Sunday Serenity

Hey, good evening everyone here in the Cadre sphere. Happy Sunday. I don't know if it's nice where you're at, but it has been beautiful here. I am just in Minnesota, Hopkins, west of the cities, Minneapolis, and it's been the upper 70s, close to 80 all day, all afternoon, blue skies. So I'm just taking a little break here. Good evening. Good to see you. Speak wonder. I'm taking a little break from walking. I've been walking all as much as I can this afternoon. I actually flew back this morning from Dublin, Ireland, here in Pennsylvania.

Is it nice and warm there? You maybe just missed it, but it's been close to 80 where I landed here in Minnesota today. So beautiful to come back to. But I was in Dublin, Ireland for the better part of the last week. And what's interesting is there's six hours ahead, but with an eight hour flight coming back, six hours, I really only lost a couple, so Left there at 10am which would have been 4am Our time. And I got here at noon. So it's been wonderful. It's one of those days that I just want to keep going and going and going.

So again, I'm just taking a little break. I am. Thanks, Sherry. It's good to see you here. I am going back out as soon as I hang this up to finish walking 30,000 steps today. Just beautiful out and still beautiful. So love this time of year in the north, in the Midwest, I should say. If you don't live here, you should come check it out in May, May, June. This is when it really like the days are beautiful and it's just a lot of fun. So anyhow, Sunday serenity. Maybe there are some new people here or will be, but my name is Jason Lennox and.

And I like to say I'm your resident recovery champion, which just means that I'm a champion of this work, recovery, mental health, well being. It's. It's just, it's my life, it's everything. It means the world to me. My life was saved through recovery. So I'm here doing what I can to kind of feed, feed back into the universe. Some of the lessons and the things I learned along the way, that's how we do it. That's how I ended up getting to the point I did early on was people talked, people told me what they did.

Those speakers, it just was hearing the things that people were saying that made me believe there was a chance. So that's who I am. That's what I'm about. Again, just to talk about Everything, recovery, mental health, well being and Sunday serenity. The title is that because I think without serenity we're prone to go back to the old ways of life. It was the chaos and all the things and that lack of serenity that really forced me to always be looking externally and still can. Just because drugs and alcohol aren't in my life in that way anymore, it doesn't mean that food isn't that money, that attention, just all the different things that sometimes we seek and we try to fill voids with or to fill voids.

Voids of. So I think having that serenity and finding ways to keep serenity in our lives is huge again, just in general, but especially for recovery from drugs, alcohol, mental health, because we, we all know that there's, there's no guarantee that we don't go back. So rainy there in the 60s in Pennsylvania. So sorry, but you can live vicariously through us. I was actually, like I said, in Ireland for a week. I got very l said it's not usually nice weather like it was, but it was, we had sun every day that I was there and it was in the 60s and even 70s a couple days.

So it's beautiful, it's rainy today when I was going to be raining when I got up and left. So it's a good day to get out of there and get back here, like I said, so. But yeah, I think I shared a little something on my social media and so some of you I know see that. So you have a little bit of a hint into what I'm going to talk about. But I just think where we can find these little nuggets of winning information, that we just share it as widely as we can. And so what I wrote today is just a lesson that I learned, which isn't a new lesson.

It's a lesson I guess I relearned was just to take the chance. And you know what's interesting about this trip to Ireland is I spent two days at a global summit which was fascinating. The reinvention summit. People from all over the world, people who transform the country of Ireland there speaking and just again, powerhouses from government and from places all over the world in business. And it really was powerful. One of my business coaches actually recommended that I go check this out. She knew and she was potentially going to be speaking at it.

And a few weeks ago she said, I can't make it, I can't make it work. I got to change plans. And I said, well, I don't know anybody. Then you're not Going to be there. You think it's worth it? I've got a lot going on, a lot of trouble, a lot of things. So I could easily cancel as well. And she said, no, you need to go. There's going to be something that happens there that, that you would miss out on, so go. Keep the ticket and go. And so I did a little bit of that guidance. And it's just another one of those examples again.

And this isn't a new lesson. This is something I just relearn multiple times a year. That, gosh. And we just say yes, and we do that. Our founder here, Luke, he's the yes man, the ultimate yes man. And, you know, really, really, really important part of my life is to be able to do that. And so I did, and I went over there. So I wasn't even gonna go. So I end up going absolutely beautiful. I mean, two days of that powerful, powerful summit that I just. I won't even be able to put into words. A couple days of just walking around, exploring the city and then down by the beach, and then a day where I got to go check out the castle and the college and a treatment program and got to go over the cliffs of Moher and Galway and just across the country.

