Bear of All Trades
One of the things you learn, if you're around it long enough and look into it deep enough, is that blogs are supposed to be focused - if you're writing a cooking blog, stick to cooking stuff; if you're writing a fitness blog, stick to stuff about fitness. I get that, but...
SQUIRREL!
I've always been fickle. Growing up, my record was three changes of interest in one day - and it was from trains, to medieval knights, to something else I don't remember now - probably basketball or the army. I stabilized a little bit as I got older - I did join the Army and served three years; I stuck to one degree in college for five years (4 1/2, but who's counting); I've been at my current job three years and I'm pursuing a masters for the next two; and I've been working on the same series of books for 15 years.
So I can stick to some things.
But I'm both intellectual and physically active - I'm at home reading a book or writing (at home), and being outside panting my guts out and deluging the earth with sweat. I feel equally accomplished if I've written 2,000 words, talked about things theological or political for three hours, or built 100 feet of trail.
And I think I'm not the only one.
I think a lot of people pigeonhole themselves because they want to fit in with a particular crowd. They want to identify with either the jock, or the nerd, or the young professional. So they keep secret hobbies, or only do certain things with certain groups of people. They either fragment themselves or deny certain parts of themselves in order to be easier to understand among their peers.
If you're someone who is laser-focused on one thing, and you pursue it to excellence, that's tremendously amazing and I do envy you that from time to time. Sometimes I would like the be one of those people about whom it's said "oh, if you want to know about such-and-such a thing, you need to talk to Danny; he knows everything about it."
But I'm not. There's a couple things that I think I have a broad knowledge of - but mostly I'm broadly useful. You can stick me in a lot of different places and I'll function, or figure it out until I function.
So that's why The Year of the Bear is fitness, writing, and Christ - because I'm fit, a writer, and a Christian. And I think a lot of us are more than one thing.
So hopefully you can find some community in this blog.
SQUIRREL!
I've always been fickle. Growing up, my record was three changes of interest in one day - and it was from trains, to medieval knights, to something else I don't remember now - probably basketball or the army. I stabilized a little bit as I got older - I did join the Army and served three years; I stuck to one degree in college for five years (4 1/2, but who's counting); I've been at my current job three years and I'm pursuing a masters for the next two; and I've been working on the same series of books for 15 years.
So I can stick to some things.
But I'm both intellectual and physically active - I'm at home reading a book or writing (at home), and being outside panting my guts out and deluging the earth with sweat. I feel equally accomplished if I've written 2,000 words, talked about things theological or political for three hours, or built 100 feet of trail.
And I think I'm not the only one.
I think a lot of people pigeonhole themselves because they want to fit in with a particular crowd. They want to identify with either the jock, or the nerd, or the young professional. So they keep secret hobbies, or only do certain things with certain groups of people. They either fragment themselves or deny certain parts of themselves in order to be easier to understand among their peers.
If you're someone who is laser-focused on one thing, and you pursue it to excellence, that's tremendously amazing and I do envy you that from time to time. Sometimes I would like the be one of those people about whom it's said "oh, if you want to know about such-and-such a thing, you need to talk to Danny; he knows everything about it."
But I'm not. There's a couple things that I think I have a broad knowledge of - but mostly I'm broadly useful. You can stick me in a lot of different places and I'll function, or figure it out until I function.
So that's why The Year of the Bear is fitness, writing, and Christ - because I'm fit, a writer, and a Christian. And I think a lot of us are more than one thing.
So hopefully you can find some community in this blog.
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