The Power Of Exercise

Today while I was running with Dave along the water in Alameda, the last chapter of Intentional Winning In Life became crystal clear! When "they" say exercise inspires, they're right!

Gettysburg: From Dave

On 1/13/11 Dave wrote:

Kathy,

Things are progressing slowly on my dream. I have come to the realization that I will definitely need to take some of the Orange Roads to get there.

I looked at some new postings today on USA Jobs and saw some listings at other parks that would be very satisfying. The problem is that most of the positions I would like to fill are all seasonal, part time jobs. I spoke with an HR representative at Gettysburg today to find out if there was anything more I could do to further my dream. She told me that permanent positions
were few and far between as most employees that get into the NPS stay until they retire. She recommended that I look at other position outside of the interpretive arena such as HR since that is what I have been basically doing for the last few years with the National Guard. She did give me some good news in that my veteran status will almost guarantee me a job, it's just a
matter of where that job is. I also asked her about going through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Program and if that would be beneficial and she agreed that any additional qualifications would help.

In the end, I may have to take a position that is not as fulfilling but gets my foot in the door or I need you to start making the big bucks so I can afford to give up my job with the Guard and work seasonally until I can land a full time interpretive position.

How Do I Find Other Options?

Think like a child and imagine you are pretending to do the job you dream about doing. Children know no boundaries and will plug in all the wildest, most seemingly impossible ways to be who they want to be when they play.

Dave, as you "play" park ranger, write down all the ways you can be a ranger. What are you wearing? Is there something you can do that involves ranger clothing? That sounds like a silly question, doesn't it? No! What about researching and teaching about ranger uniforms through the years? Could you locate and put together complete period uniforms and open a private museum? Of course you could! I'm not suggesting that's something you want to do, I'm only proposing that you open your mind to different ways to bring this passion into your life right now.

Get a blank piece of paper and let your imagination run wild. Make a list of every way you can imagine (still thinking like a 5 year old) your day including or encompassing Gettysburg. I can think of many, but I'm going to save my list for future posts. You make your list and watch how the leaves of new ideas sprout off the vines that are your original list -- it will spread like a wild fire!

Are you feeling the excitement when you think of all the ridiculous ways you can live this dream just a little bit right now? I am! I can't wait to visit this national park that now has me feeling it's energy through this blog and Dave's dream.

Can You See Your Dream Differently?

If you see a dream one way and it's been that way for more than 30 years like Dave has, can it really be as satisfying if you do it any other way? Of course it can! Especially if you reached a point that you let go of the dream all together anyway.

If you could open the door to the dream that you thought died and invite some part of it into your life right now, would you want to do that? Dave said yes, that this concept was appealing to him. I was glad to hear that because what he may not realize is that by opening the door to other ways to have the dream live a little, will create a momentum that will help it to grow from just this little bit of a hobby to a possible full time career. "How would that happen?" I can hear you asking. I don't know the exact how, but I know it happens. When you focus your attention on something, it grows.

When you start doing something you love, you will gravitate to those joyous feelings, how can you not? My ideas are simply that if you feel you can't have the whole dream (whatever you think, you're right), why not allow a different version of it? If you open your mind to these ideas you might find that an orange road is exactly the right direction to your dream come true!

Gettysburg

The way Dave sees it, the only way to fulfill his Gettysburg dream is to pack up the family and move to Pennsylvania, well, he has to get hired first but there's more to it than that. He will have to take a very big pay cut and yes, he will have to convince his wife to pull up roots and move across the country.

Franky, there isn't anything on that list that makes this dream unattainable. However, I can already think of several ways that Dave could feel the excitement of his love of Gettysburg and bring it to life without moving to Pennsylvania.

Orange Road #1: Teach Civil War history with an emphasis on Gettysburg.

Dave is a Civil War expert, there's no doubt about that, he could teach in parks in Northern California where he lives on weekends. Teaching is not limited to a classroom, he could utilize his reenacting skills and contacts to provide intimate history lessons or "story time." On another scale, he could do presentations to middle school history classes and bring Gettysburg to kids the same age he was when the history bug bit him. His passion is so contagious, kids will love him! Heck, everyone will love him!

If Dave were to put pen to paper, write an outline of a creative presentation and reach out to several schools (elementary to college) and service clubs, he would be sharing his passion in a matter of weeks. He may not get paid initially, but he also won't be relocating across the country taking a massive pay cut.

