Chase.

Day 15.

Something I didn’t tell you about last night, was we finished a liter of Double Black before I drove home, in the state between tipsy and drunk, where memory fades but function remains.

And I will never attempt this again. It would have been okay if I was the only one in the car… that means it’ll just be your life in danger if you messed up.

I won’t do it again, for another reason: It sabotaged my Monday. Pornography and masturbation messes with your flow, while a hangover just messes with your time. I had to stay in bed all morning, in spite of me trying to wake up and stay up with a cold bath. Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes came to the rescue – I’m sure a screen would have aggravated my alcohol-induced condition.

You sabotage yourself, you pay the price. There’s a non-negotiable if I ever saw one.

Needless to say, the day was still the day, and I finally gathered enough to get up and stay up at around noon. I had to keep flowing… and to my surprise, I was able to get to the rest of my non-negotiables, throughout the afternoon: Working out, Walking, Updating, and so on. I figured I’d do the rest after my evening obligations, so here I am, almost 30 minutes past my ideal bedtime, churning out 1000 words for me, for you.

Well that’s another thing that kept me going. From listening to Ryan Michler I am reminded of a, say, mantra that would keep coming to me as a gentle thought whenever the rest of my body wants to give up: Give a little more.

Give a little more. I was out of shape, and pushing for maximum burpees within a given period of time. While I was shooting for 120 burpees to hit the equivalent of 10 burpees a minute, the thought – to give a little more – got me a little over the average of 12 burpees a minute, for 12 minutes.

Give a little more. That certainly kept playing in my mind as I pushed to hit a mile in less than 10 minutes. I gave a little more by way of not walking, and I ended with a time of 9 minutes 56 seconds as I went 1.61 kilometers, a little more than a mile.

Give a little more. That’s what I thought to myself while listening to Ryan Michler talk about Strength; you face adversity and trial as opportunities instead of threats, and all this time, you give a little more so you become that much stronger as it passes.

I give a little more right now – I want to give a little more. More words, while I’m on the clock, so I could sleep earlier.

Easy to say give a little more; Not so easy to act on it, especially when you suddenly hit a road block in your thinking.

But I couldn’t just say that there wasn’t much going on today. Well, first thing that comes to mind is that you need to really take care of the tools you use – in my case, it was my car. I’ve had to keep a close eye on it and where it was parked because the driver seat automatic window wasn’t working – it stopped working, of all times, while the window was completely lowered. Easy pickings for the dumbest of car thieves.

So yeah, I took care of this by making it first priority, over all my other non-negotiables I handled earlier this afternoon. In the process, I went back to my go-to car electronics guy, who proceeded to work with his crew to dismantle the car seat to extract the motor, where they found the problem in one of the components.

I’ve always had my hesitations as I kept going back to this guy for help, because I ran the risk of being charged too much, and because these guys just kept speaking in a dialect I didn’t understand… but this was somewhat alleviated. Let me tell you why.

The guy charged me more than I had on hand, so I offered to drive out with him on board so I can withdraw the balance, and pay him right away. He said he would take a separate ride back to the shop soon as I paid him, but I insisted on driving him back myself. The guy expressed his gratitude by telling me, hey, take my number, and if you need help like that one time you had issues with the car after hours, I’ll be glad to assist.

I was just reminded there, that if you take care of people, they take care of you. I mean, the guy probably still overcharged me, sure, but all that loss we perceive is taken in a more benevolent light when you understand that these were the folks who got the brunt of the economic consequences of the past quarantines.

I mean, I was just telling my mom that more taxi drivers nowadays were happier to take our tips, less hesitant to take them, anyway. Everyone needs a little help.

Everyone needs a little help, and just as we take ourselves a step closer to heaven, and a step away from hell with every day, well, helping others with the same step is sort of a step for us as well.

It’s the same thing with trading as it is with helping yourself and others. At the end of the day, make sure you have more wins than losses, and you set yourself up with a greater chance of having more days, for yourself and for everyone you reach.

And, Christian, in all your winning and losing and learning, be assured that you are never separated from your Savior.

So go explore. Go experiment. You may have wasted your time, but you will always have the opportunity to regain your lead.

Peppermint Pattie was having trouble sleeping at camp with the rest of the kids, because the speaker at the bonfire scared her with the end of the world happening soon. Marcie tried to comfort her by saying, ‘it’s already tomorrow in Australia.’

Do what you can today, but understand that you will need to rest at a certain point, while waiting for tomorrow to come.

Folks, I was going to give a little more, but I think this is as good a place to stop. Definitely getting more back on track tomorrow. Tuesdays can be just as magnificent as Mondays.