Thriving on the Borderline of Insanity

In order to get the most out of life you’ve got to make it a challenge; constantly push yourself to the borderline of insanity and that is where opportunities will begin to reward you for your hard work, ambition, and drive!

Sometimes I don’t feel like I am doing so good. I feel like I am barely holding on by a thread. I feel like the iceberg is tilting over and I’m about to lose hold and fall to my death.

We ALL know that feeling, that feeling that one more feather on your plate is literally going to break not just the camel’s back but your back as well.

I THRIVE on this borderline insanity.

I don’t know if it was growing up doing both 4H in three different project areas while playing basketball or partaking in rodeo drill team while playing Division I college basketball, but somewhere along the line I hit this ability to work really well in crazy situations.

Normality and complacency are not things I am okay with.

The second things begin to get “normal” you begin to get “complacent” and becoming complacent is one of my greatest fears. I fear complacency because the second you sit down and rest someone out there is going to be grinding. They are going to get that job offer, that amazing opportunity, that sponsor, whatever it is that I want they are going to get it.

Let’s say the winning lottery ticket was on the ground and it was free to whoever would pick it up, you would pick it up right? Would you still pick it up if you had to run a mile for it? You didn’t have to beat anyone there, you just had to do the work and pick up the lottery ticket. I would do it. I would do it everyday for the rest of my life.

When you are living life there is this perfect “hum” as I like to refer to it as. It’s the noise that my 1964 Nova Super Sport made once we got that 350 small block hooked up and running; she was literally humming. That’s how you want to live your life. Get yourself into the highest, most efficient form of you and push yourself as close as you feasibly can to the “breakover” moment of going insane.

For those of you who have been in this situation it’s pretty amazing. To live your life here, well, that’s a feat that’s much harder. When you’re in this position, all of a sudden it seems like everything is going your way. You are getting opportunity upon opportunity, you are building in life, and so much more.

The catch is that when you are in this humming stage and something goes wrong, this is where you find out what you are made of. Your hours at work get cutback, you’ve made your business so big you’ve outsourced to someone else to deal with a whole sector of your company. Usually this crashing down isn’t always something bad, sometimes it’s just the opening of more free time.

What are you supposed to do with free time?!

This is where complacency drifts in. It feels nice to be “normal,” just like all your friends and family. Then you start missing opportunities.

Nothing aggravates me more than when I don’t capitalize on an opportunity. I consistently live with the feeling that this next opportunity or connection is going to be my “big break.”

Another factor on getting into the “hum stage” is who you surround yourself with. This one is so important but isn’t one that you normally think about. I like to stay loyal to my original friends but at some point you are going to have to branch out and make new friends. This is really scary for me but it has resulted in some of the greatest, most motivating friendships a girl can have.

I try to surround myself with those that I feel are above me. I used to always try to be the smartest person in the friend group, at least in my area of expertise, but now I try to be the dumbest. Not meaning that I stop furthering my knowledge or education but that I surround myself with REALLY intelligent individuals. It takes so much stress off of you to have these friendships.

For example, one of my best friends from high school is currently attending veterinarian school. I absolutely am so dang proud of her! She has had the goal of being a veterinarian for as long as I have known her, she tailored her high school education around it, she went to vet-camps throughout the summers, and she pursued her career with a venegence letting nothing stop her. The fact that I have someone SO knowledgeable about horses in my back pocket is a relief. Coming out of winter my back up rodeo horse ended up getting borrowed by a high school equestrian student for their state meet. My poor horse had been fairly inactive working just 20-30 minutes twice a week to all of a sudden being ridden hard two to three times a week. She started to lose weight and lose weight fast. I couldn’t drastically change her feed as she was going to be traveling a significant distance for the event but my vet-student friend being the vet-student that she is, immediately contacted me that she was worried about her weight. Once I explained the struggles I was having she was quick to find some supplements and feeds that would work better for her and, just like that, she was getting back on track. Surround yourselves with those who are more knowledgeable and be able to listen to them no matter what!

Train your body, train your brain, and train your enthusiasm (this is the most important) to survive and thrive in the moments of insanity. I think this is truly when we are living our lives and this borderline of insanity is what is assisting us in truly living our life! There is a time to sit back and rest, that is when our bodies are tired and can not do anything more. That’s when we sit back and tell great stories about the “good old days!”

Well, at least in my opinion!