This April I decided to try to live up Brian Oberkirch‘s motto and “Do Epic Shit.” He originally spoke on this idea in a panel about how to make yourself more interesting, but I think the implications go a lot further than just that.
After completing a half-marathon in early March, I was really excited about running and quickly signed up for a few more races that some friends of mine would also be running. Soon, almost every upcoming weekend in April was booked. That’s when I decided to just go ahead and fill up every weekend, and dub it Epic April:
My epic month involved several 5ks, the Warrior Dash, and a 40 mile bike ride to cap off the end of the month.
Running races isn’t necessarily epic in an of itself – however – epic is relative to you!
We each have our own goals and struggles in life. What is that you want to achieve? What’s holding you back?
If you’ve run every day of your life since you were on cross country in middle school, then your epic adventure is probably going to look a lot different from mine. For me, staying in shape and exercising has been a much more recent focus of mine. I ran my first 5k about 4 years ago and struggled to finish in under an hour. During April, I set a personal record in the range of 27 minutes. For me, this was a way to push myself physically do a constant stream of activities every weekend that I never would have been able to do 5 years ago.
So why does doing epic shit matter?
It’s a way to challenge yourself. It’s incredible easy to get stuck in a routine and to get pulled down by the doldrums of every day life. When we’re worrying about work and the bills and cleaning the house, it’s easy to lose focus on the bigger picture. Setting a goal and struggling to achieve it can bring a sense of meaning and direction to our lives.
Perhaps you’ll fail along the way, but all success is built on failure. If you don’t ever start, you have no chance of success.
The most important idea behind this push to be epic is to start trying stuff you normally wouldn’t have done in the past.
Existentialist Jean Paul Sartre tells us that we are literally and figuratively thrust into life without any essence. Our existence comes before our essence. That means our decisions and our actions over the course of our life create our essence. Think about that for a minute…
It’s both liberating and terrifying at the same time.
When you look at your life and yourself and ask, “Who am I?” – that answer is entirely up to you.
The good thing is that we’re not entirely determined by our past. Every moment we live is a moment to take a new direction, to move toward becoming a different person and changing our life. Doing epic shit can be a jump start down that path to who we want be.
Who do you want to be? What will you do that’s epic?
Please, share your thoughts in the comments and throw down a challenge for yourself. How will you be epic?
For further reading:
A bit off topic but one thing that Sartre and other existentialists revealed to me is that we are in control of who we become. Further applying this existentialist notion to our choices of media has important ramifications upon who we become. Consciously choosing which media to consume helps direct who you become. Failing to intentionally choose which media you consume leads not to you becoming who you want to become but rather you become whoever the advertiser or creator of the media wants you to become. I remember vividly having this revelation several years ago when I first started reading some existentialists. Further, not just with choices of media but the more intentional we are with all the choices we make the greater control we have over who we are becoming, while when we are less intentional about our choices we remain simply adrift being pushed around by various currents. Ultimately choosing to be intentional is what shapes our life and as we become more intentional with our choices the more vividly and clearly does the drama of our life speak of what we value.
Jimmy, I think that’s a really interesting direction to take the thought process here. It’s definitely easy to get into the frame of mind that we’re just being acted upon by lots of outside forces that determine what happens in our lives, and existentialism, probably more than any other school of thought, forces us to really take ownership of our life and where it’s at.
My only concern with consciously choosing what we consume media wise is self-biasing. I think part of being intentional in our decisions should include opening ourselves up to opposing view points from time to time in case there is a novel perspective that we would otherwise miss. I think this is actually a big problem – just a quick example: lots of people I know will only watch news from the station that leans in their particular direction. I always make it a point to take in a little from both, just to understand both sides.
In addition to choices like what media we consume, there have also been studies about how our mood (and happiness) are affected by the people we choose to surround ourselves with: http://bit.ly/K60Ge8. Interesting stuff.
I agree whole heartedly that the goal isn’t to become isolationists. I agree with completely with your statement: I think part of being intentional in our decisions should include opening ourselves up to opposing view points from time to time in case there is a novel perspective that we would otherwise miss.
I wasn’t intending to imply that you should not watch, read, or investigate other view points or things that make you uncomfortable. I think that’s a healthy part of being intentional is choosing media from other perspectives and view points. I think we are on the same page. My main point is the need to be intentional with your choices of media. Intend to learn more about key issues, intend to investigate opposing view points, rather than passively waiting to see what information happens to come to you.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that’s what you were arguing, it was just the first worry that came to my mind when thinking about intentionally directing media consumption. I think we’re definitely on the same page.
I was very overweight last year at this time and started walking daily in August. I’ve walked about 1300 miles since then and lost 40 lbs. My BMI is within range at this point. I ran in a half marathon also and am planning to do much better next time. Your focus interests me because I’m also very interested in philosophy and meditation. I’ve been a follower of Paramahansa Yogananda for the past 40 years. And I’ve recently started studying Pragmatism in US history leading up to the works of Wallace Stevens. My blog was unfocused until I started walking. Some poetry, writing and photography. Now I’m learning to put some things together and have a more integrated life. Maybe we can share a few things! Thanks for writing about your thoughts and experiences!
Congratulations on your weight loss and running in a half marathon! That’s a long way to come in a year, and most certainly epic! Since you said your blog was unfocused until you started walking, I’m curious – do you do a lot of thinking on your walks? I find that I do tend to be able to clear my mind a little when I’m running. I’d love to share some knowledge back and forth. I’m just getting serious about meditation, and plan to post more about it, so I’d love any input you have. Or, if you’re perhaps interested in doing a guest post, let me know. Cheers.
Hey JJ. Yes, I would be interested in a guest post. Walking has evolved for me into a time when I am basically not thinking too much about anything. I listen to music and try to empty my mind of any conflicts or negative thinking. I focus on my breathing. And when there is any physical discomfort I try to create a space between it and my consciousness. I try to watch myself walk, in other words. I’m 61 now and was surprised to reach the point where walking six or seven miles is easy most of the time. But the main thing is just to do it every day if possible and not have negative thoughts about doing it. And the benefits seem to be creeping into other areas of life. Cheers! I like the photo of you running over the fire. Very good.
Thanks for the comments. Your walks definitely sound a lot like my experiences with meditation, and I think that would make a really interesting guest post. I’m open to other topics, as well, I just try to make sure I can tie each post back to philosophy somehow. If you have something you want to submit, you can send it to me through the Contact Me form. I usually aim for between 500-1000 words, but that’s not set in stone. Cheers!