The Dream Dean

Saturday, February 20, 2021 (Day 51)

Meditation Music: Balance: Liquid Mind – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge066guNr90

Question: Make a list of the places from your past would you most like to return to.

Answer: That’s an interesting questions, since there isn’t that many places that I found inspiring. But, here goes…

• Oklahoma City National Memorial (just being there made me appreciate life)
• Bermuda (cleanest place I’ve ever been – and it’s beautiful)
• La Jolla, California (another beautiful place that brought back great memories)
• Topsail Island (Rebecca’s parents had a beach house there that was the perfect escape)
• Zoos and aquariums around the country (trips with my daughters Amanda and Bethany and sometimes my niece Maggie when they were little)
• Various mountains in North Carolina (just the awesome beauty of nature)
• Rocky Mountains (again, awesome beauty of nature)
• Sedona (a wonderfully peaceful place to reflect)
• Grand Canyon (absolutely majestic place)
• Chicago, IL (the best city I’ve explored in the U.S.)
• San Diego, CA (LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the weather)
• The Riverwalk in San Antonio (great place to stay, especially if you like walking along water)
• Weston Hills Golf and Country Club (Playing at the site of the Honda Classic with my uncle Stevie – and getting a par on one of the holes!)

As I keep adding to the list, I really appreciate the fact that I’ve had the opportunity to visit some really great places. These opportunities also remind me how much I’ve enjoyed them more with the people I care about the most, not just by myself. There are more to add, but at least this is a start. I am living a blessed life for sure!

As a side note, if you’ve read one of my earlier posts (https://thedreamdean.com/2021/01/04/the-year-of-you-day-4/), I set a goal to get 5.5 millions steps this year. I’m on week 8 of my exercise goal and I just passed the 1.1 million mark. At this rate, I’ll get by the end of November! We’ll see…

Other Stuff

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned over the years that not everyone is going to like what you put out there. I’ve also learned that if I’m not rocking the boat, I’m not being my authentic self. It seems that most places I’ve been want “yes” people and more followers than leaders. For those that know me, I don’t fit into either category. And now, as I take on my next “project” to challenge education, I took a look back at one of my favorite articles, “Your Work Is Not for Everyone” by Jeff Goins. On Thursday, I submitted a proposal where I’d like to create an “Office of Transitions, and Transformation” on my campus – and I can guarantee that it won’t happen. But at least it provides me clarity regarding the work I’m here to do and where I’d like to do that work. Now, I want to create a document that addresses the need for “catalyst” on high school and college campuses – more than advisors, coaches, and guidance counselors because our young people are in a desperate need for people to help them with transformational change, not just help with staying on track, following the paths of everyone else. Again, rocking the boat, but for the greater good. And when I deal with self-doubt and naysayers, I read this article:

• Your Work Is Not for Everyone – https://goinswriter.com/not-for-everyone/

And then follow it up by reading this quote by Theodore Roosevelt, that was so eloquently shared by Brene Brown in her Netflix Documentary, “Dare to Lead”:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

I’m going to play in the arena and let the chips fall where they may. What about you?