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Hi.

Lately I’ve been gathering a pile of thoughts and intend to share them at some point for dialogue. There’s a lot to think about these days and while I might be thinking too much I suspect many of you could be as well. The ideas swirl around super safe topics like politics, religion, career.

I’m grateful to have had honorable mentors throughout my life to chew on life topics and hopefully I’ve responded successfully along the way. For all of us there is always the question what is the best way to live. It would be vain or naïve to try and boil that down to fortune cookie answers but this is the area I’ll try to have some discussion around.**

Sorry to be vague, here’s one point on the map so to speak:

“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”

– David W. Orr, Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World.

Ten years ago today my father, Jim Goslin, was killed in a car accident.

Earlier this summer I began thinking about him and about the ten-year milestone, and what all has transpired since then, what all has changed. I thought about how amazing the response was in Pataskala from family and friends, our neighbors, my father’s friends, the West Licking Fire community, our church community, and so many others. Though my parents had been separated they were still very close friends, and my mom and sister and myself remember that time mainly through the lens of the immense support we received. It truly carried us through a dark time. It was a testament as well to my dad's character, gregariousness, and constant service to others, that so many people came out to give their condolences, mourn with us, and honor his memory.

Since that time, much has changed indeed. I went to and completed college, I travelled many places doing relief/volunteer work, I backpacked through many forests and up many mountains across many countries, I worked hard and grew through many different companies and industries, and recently met and married the love of my life. Though it’s obvious to remember him on the anniversary of his death, I don’t otherwise think of him as frequently any more. It is when I am celebrating a special moment, or when something significant happens, that I feel the urge to reach out to him. It’s whenever I turn on the classic rock station and easily settle in to familiar songs that I wish we were enjoying them together. It is what I’ve always had with my mom and have sought from others in my parent’s generation; that I could run questions by him about car stuff, or job stuff, or people stuff, or whatever stuff. Not that he knew all the answers, but he had lived through many hard circumstances and had already lived a long life when his time here stopped. It is that listening I desired, and still desire, not his omniscience.

What would I say to a younger man ten years ago who was going through the most abrupt incident of his life to that point? I’d say that before you know it, 3000 and more days will pass and the person you can’t imagine not existing will continue to fade in your memory. He will not fade completely, but the richness of his presence will be muted and change into a different immutable state, where your memories will bend more often to fondness than to complexity or pain. I’d say to hang in there, and to ride the cycles of grief as they come in all their complexity, and let them pass as they will. I’d say cherish the memories while you have them and look forward to other ones that must distill with time. And I would certainly say remember your love for your dad, never doubt his love for you, and honor his life by being a gift to others, as he did the best he could for you.

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, and prolific business starter and supporter, shared a transparent and humble message about his own limitations, and how we incorrectly perceive the "superhero-ness" of successful people.

His honest message discusses some ways he has learned to address and work around his own limitations. If you feel the pressure to be a high-performer, you may find some helpful aids, and possible corrections to your thinking.

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. cs lewis[^1]

Progress means getting closer to the object we desire. Sometimes that means change, possibly even a complete alteration to our thinking or direction. Progress therefore invokes violence; violence of honesty, violence of action, and violence of consequence. Progress is not easy.