What I can say about bringing your dreams to life is as soon as you start to see other ways to invite them back, you get excited. When that excitement swirls into the atmosphere around you, magic happens! People come into your life who you could never have imagined would appear.

Dave's Dream-Not-Come-True - Gettysburg

Dream: To work for the National Park Service as a Park Ranger at Gettysburg.

How: Get his degree, relocate to PA and get hired by the NPS.

Why Not? He doesn't think his wife will agree to relocate across the country.


His story:

In 1975 my family and I took a trip to the East Coast - I was thirteen years old at the time. We had the option to go to Mount Vernon or Gettysburg and Gettysburg won out. We spent a very short time at the battlefield but that brief time captivated my imagination. As a boy I had always been interested in all things military but the trip to Gettysburg really got me hooked on the Civil War. I remember when I returned home with a handful of brochures I couldn't put down, I typed a letter to the National Park Service asking how to become a park ranger at the battlefield. I received a very nice response and that began my 30-plus year journey.

I joined the Navy after high school as I was not ready to go to college. After my tour with the Navy, I joined the National Guard and utilized my education benefits to attend college and I started taking classes in a Park Management program. One of the requirements at the time to be a park ranger was to have a four year degree. It did not matter what the degree was in but I figured what better way to get a leg up on the competition than to have an AS degree in Park Management and follow it up with a BA in History. I took a number of classes and spent a summer working as a seasonal ranger at Fort Davis in Texas with the NPS. I had married in 1984 to a woman who shared my love of the Civil War and we planned to relocate to Pennsylvania. Not long after we married and I finished the seasonal position in Texas, she had a change of heart and didn’t want to relocate and we divorced. That really shook up my plans. I continued my education but it was difficult concentrating and I was feeling like my dream was slipping away. My job took me out of the area so I could no longer attend classes for my Park Management degree although I was only a few classes away from completing my AS degree.

As the necessities of life dictated I continued working and wound up in Mariposa, California. I worked a season at Yosemite National Park which came to a premature end when the attacks on 9/11 called me to active duty. After a seven month tour working at an airport with the National Guard providing security I was accepted as a supervisor with the Transportation Security Administration. During this time I remarried, had a child and was then called to active duty for an 18 month tour in Iraq. Upon returning from Iraq I remained working full time for the California Army National Guard. I had all but let go of my dream ever coming true even though my love for Civil War history and Gettysburg had never diminished after all these years.

Through the years, I became a Civil War re-enactor and traveled to Gettysburg on four separate occasions spending a week at a time touring the battlefield. I even founded the National Civil War Association in 1984. I have accepted that my dream of becoming a ranger at Gettysburg will never come to fruition. I don't see how it can.

What Is Intentional Winning In Life?

Intentional Winning In Life - IWIL is the process of bringing your dreams to life right now by thinking about them differently.

So many of us had dreams when we were younger that for this reason or that, we let go of pursuing. Even as adults, things come up that seem exciting or worthwhile, but we believe we aren't qualified, don't have time to learn, don't have the money, or simply don't feel we can reach the goal. Whatever you think, you're right! So if you don't think you can do it, maybe you could think about it in a way that does seem doable to you. Just maybe, there is another way to bring that dream into reality.

Here's an example: Let's say your dream is to go from San Francisco, CA to New York, NY. Most would agree that the fastest, most direct route would be to travel eastbound on highway 80 in one strait shot - the pink road. You'll see a little piece of green on the pink route which is a planned detour where there's a break in highway 80. As we do this, plug in life goals and normal activities that come along the way such as going away to college, getting married, having kids, changing jobs, etc. If you think about each of the events in your life that stop your progress to your dream destination, it's easy to see how we get stalled and eventually "settle down" in Anytown USA along the way. If you look closely at a United States map, you will see that there are hundreds of other roads to get you to New York from San Francisco - the orange roads. Will it take longer? Yes. Will it cost more? Possibly. Will the journey be full of surprises? Absolutely! When you realize that all those other roads can get you where you want to go, you can see that not only can you make your dream come true, but you may also find other things that make you happy and bring you joy along the way.

I'm going to define IWIL a whole lot more as we continue through this year. I'm also going to show you many things you can do to restart the engine on your dream and start feeling it's joy this very minute! Let's get this show on the road and start discovering what the orange roads have to offer.