Really spanned that whole country in a matter of six days. So it was absolutely amazing. Now, the take the chance thing, as I was walking around the airport and yes, speak, Kathy, the, The. The Ireland, they do have some snakes. Snakes. And I. There's one other species. There's one other animal that they never used to have there. The snakes. Weren't snakes. Poisonous snakes especially, I think they said, like they called it, they were imported or somebody kind of smuggled them in, otherwise they never did.

But they do have some. I didn't see any. And guessing there, it's. It's a, It's a. There's a lot of land there and not a lot of people for the land. In fact, I think their country probably has a little more than we do in the state of Minnesota. So in any event, the whole take the chance thing, I'm walking around the airport this morning and I'm just thinking about that. And I, I was thinking the whole time I was there, one of the. Wasn't the first night, but one of the first few nights I was there, I was in these pubs.

And if you ever go to Ireland, you gotta go to these pubs. And of course, be, Be mindful, be safe, be careful, have a good plan. Like, I can go into these places now because I feel like I'm comfortable in recovery in my life. And it's about the intention. Why am I going there? And for me, it was to see these interesting places and have a little fun. So they were very interesting. Actually probably the most memorable of any of the things I did there. Again, is interesting, considering I'm not drinking, but I'm here and trying to find and, you know, the bathrooms.

Everything's just a little bit different over there. It's a new country. I've been there. So I'm trying to find the bathroom, and I remember walking through this hall, and it was pretty small, and there was a guy there, and I think he was cleaning it or whatever. And he could just. He could. He was looking at me, and you could tell that he knew that I was confused or I didn't know where I was going. And he just had this little grin on his face and he said, it's 50, 50. And you know, what he meant was, well, you just go, dude, you got a 50, 50 shot of getting it right.

Anyway, I ended up in the right one. And I laughed, I chuckled, but it just kind of. That stuck with me and it never left. So the rest of the week I'm thinking, yeah, okay, the 50, 50, like, and how do. How do I tie that back to again? Because I'm going to these things, I'm doing these kinds of things. But I'm always thinking about, what are the lessons here? What are the dots that we can connect to try to apply this and try to share some of this with other people. It might be helpful. So take the chance.

He said 50, 50 shot. I had two options. I was going to walk into the female restroom or I was going to walk into the male restroom. I'm 50, 50 shot of getting that right. I guess, alternatively, I could have done neither. And, you know, I would have, you know, had some problems in an accident at some point if I didn't use the restroom. So it was just one of those moments where I went, okay, well, it's one or the other, or I could do nothing. And then I started comparing that to kind of life. And even taking the trip in the first place and taking the leap with business and writing a book and doing all these things.

Or, you know, it's like, yeah, here's. Here's the logical, like, safe, comfortable choice over here. And then here's something that feels like it's a little bit scary, It's a little bit risky. That's what it is like. And it's not 50, 50, but stay with me, high level, I've got two choices which way I'm gonna go. And, you know, I'm just grateful that I've always been surrounded by people who will push me in the direction of taking the chance. Take the chance. And, you know, like I said and I went on in the post to say, you know, we could also do nothing and just continue to live the lives that we live.

And, you know, in the pub example, again, that means probably walking around with some wet pants at some point in life. We're walking around with, you know, all the could haves or the should haves. I like to say could haves because I don't like the should word a whole lot. But the could haves, all the things that we could have done, and we don't even, like, we could go on with our day. And so it's not necessarily like we feel the weight of that or we can see the weight of that, but it's there. It is there, I'm telling you, because my experience shows from making the choice, saying the yes, I know the difference because I've been on both sides.

So the could haves, boy, we accumulate those, we amass those, and guess where we end up taking them. We take them to the grave. And you know, that cemetery is the richest place on the planet when it comes to the could haves, the ideas, the things that we, we just didn't do, we just didn't say yes to. And so I really, I don't think we need to be putting any more of the could haves there. And certainly we don't need to be carrying them around because again, I believe fully that these, the weight of the things that we don't do that we know we could be doing, that we want to be doing that could be life changing.

