This date, September 1, 2018, marked the start of a journey, a hero’s journey-of sorts-one that will who’s fruit will remain far beyond its years…
I guess I really should have said “far beyond its year” because I am speaking strictly of my gap year, which as stated in the name, entails only one year off from school; an opportunity to experience a hint of adult life, including all the enjoyable and less enjoyable moments. Many different projects of sorts kicked off September 1, including my first official gap-year-great-books-program book called The Hero With A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell, my internship with my father, my regular blogging, my new workout program, basketball training and a few other less glamorous tasks. These mostly consist of learning and growing in areas of cleanliness and organization, whether at home, at work or elsewhere.
I will start with the fun stuff: basketball and working out. Throughout the summer, I had been going to a weekly semi-organized pick up basketball league just to continue to stay proficient and to have fun. It for a while was each Wednesday from 8:00-9:30 p.m., however after a month or two in moved to every Monday at the same time. This schedule change actually ended up being far more beneficial than I realized at the time. Soon after the start or school, Wednesday youth group would also start back up, which meant I had a more pressing responsibility as a leader each Wednesday night during the same time as basketball. Now, that would not be an issue. Moreover, the same coach who organized this pick-up recommended that if I wanted to start individualized training again, he would recommend I come Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. At the start of September 2018, I did in fact resume training, which meant that I could consolidate my scheduled basketball time into two and a half hours each Monday night, instead or one hour Monday and one and a half on Wednesday. So I now do this every Monday from 7:00-9:30 p.m. I also try to practice as much as I have time for during the rest of the week. Perhaps the most exciting things for me that I begun this month was my new workout regime. Built upon years of lifting experience from my school strength trainer, various workout videos/routines and a lot of research I have created a workout routine that in the past month has produced results head and neck above anything else that I have ever done. In just 5 short weeks, I have gain 18 pounds, consisting of muscle, water weigh and most importantly very, very low amounts of fat (which is very hard when bulking in a traditional way). I am very excited to see where my body goes in the next few months as I strive to get in basketball-ready shape. I have also been doing a combination of long and short distance running to stay in good cardiovascular shape as well as to stay lean. Finally, once I reach my goal of 215 lbs, I plan on going on a leaning process, which I have already started researching, in order to drop a little fat, keep muscle and most importantly get a very high cardio proficiency as well as work on my vertical, which I am also happy to say has not gone down at all despite the 18 pounds that I have gained. I cannot wait to keep going with this process.
Now, moving onto less physical and more mental activities, I have begun a few things to maintain/improve my mental ability for school next fall. I started our homemade Great Books program intent upon building my reading speed and quality in preparation for whichever college I attend (especially if I choose Biola, because I would attend their honors program which is built around reading a book a week). I haven’t quite reached a book per week, but I am learning to enjoy reading. This month I read, as I mentioned before, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell. I wont go into too much detail because I will soon be posting specifically about it and what I have learned from it. I have also started posting on this site more often and learning how to write alaWSJ (meaning like a Wall Street Journal article) and in general how to write in a less argumentative way. This post is not written in that way because it is just an update, but hopefully my growth will be evident throughout my next posts. I have also nearly finished writing a WSJ-esc article about the relationship between an Erudite, a Pontificator and a Pedantic, which I will post as soon as it is finished.
Finally, I have begun two internships, one with my father, which includes attending some of his meetings as well as the occasional lesson on Marketing, business, content management, web design or any other related topic. The second internship is with State Representative Jason Isaac at the Capitol. I work in his office responding to letters, emails and phone calls. I read these, type them into a Content Management System (CMS) for others in the office to view as well as to keep a record of everyone who contacts the office. I also run errands and do whatever else is asked of me.
Each of these opportunities listed above have given me the tools to grow in many different areas and ultimately have an effective and beneficial gap year. I strive to improve myself in mind, body, and spirit and feel that I have effectively begun to do so. Using my workout routine and basketball schedule I have improved my body, with my blogging, reading, interning and working at the YMCA and Cow Tipping Creamery I have improved my mind and at Church and leading youth group I have improved myself spiritually. I know that these experiences will last me far beyond the days, weeks and months of my gap year into college, into early adulthood and into the rest of my life. I am very grateful for each and everyone of the people that made these things possible.
J. Fletcher Brown 