I did the Key West Paddle Classic 2022 on a Surf SUP style board. The same boards we are using for the www.supgames.org. It's not the board, It's the paddler. Just remember to BE selfish with your health and SELFLESS with everything else. The ego is never satisfied. The life within you is the only real thing. When you win in Life, you're living the life of your dreams, achieving your goals, and being content with where you're at every day. Kevin Woodin's Perspective. Congrats to Conrad Charles (2nd place), Danny Smith (3rd place), and Chris Baker (4th place) who also paddled on Surf SUP boards. "It always seems impossible until it's done." -Nelson Mandela BIG shoutout to our support crew Manuela Esposito Woodin (Wifey), Karren Watson, Kari Paul, and Tony Paul who joined this extraordinary weekend experience. When you find your tribe, Love them hard! Congrats to all the paddlers who participated, tides and winds were definitely unfavorable. May we all look at this as a success or a lesson, but never a failure. What did you learn? Every situation is an opportunity. Either we harvest wellbeing, or suffering – it is our choice. "The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Thank you to all the event staff, water & land safety support, volunteers, and sponsors that made it possible. The Key West Paddle Classic challenged my emotional resilience, testing my ability to respond to stressful and unexpected situations and crises. I heard this paddle event was tough, I just didn't expect it to actually challenge me the entire way, LOL. Events like this are won and lost in the mind. The hard parts were met with even harder parts. The last few miles, which I call The Zombie Miles, reminded me of "hitting the wall" in my early marathon days as a distance runner. Maintain a vibrant and resilient body and mind so you can rescue yourself from any pain, difficulty, and or suffering along the way. Because it’s not a matter of if, but more a matter of when. "If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow." -Brian Weiner. This is exactly what the Stoics meant when they said that events were objective but our opinions about them were not. The conditions of this paddle event were not good or bad, they just were. It's not what happens. It's how You bear it. And to Runners that don't paddle, yet LOL. If you're only a runner, then this would be like running on a treadmill street trying to move forward for 8+ miles, strong winds blowing against you, the entire treadmill wobbling in all directions, and invisible forces pushing and pulling when you least expected. Yep! WHY? WHAT? HOW?Why did I keep going? Yesterday’s shower isn’t going to keep me clean today, LOL. Life will always challenge me. Once I let the past miles decide how I experience the present ones, I destroy Life not fully lived yet. It's the only one I got. Yes, sometimes I fall into moments of darkness, and that's ok, but I don't Live there, I keep moving forward. Read my BIG FIVE below. What did I hope achieve? Enjoying the process of playing and practicing at the edge of my ability. Breathe, Paddle, Repeat. It's really about being my best, not the best. There’s no destination. Life’s about my perceptions and attitude while traveling through it. Smiles 4 Miles. Just like mountains have always been an inspiration for seekers of all sorts. The Peak signifies fulfillment. May you know the peak of your being. “Happiness is the byproduct of doing meaningful things, not an end to be pursued.” – Rich Roll How did I make it? Never allowing myself to mourn over a zombie mindset. "Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists." -Eckhart Tolle. "Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it." -Andy Rooney The BIG FIVE for honing my skillsAre you in mourning over your zombie Life? When did you begin to value health as a commodity, erring on the side of cheap versus quality, convenience versus efficacy, isolation versus connection. "And so it goes for you and whatever interminable period lays ahead. It’s not good or bad, it’s an experience. What will you make of it? Will you be in it? That’s what counts. That’s what matters. That is what you control." -Daily Stoic “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind, your energies take on the color of your thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius The BIG FIVE for honing my skills. 1) Master your Breath, 2) Captain your Mind, 3) Move with Less Friction, 4) Recenter yourself and Focus, 5) Flow to Grow and … Keep Moving Forward! Or backward yet forward! YOU GOT THIS! Aspire to paddle. Paddle to inspire.Doing. Learning. Sharing. Communicaring. Adapting. Growing. Until you expire. What really determines how we live our lives? Rethink that conclusion. An Active Intelligence, no conclusions. You are response-able for the life you want. You are part of the ingredients in your whole diet. Your should be liberating your Life, not restricting or enslaving it. Create more reasons to MOVE. Humans grow by observation and involvement. Human beings are missing a whole lot of life, simply because they are indoors most of the time. We should be wandering outdoors, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing. Somebody who loves to keep learning and enjoying the process is always consciously playing and growing. Consciousness is like sunlight. When it is on, it reveals everything. And without playfulness, you shall not know what it means to be conscious. We’re a culmination of all our decisions. What our consciousness is intensely focused on is what we will manifest in our life and in the world around us. Your thoughts follow your actions, and you attract more of what we become. It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting. The life within you is the only real thing – everything else is just a projection. A person who is a friend to themselves is an aid to all life. "This is such a brief life – why waste your time on things that are not worthwhile. The problem is not our intelligence but our unconscious, compulsive behavior. It is time we create a Conscious Planet.” -Sadhguru
Breath is Life. Rest is Growth. Eat to Live. Aspire to inspire. Try to fail. Hone your faculties. Engage in playfulness. BE KIND to YOURSELF! Avoid negative labels! YOU ARE STRONG! YOU GOT THIS! 🌱 🙏 🧠 🙌 🌍 🤙 ❤️ 💪 #LIVEITBEAWESOME
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