<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I've barely written anything for months.</b></span><br /><br />So far this year I've written one thing, and last year I wrote half as much as the year before. My own personal to-do list has gone largely untouched day to day. The things I want to do...and the things I really <i>SHOULD do...</i>simply end up...not done. My days have become, mainly, run/work/sleep.&nbsp;On the whole, barring some occasional blips of fun... I'm kind of just...<i>surviving</i>.<br /><br />And it dawns on me that this is the same thing that happens to so many people I run into. Members at my gym who vanish for a while (and even some who <i>don't</i>&nbsp;vanish). People who come to TRY my gym but don't join. Friends I haven't seen. Family I haven't talked to. <i>My wife, </i>who feels tired all the time<i>.</i>&nbsp;We're all just surviving...but none of us are truly <i style="font-weight: bold;">thriving.</i><br /><br />So what's the difference? And once we figure it out...how do we break out and truly <b>live?</b><br /><a name='more'></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Life is busy.</span></b><br /><br />Let me take you through what has become my typical day.<br /><br />My first alarm goes off at 5 am, or maybe a touch before that...because I know myself. I don't actually end up on the couch with a cup of coffee until about 5:30 am. By 6:20 I finally get out the door for my morning run. Bear in mind I a.) am SUPPOSED to be running by 6 am and b.) &nbsp;don't actually manage to accomplish anything during that coffee time. Then fly through shower, work 9-7, and then an hour and a half in bed watching TV with my wife because we're too exhausted and brain-dead to accomplish anything productive. Rinse &amp; repeat. <b><i>Sound familiar?</i></b><br /><br />Like I said...it's run, work, sleep. I'm fortunate that I'm kind of a step ahead insofar as I've made "run" a non-optional part of the day. It's no longer an "extra" that gets bumped down the priority list..if I don't do it I might punch someone. None of the other stuff I want to accomplish ends up getting done, though. There's so many things to do...I'm just...so <b>BUSY</b>.<br /><br />The problem is...we let that busyness consume us. We let the busyness be bigger than it really is...bigger than it needs to be. It affects everything. &nbsp;All the things I'm supposed to accomplish..it's all so overwhelming. In the haze maybe one thing gets done. The thing that was supposed to happen months ago and now it's "panic-level" past-due.<br /><br /><br /><br />