The weight of that actually is significant, even if we can't kind of put our finger on it. And so, yeah, it really, it struck me, that little encounter with that man there who looked at me and smiled because he knew I was confused, probably like, here's this American again, and you got a 50, 50 shot. Just go, man, just pick one. But it's, you know, again, not everything's 50, 50 like that, I get. But the other thing is, you know, always, always, always we, when we do go down the wrong door, if you want to call it, we open the wrong door, we take a path that maybe it doesn't work out, it just doesn't work out for that door, I believe, then that kind of narrows the path to, you know, the Doors that do work out and we don't ever find that out if we don't give it a shot.

And so I'm again just grateful that I have the people in my life that are willing to kind of push me in that direction because, you know, this is a long life and these are the things that are just going to be regularly happening in all of our lives in a huge part of, of recovery. And what we do is actually living a life and being fulfilled. And you know, I don't, you know, there's getting into recovery and having sobriety, which is good, which is really good because the alternative is people are out there dying and we're hurting people.

But there's another thing inside recovery called kind of freedom. And like how fulfilled will my life be? And that's what these yes moments do. They create this. I'm telling you, I got back today, I technically woke up, if we're talking our time, Central Time, 11pm last night to get ready to get to the airport, to get on the plane. I didn't sleep, I didn't sleep a lot while I was over there because I didn't adjust the time change. I'm just waiting for this crash to come. But just the experience over there, all the people, the pub, seeing all the things, just doing it all and enjoying so much of it just opened my eyes and my world and the heart and soul and everything just fills up to the point where I get back here and I'm like, I'm just gonna spend four or five hours walking because I just don't, I don't want the feelings and kind of the experience to end.

So I share all that. Again, Sunday serenity, like this is about how do we find peace in life and have serenity. And I can't tell you a day that I felt more serenity than I have today. And just walking out, it helps when it's 80 degrees and the sun's beating down on my face. But you know, just reflecting and thinking about all the things that happen and all the things that this life of recovery has given me and in turn that I get to continue contributing back into the recovery system. And I keep getting.

And you know, I'm never going to be able to out give what gets given back to me. But yeah, I think it starts with taking the chance. I've done that time and time again. We got to do that just to get here. We take the chance. But again, like the alternative if we don't, if we just do nothing is we just go on live in the status quo. And maybe that's all right, but, you know, everything I've ever read and studied about regret and when people get to the end of life, it isn't about the things that they did that they wish they didn't do.

Most of what people regret at the end of life is what they didn't do that they thought they should have. And so just a firm believer that taking the chance and saying yes will eliminate those regrets, but it will also create experiences like I just had for the last week. And, yeah, the Irish people, they love to have fun. Let me tell you, the music and the laughter, it's can't even explain it. It's like mini concerts inside those pubs. Everybody's happy. They're all with each other. Yeah. Are people drunk?

Do they have problems? Of course. Just like we do. But it's a different kind of feeling. And I haven't been in the bar scene in a while here in the States, but I see enough of them. It's not the same. What they have over there is something special. They love to have fun, and I had a lot of fun with them. And again, they're behind in a lot of different things, too, but they definitely seem to have fun. They don't work as much, coffee shops. I'm used to waking up and seeing coffee shops at 5, 5:30, not there.

7, 7:30, sometimes 8 or 9. They don't eat late. Restaurants close early, so they discourage working in those coffee shops. They ban you from some of the tables. They don't have outlets. They don't have WI Fi. They really just move at a little bit of a different pace, which is probably a good thing. They drink a lot more and they smoke a lot more, too, it seems. But they're very nice people, very generous, very helpful, very welcoming. I was there solo, and I never felt like I was in a bad place or like I wasn't, you know, around people who cared.

So grateful for that time. Grateful to be back here and enjoying the beautiful spring here in Minnesota again. Think about it, you know, we've all got something. It's every day that these things come up, these decisions. Not just about getting on a plane and going there. It's not just about, you know, which. Which bathroom door I'm going to open. This is. Every day we've got something where my. I actually built it into a routine, kind of summarize my week and, you know, what is that? What is that?

Take the chance moment every. Every day that I can. That I can act on some big, some small, but, you know, just keep doing it because more often than not, overall, it seems to work out. But yeah, that's what I got. It was a fun experience and glad I got to share a little bit with you. But again, the message, the lesson there is taking the chance I wouldn't have even been there. And, you know, it's led to just a week that I'll never forget. So grateful for that. Grateful for you all. Look forward to doing this again next week.

It'll be Mother's Day, so maybe some of you won't be able to catch up live. But look forward to catching up anyway and seeing and chatting soon. Hope you all have wonderful weeks. And yeah, look forward to doing it again. Thanks.