Sunday Serenity: “On Top Of The World” Moments

Good Sunday evening, cadres fear. I hope it's as nice and bright where you are as it is here. Before we get started, I want to introduce you to the chorus of a song that you may or may not know. I'll take it in, but don't look down this for a while. Now paying my dues to the term I've been away in this island the whole day for a while. I'm on top of the world. All right, that's an imagined dragon song on Top of the world. So welcome to others who are joining, maybe joined a little late. I just decided I would start with little bit of music.

And again, that was imagine dragons on top of the world. And if you saw the title of my Sunday Serenity series tonight, you would see on top of the world moments listed in the title. So having some real thoughts about this a lot lately and actually wondering when you. And again, this is all relative to the way we perceive this, but as you think about what your moments are, I want you to think about what the last moment was that you felt like you were on top of the world. I'm going to give you a moment to do that.

And as people join here, I'll share a little more. And for those who don't know, I'm Jason Lennox. I'm your resident recovery champion, here to talk about the on top of the world moment. So as you think about those things, think about the last time that you felt like you were on top of the world, where you could raise your hands, you could lift your head up, take in the moments and just felt like everything was the way that it was supposed to be. And share those in the comments. I would love to hear from some of you about what those are like for you, but I had one of those moments today, this morning, actually.

And, you know, it was about a five k, a five k run. 1 mile. Very popular these days to run, to walk, and they're just all over the place. And I haven't done a lot of these. In fact, until a couple years ago, I had hosted more five ks than I had run. And 2011, I ran my first one. And then, you know, up until that was the only one until a couple years ago. And so I haven't done a lot, I will say 20. But a couple years ago we had a, I had a co worker who was doing a sprint triathlon and part of the running portion was a five k.

So I thought, well, I better practice. I ran 1 mile, I ran 2 miles, and then I ran the five k. And then after that, I just kind of got in that habit. It was a fun challenge and it was something I realized I could do. I didn't think I could do it for quite some time. And I'll share a little bit about that later. Jules is talking about completing a marathon, which is maybe that would be an on top of the world moment for me. So I can, I can feel that for sure. You made all three goals you had made for yourself during that race.

This is going to land with you again, not a marathon, but a five k. So setting the stage there, I've run about 25 ks, I'll say most of them in the last couple years. And lately I've been running outside and I have a route that is exactly a five k if it's two laps from the front of my building out through the town and back. And I was getting into the middle to lower end of the 20 minutes mark. And so 20 minutes, 10 seconds and 15, and then I got 20 minutes and 6 seconds. And I just knew that I would have to get under that 20 minutes at some point.

And I set my mind and I made my mind up and, you know, decided I was going to do that. And this morning was the day that I said, I think this is when it's going to happen. I'm going to do it in the morning or I'm not as tired, haven't eaten a lot, so I should be able to move around a little bit better and look like it was going to be a nice morning. And so I got ready, I got dressed, went outside, and as I stood in front of the building, I felt the wind coming. And it didn't look like there was going to be a lot of wind, but I could feel it.

And for some reason, when I'm running this route three directions of the four, I have either a strong headwind or a partial headwind that's kind of crossing my body. And I almost didn't run because I thought this was the day I was going to get under 20 minutes. And I know from my rough estimates, I just ran into the wind like this a couple weeks ago, and it added about 30 seconds to the five k, about a ten second per mile difference. So I debated it and I thought, you know what? I've set out to do this, and I'm not going to not get there because I didn't try.

So I decided I warmed up a little bit. I got myself ready and I started off and I was running. And as I turned the first corner, I realized I was about on pace with. With what I normally do. I got to the first halfway point of the round trip. And so about a quarter of what I was doing, but halfway to the first lap, and I realized I was, as I was, actually ahead of any other pace that I could remember. Got back to the halfway point, was a little bit ahead, had lost some time. And then as I was going around the second time, I realized there was a chance, even running into the wind, being pretty tired, that I could do this.

And as I came around the final corner, running down the block, I knew I was going to get it. And I came sprinting across the line at the very end in 19 minutes and 46 seconds. And again, all I wanted to do is get below 20 minutes. Now, that's a time some people look at and say, I could never do that. That's a time some people look at and say, what are you talking about? I can do it in 15. In fact, I looked up the world record as twelve minutes. Varying degrees of people on that spectrum. I am 37 years old.

And it also looked up that it would put me somewhere in the 95th percentile. 1946, 95th percentile. None of that stuff is really what mattered. And why this made me feel like I was on top of the world. Because when I got across that line and I looked down and I saw the time that I had, I'm sure people were watching me, thinking, what's going on with this guy? But I gave the fist bump. Thanks, Jules. I really appreciate that. And I throw my hands up in the air, and I just tip my head back. And I'm just taking it all in.

Just the biggest smile, like, dang it, I knew I was going to do it. And I did it even with the wind at my face. So was incredibly excited. This is why it really mattered. And this is the lesson I'm trying to get, is I didn't tell you that I didn't ever think I would run because. And I played a lot of sports, and I did a lot of that stuff. And I was blessed to really be quick and fast. And so there are genetics involved. Where genetics stopped, though, is when I had a freak injury when I was 18 years old, swinging on a rope swing from a tree over a river.

