Personal Update
I had a question about how my Dollar Game finished up. The game is a simple one - give $1 to 100 different people. The game took me over 100 days to complete, which surprised me.
Coming out of the game, I've found myself more willing to get involved with helping people locally - the situations that stand out are non-financial. Not sure if that was the game or simply a spin off from serving my kids all the time.
The only dollar that left me feeling bad was one I gave to an alcoholic. That dollar left me feeling like I was supporting his drinking.
I've read that it's better to separate the giving from the person - to see that I'm giving for myself, rather than to promote anything in the other person. However, I'm not there yet.
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I had a question about my application to return to school. I was accepted to my degree program and deferred for a year to work on my relationship with my daughter and get my family's finances in order.
Improving my parenting experience and family financial position would be transformative. To give myself the best shot at change, I've greatly simplified my life and am applying my friends' best advice. Specifically, I've:
removed most travel
ditched my high-volume training days
cleared the decks of any racing
cut my writing, coaching and consulting commitments to ten hours per week
This leaves me spending more time with my kids, in ways that don't cost much money. We swim, bike, hike and stay local. It has the benefits of a sabbatical (free time) without the hassle of changing my kids' routine.
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Athletically, I returned to masters swimming (my wife's the coach) and our kids love the childcare at the pool. I've been in the water 26 of the last 28 days. While it kicks my butt a couple times a week, swimming seems to fit my family and marriage. Not a whole lot of cycling or running getting done - which is just as well as all my favorite mountain routes remain damaged from the Boulder Flood.
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My hospice training starts tomorrow - when I looked at my family web, I realized that "community" was a weak link in my life. The hospice work fits with a personal goal of self-improvement, in a way that's useful to my family.
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Surprisingly, owning my anger was near immediately transformative - I told a room full of preschool parents how angry I get with my daughter and that seemed to clear the air for myself. Got some good parenting ideas as well.