneuver. And especially around here, the weather is a big factor.
Things we want may not always be easy. There can always be some degree (such as weather!) of unpleasantness. But, many times, it is temporary. Keep looking at the big picture. Why do you want those goals you have made? Are you willing to put in the time to achieve it? Are you ready to put in the time?
Believe in yourself! Nobody said it was easy. Some days you may wonder why you keep going, and if it is really worth it. There will be some bad days involved, just like everything. You attitude once again dictates how you handle things today, and what you will do tomorrow.
You don’t have to work on your goals by yourself. They may be your goals, but you can get help from others. This can be friends, spouses, kids, pets, whoever. Take advantage of those around you. Maybe that needs to be part of your goal: Accept help from others! Spend time with those people. It has been a great way over the years to spend more time with Sarah as well.
We had just got done running one Sunday this Summer and took a break on the dock at the Lake when we were done. Take time to appreciate those moments as well. Those people who are helping you have goals too, so be one to help them as well. We just closed out 2021…time to move on!
Make 2022 a year to remember: for all the right reasons! Keep moving everybody!
First of all, Merry Christmas everybody! Hopefully you all have a great holiday to spend with your families. For me, it also marks Day 1000 of my new consecutive exercise streak. It started March 31, 2019. One week after my health issues ended my last streak at 4,196 days. It started off really slow, but the habit had already been started. In the last roughly 15 years, I have missed 7 days total, and they all happened to be in a row.
This truly is how success is described. It truly is a journey, not a final destination, or a final race result, or a final completion of one particular goal. It is ongoing. A continuous journey. Many things along the way help each of us continue this journey. It should never be thought of as something you will do on your own. Take all the help you can get.
Sarah has been by my side every single day of this journey. I would never have been able to keep going with all of this without help, and motivation from her as well. Forever partners!
Of course, everybody in our run group, WARC, helped immensely as well. This will always be a very special picture to me. They were all cheering for me while I was in the hospital, and this day would have been #4200 for me. Of course, my weakness is peanut M & M’s. There are never enough of them!
5 months ago I became a Grandpa! To think I may not have been able to even see him! Everything is now in the past. I am only looking forward!
I had to keep telling myself this many times. You have to keep telling yourself to never give up! Never! Even though there may be many times when you want to give up, you have to show how tough you really are, and keep going.
Exactly! We all have to work physically at the activities, but the mental part is the really hard part. If you can convince your mind to do this, you will!
Yes, there are times when you feel exhausted when you get done. You start wondering how you can do it again the next day. But once it becomes a habit, you have more endurance, and mind power, to accomplish things.
I am truly happy that I was able to start a new streak. I am running again, and did not know if this was going to be in my future or not. So I am especially thankful around the holidays. And as far as how long this new streak will take me, I have no idea. The only thing I have left to stay is:
Bring it on! I am ready to take life on. I am ready to conquer other obstacles that go on. It has been a tough 2 years putting up with COVID, and it makes me wonder how much more I can take of this. But this is how it is. Put your head down, face the challenges in your life, and take them on with everything you have! Have a Merry Christmas, and an upcoming New Year! May the New Year be your beginning of something better for you! Keep moving everybody!
Our run club wore our Christmas attire today to celebrate Christmas. Many lights, sweaters, and running! Those moments when you can run with friends, and family…it truly is fun. I am just waiting for Sarah to have her foot heal up. It is truly not the same without running with her. Our family celebrated Christmas this weekend. Of course, my grandson Connor made it home, which helped me get over my grandchild withdrawal syndrome!
Even Dakota had to get in on Connor cuddles and kisses!
With family, friends, and the holiday, it makes you appreciate life even more. We have to make sure that we make every moment count. Don’t look back on your life and have regrets. Move on, be in the moment, and appreciate every day we have.
Our run group had to stop and take a photo at the sleigh while on our run this morning. Our running family…hoping and wishing everybody a Merry Christmas coming this week!
Don’t ever forget this! Live each day to the fullest. I saw a picture the other day that had a sunrise in the background, and the slogan was: “Just before Sunrise there is a dark night.” Begin each day anew. Look forward to what the next day will bring to you. Appreciate it. Here is one of my sunset, then sunrise pictures.
Each day brings something else to look forward to. This is what makes life so interesting…you never know what the day is going to bring! My daughter Megan gave me a gift last night of a book of many of my sunrise/sunset pictures, and the title of the book was “Reiffenberger Reflections”. How cool is that!!!! I love it!
Truly make every moment of your life count. We only get one life. Don’t waste it. Spend time with things that truly are important. The rewards in this are endless. Take care of yourself, and keep moving everybody! Have a Merry Christmas coming!
