Commitment to friends.

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I am always making commitments.
Why do I do this?
A few years ago, I was in a relationship with a gal and we hit a rocky patch. We wanted to try a keep it together so we went to a relationship coach to see if we could. We couldn't. One of the things that came out in those sessions was that the coach thought I had a fear of commitment. That has never been true. Even after my shitty divorce, nobody ever heard me saying: "never again." There was a lot about being married that I really enjoyed. I hope to be married again one day. The issue I had in those sessions was that I didn't want to be committed to a woman with this gal's particular set of hangups. If you're not a brilliant German scientist, then I'm not talking about you.
I digress.
That experience made me more vocal about my commitments and I show them to the people I know more nowadays. The reasons are many and I'm going to tell you about them. The number one reason is for myself. If I tell the whole world that I'm going to lose 50#, and I don't, I've fallen on my face. Nobody likes to be embarrassed and I find a public commitment to an action provides very strong incentive to follow through and succeed...as those of you who knew me when I was 255# can attest.
It's not just about losing weight either. Any accomplishment you want to achieve. If you have enough people watching, you'll do whatever it takes to keep from being embarrassed in front of them. This might be a reason to maintain a few "not so great" friendships. Your good friends are going to try to be supportive even if you do fall on your face. Who is going to rip you a new one for failing? Either your really great friends, or your not so great friends...and, of course, yourself. If you show enough public commitment, you'll kick your own ass for failing.
Last year I turned 50 and I wanted to commemorate my fifty laps around the sun by doing fifty extraordinary things. I'm a little over half way there and I doubt I'll get to all fifty before my 51st birthday. I could beat myself up over it, but given what I have accomplished...pbbbt! Gimme'a break. I've done more in the last year than most people do in their entire lives! And I owe it all to public commitment to you...my friends.
On tap this year are some re-hashes of a few things I did last year. I'm going to return to Moab for another fantastic mountain biking vacation. I'm running two half marathons and returning to the California International Marathon with a commitment to beat last year's time by an hour. I'm returning to Eppie's Great Race and I plan to really surprise some people there!
I also make these commitments for you. If you see that a fat, 49 year old can evolve into a musclebound 50 year old triathlete, then beyond into a trim 51 year old marathon runner...maybe you'll find the inspiration to pick up the reigns and do something for yourself. It doesn't have to be physical either. I'm learning to play guitar and thinking of going back and taking Calculus because it's the only kind of math I could never get a handle on.
Knit a sweater. Buy a pennywhistle and learn to play it. In fact, if you'll make a public commitment to doing it, I'll buy you a pennywhistle and a book on playing it. (Of course I'll also document your progress with video on my YouTube channel.) Do a crossword every day for a year. Actually do anything every day for even a month and you'll find that challenging. These blog posts every day this month have been a real challenge for me.
Friends. Would-be friends. Make some sort of commitment to do something that you have never done before. Anything! Whatever you do, just make sure you pay less attention to your TV set than you ever have before. Because when I ask you the toughest questions you'll be faced with: "What do you do for fun?" And I will ask! The last thing I want to hear is: "Watch re-runs of Matlock."