I’ve been figuring out how to write this now for the past 2 weeks. It’s funny how little I blog, and how much I think about blogging.

Last year around this time, I wrote a post regarding things I learned in 2010. I wrote down things that made me happy in 2010 and it really helped me alot. Even if I’ve said it a billion times, It’s always good to reflect.

So this year, in light of the new year, I wanted to jot my thoughts down here. My top moments and my top lessons learned from 2011. This will mostly written future versions of myself, so if I say YOU, I don’t mean YOU, I mean YOU, the kc of the future reading this.

Things the 2011 version of kc will tell the 2012 version of kc

You’re not perfect, stop claiming to be
I never claimed to be perfect, but more times than not my actions made it appear that I was perfect(or at least that’s what I was TRYING portray). It’s not the truth, and it really puts you at a disadvantage. Part of leveraging your strengths is knowing your weaknesses. Embrace them. Work on them. Digging deeper into this, you’re not perfect and you don’t know everything. That means, learn about other people. Learn their strengths, utilize them anyway you can without using them. Learn from them their strengths. It’s a very simple concept. Divide and conquer. Start leverging other people who are better than you in different aspects of life. Be it work. Be it personal. Be it spiritual.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
2011 really threw alot of shit at you. Alot. In an effort to be more “responsible” you tried to devise plans, and routes and alternative routes, and various detours to help get back on plan. It doesn’t work for you. It never will. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Fly by the seat of your pants. Sure, it gets hectic at times being unprepared, but you’ll save so much time. Time that you spent planning, you can plan doing.

Continue to be a better person.
I’m not talking about solving world hunger, nor am I talking about finding the cure for cancer, but continue doing your part. You did exceptionally well in 2011, but you can do better in 2012.

Get back on track with physical activities.
I don’t care what. I don’t care if you play dance dance revolution for an hour a day. Resolve to do some physical activity for an hour a day each day this year. Dont’ count taking Bella for walks either. I know you take her for crazy long walks every day, spending an hour and a half at the doggy park(keep doing this too), but do something for yourself. Do something fun, that doesn’t feel like a chore, but is an activity to keep yourself moving.

Only dead fish go with the flow.
Continue to push. I don’t know what specifically to push but continue to push. Don’t be complacent. This applies to everything in life. Keep pushing! You’ll know what this means when you get there.

Top Moments of 2011

Taking my mom and sister to Red Rocks.
That was alot of fun, and hopefully it got to show them how awesome Denver was. It’s really cool too showing my family Denver. I forget that my sister has lived in a big city, but my mother I don’t think has really done anything out of her comfort zone.

Toss me around, put me on the Mosh Pit!
Seriously, that just happened recently, but it was too cool not to mention here. It really got me to think differently in certain aspects of my life, so much so, I even blogged about it.

The new gig.
I was sitting at a training seminar probably my second week working at my new job, that I started back in February. After an 8 hour interview process, meeting countless people, taking too many tests and then finally making it. Was definitely a cool moment, however, even cooler was sitting at this training seminar, as if I was in an AA meeting. I had to give my name, occupation, and basically my path in life to get there. As others went around the room, people had worked at Netscape, Yahoo!, Flickr, Nokia, Microsoft and the list goes on and on. It was pretty awesome, BUT! It wasn’t that moment. It was the moment directly after I stated my piece that I felt I could accomplish even more. “Even though I’ve come so far, I’ve got so far to go.” They say an attribute of a great athlete is simply the amount of pressure he/she puts on themselves. That no matter how bad they are criticized, or how much pressure is put on them from the media, fans or teammates, none of it compares to the amount of pressure they put on themselves. I feel the same way, but in my own life.

Day 50 of my p90x challenge
I didn’t realize it at the time, in fact, I was pretty pissed off. But when I got to day 50 of my challenge I know for a fact I felt awesome. I was pissed off because I didn’t see any improvements. Which was false, I did’t FEEL any improvements, but that too is false. I don’t know why I quit, but I did and I haven’t been able to get back to my workout program, but that hopefully will change sooner rather than later.

My 3 minutes of walking on water
By walking, I mean wakeboarding. In 2011, I was able to get up on the wakeboard for a good 3 minutes on a bad ass boat. Was a ton of fun, and hopefully I can keep it going this year but the moment I went up and was like, “Holy smokes! I’m wakeboarding!” was pretty epic. Of course, 2 seconds after that thought, I freaked out, and fell flat on my face, but that was the start of something special.

My first trip to the ocean
Me and a buddy went to E3(Los Angeles) in the summer and it was EPIC! Went to the nokia center, convention center, and saw the ocean. Was incredible. So much so, for 3 months after I returned all I thought about was moving. Was amazing, in Denver, when you come into the city from the East, you come over the hill and *POOF* the rocky mountains are visible all in one moment. The same with the ocean. From LA, you just head West and *POOF* you run out of road and see nothing but water. Maybe one day I’ll move. For now though I’ve rediscovered my love of Colorado which is good because of how amazing it is. I will be visiting California soon.

The Fishing Trip’s first night of sleep
So me and my father go on a yearly fishing trip in NW New Mexico. The weather was amazing, but the nights were really chilly. I taught Bella how to sleep in a sleeping bag with me, in case things did get dicy. I didn’t want her getting too too cold. So in preparation for our trip, about a month before leaving, I slept in a sleeping bag and of course Bella would sleep with me. Well, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT Bella would wake me up at like 2 in the morning, make her grunting noises and of course I’d let her out. So it really wasn’t going great. The first night we were camping, it was chilly. Chilly Chilly! We got ready for bed, Bella cuddled up with me in my bag, and the next thing I know, it’s morning. I’m ready to get up and ready to fish, and what do I see/feel? Bella has her nosed just out of the sleeping bag just enough to breathe, and of course, it’s right next to my face. She’s completely out of it, and we were enjoying each other’s warmth. I remember just sitting there for an extra hour with her until she woke up, and when she did, she wiggled her way out of the bag and gave me a kiss. I know she can’t speak to me, but the way she looked at me after that very moment was like she was thanking me, and letting me know she needed me as much as I needed her.

Final Thoughts

2011 was a decent year. Not a great year, not a crappy year, just an average year. You did alot to lay the ground work for a better future you, but please dont’ be complacent. Don’t be content. Keep on keeping on.

There were some pretty great moments though. There were some pretty low moments. Actually, if we were being honest with each other, there were alot of low moments. Alot of them. I really don’t know what I can tell you to get over these moments, other than to keep relying on what you’ve always relied on. Friends, Family and Music.

If I could sum up the year 2011 for you with a title of a hit tv show, it would be “Lost”. Remember, life isn’t about finding yourself it’s about creating yourself.

With that in mind, this year, 2012, should be named “Growing Pains”. This year should be about moving forward, learning from your past mistakes AND creating new ones. Yes. Creating new ones. All part of being an adult and learning. Hence, the growing pains. It’s ok to make mistakes, just not the same ones twice. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not taking enough chances. Learn from missed opportunities and past mistakes and please, for the love of GOD, Keep pushing forward!. Week by week. Day by day. Hour by hour. Inch by inch.

Keep pushing forward.

Peace, I’m outta here,
-kc