Home Sweet Home!
It has been 5 days since we landed and everyone seems to be adjusting well to being home. Noah and I didn’t suffer too much from jetlag, but Ilise and Drew have been having some challenges sleeping, but nothing major. I must say that all in all we have adjusted really well. Noah started 5th grade yesterday and Drew starts 7th grade next Tuesday. Getting back into a regular routine, but I don’t know if our life will ever be the same as it was before we left.
When I reflect on our trip I continue to come back to a few major themes. First of all, I hope to never hear the words “life is not fair” out of the mouth of our kids. If we do hear that phrase all we need to say is Gulu, or Robert Okello (the young man we spent time with in No. Uganda). Is life fair? No, but I promise you that the “not fair” part of our kids life is still a million times better than the not fair for Robert.
I have also had some time to process what happened and what I have learned. I had an interesting conversation with Joshua, our host in Kampala, one day talking about the biggest hurdle that I need to still deal with in my life. The conversation happened on the day that I went to the airport to pick up our bags in Entebbe and the bags were still not there. I was a bit frustrated, but all in all I handled the situation in my stride as I try to do with everything in my life. Joshua commended me for how I was dealing with the situation and how I live my life. I looked at Joshua and said that there is still one major challenge that I need to address in my life, my relationship to food.
I can’t tell you how my physical fitness combined with how I consume food has ruled my life. I love to play sports and feel healthy, but how I deal with food has challenged me in so many ways. It is time to take this challenge on head on and deal with it. It will start with adjusting my diet, but also getting in shape physically. That will begin next Wednesday when I go to get my knee cleaned up by Dr. Chao, the orthopedist for the SD Chargers. I have a small tear in my meniscus that wouldn’t be too big a deal if I didn’t want to play so much tennis and volleyball. Since I am interested in all the lateral movement sports I need to get it done.
Once that is cleaned up and I start to control my portion size during meals, I can begin to really get in shape. I look forward to tracking my progress over the coming months as I target moving from 210 – 214 lbs down to the 190 lbs arena. We will see how this goes.
In addition to my clarity on my eating challenges, I am realizing that clarity is the issue that most everyone I deal with is facing. Clarity around their purpose in life, clarity around their life needs, clarity around the role of their work life in their entire life, and so much more. Without clarity there is very little chance to move forward in an impactful way. I am learning that clarity is the cornerstone of everything!
I will look to spend the next period of time trying to solidify my understanding around clarity and how it affects everyone that I interact with. There is so much to learn in this arena and I am happy to be on this path.
Finally, I will need to make some decisions over the coming months on where I spend my energies when it comes to non-profits and how I can make a difference. Spent a lot of time with U-TOUCH this summer and know that clarity around my role with organizations like this will make my efforts more effective and provide those around me with an opportunity to leverage what I do best. I have a purpose to being on this planet, clearly identifying that and communicating it to others will determine my ultimate success.
‘Til next time ……
Larry Kesslin 