And I didn't make it to the river because there was a massive boulder in the way. And I struck that thing with the inside of my knee so hard that if it would have hit anywhere, you know, above that, I might not be here talking to you. So that really changed the trajectory of what I was able to do. And by the time I got it worked on, when I got into recovery and finally started taking care of myself, I spent two to three years trying to figure out what was wrong. The doctors couldn't, the therapists couldn't.

I tried nutrition. I'm telling you, I went on a two year mission to find something, and I was so tired and exhausted from finding that something that I almost gave up. But I got to Mayo Clinic and got one of the best doctors in the world, and he took five minutes to diagnose me and went on his own mission to try to fix me. Six knee surgeries later, two of which were very major. One was a major knee reconstruction, and the second was 2016, when they cut my leg in half to reshape it. So I've got artificial parts in me.

I've had my leg cut in half. Now it's longer than the other. So a lot of stuff there that stopped me from really ever exploring. A lot of running. Like I said, a couple years ago, I started preparing for this sprint triathlon, and I did pretty well in it. So I thought, I think I could do this. And, you know, it doesn't always feel the best, but it's something that I've been trying to do more of, and that's why it mattered. One, I wasn't sure that I was ever going to run again, but two, as I began getting more comfortable with that and as I began approaching a time, I set something in my mind and said, this is something I'm going to do.

I'm going to break that 20 minutes mark. I'm going to get less than 20 minutes for a five k and see what happens after that. And I set myself out to do that this morning. It's exactly what happened. Again. With all the circumstances and all the things that could prevent me from doing that. It was a mindset. And that's where it really happens, because running that five k, there's a physical component of that, like I told you, genetics. That I've got some speed and that helps. And I'm in at 37, the best shape I've ever been in with my cardiovascular system, my muscular system, body composition, the whole works.

It's fascinating that I've continued to get healthier over time. It's amazing what the body can do. So there's a physical component of that that helped me. But I told you, you probably got tired listening to me. I rounded the first curve, and I realized I was on pace and then the second one. And so there's a mental component of this that is just. It's overbearing at times, and it's just as challenging as that physical. Am I going to make it? Am I going to get there? That's almost as tired, maybe more tiring sometimes.

So my point here is we can all have those moments. And, Jules, you shared that very fittingly, that first marathon. Wow, that's like, I've done it. And what is that? It's not the, we get to the top of the mountain and we look down and the world is over. No, this happened because I set my mind out to do something, and I did it even when I didn't think it was possible before. Most of the time, that's where these on top of the world moments come from. For me, not, I did this, I ran out and I did this today, and I excelled at this.

No, there's literally something in my brain that said, I don't know that you'll ever do this again. I don't know that you'll run. Certainly under 20 minutes. That's very unlikely. That's not going to happen. But as I set that goal and I continued to push forward, that's what happens. We get to the other side of that, and oftentimes that comes with physical challenges. I think that's why you heard jewel say, you know, it was a marathon for her. It's running for me. It happens for me all the time in exercises, different routines I do where I'm constantly trying to get 1 minute lower and then 1 minute lower and 1 minute lower.

And it's probably what I'll do with the five k. Now we're on to 19 minutes. Let me try to get below that. But point being, we all have that opportunity usually. How do we get there? It takes finding something that matters, something that makes a difference for us, and then finding something that's incredibly challenging. And that's where it gets a little bit hard, because as humans, at our core, it's in our nature to avoid those things and not look for the challenges, look for the easy way out, find, you know, I don't need to go out and do that run.

It's windy. I'm just gonna go up and do a normal exercise and we'll try it again. No, it's. It's finding something that's incredibly challenging. Intentionally looking for the things that will challenge us, and then we set the goals, and then we get there and we get to set more goals. That's what's gotten me. All the greatest things in my life, professionally, personally, is I've set a goal, I've set a standard and I've gotten to that place and not said, now we're here, let's put her on cruise. No.

What's next? We're going to take it a notch up. And that's how I told you. At 37, I'm as healthy and as good of shape as I've ever been in my entire life. At 37, it's part of that. So it's become a mindset. But most of all these on top of the world moments, I want to end with this, embrace them, because they don't come all that often. They are there for all of us. Sometimes you might be thinking about five k and I'm never going to run a five k, and I can't relate. Sometimes. I think for so many of us, it's just getting to the place that we've gotten in life.

Surviving this long, getting through the traumas, struggling with the mental health and coming out the other side, getting laid off, getting fired, losing jobs, losing relationships, struggling with kids, all of those things, families. And we come out the other side. Those are the moments that we have to embrace and take in as being on top of the world and being able to put our hands up and enjoying these beautiful moments. So I hope you've gotten something out of this. I really do think it's about embracing these moments, taking them in because they're not gonna last.

I mean, shoot, I'm talking about it now, but, you know, after a couple hours, that feeling had kind of come and gone and, you know, the rest of my day was happening, so take them in. But again, those on top of the world moments, they don't have to wait. We can actually create them. We can look for what matters, what makes a difference and what's challenging, and then set out to do those the best we can and then do them even better. And then even better and even better. And as long as we continue to do that naturally, somehow we continue to fulfill on those goals.

So grateful to be here with you. Hopefully you've gotten something out of this message and I hope you all have beautiful weeks. Looks like it's going to be nice weather here in the great state of Minnesota. And hopefully where you are, you get to experience that as well. Spring is here. I love it and love sharing with you all. So go get them. Have those on top of the world moments this week. Create them and come back next week, we'll go again.