Jen and I just got back from our honeymoon. Now let me say now before I go on that I am without a doubt the luckiest man on earth and have never been happier than with her by my side. I am truly happy.

Ok ok, now let me tell you what we did!

We went out west to the mountains where we skied, hiked and performed the treacherous drive from Banff to Kelowna in the middle of a blizzard with a less than optimal vehicle with which to complete such a task. We strolled through town, arms linked and teetering on each other for support like an A frame house, with the kind of speed I image we’ll have in 50 years or so without a care in the world. We fuelled up on coffee before taking on the days plethora of activities and winded down with another plethora of west coast style IPAs. It was pretty sweet.

And for two weeks of our month long escape into romance we had the time of our lives. Then we went to the cottage. This my friends is where our story begins.

Now don’t let me lead you on. We had an incredible time there as well. All be it, a different kind.

You see the cottage is in Halliburton ON on a little body of water called Stormy Lake. A little less known for its mountains (as it doesn’t have any) Halliburton doesn’t offer quite the same action as the Rockies. So as per the daily activities mentioned above there really isn’t much to do in December, unless you’re the kind of person who wants to experience life to the fullest and always seeks to become a stronger version of themselves! So as our afternoons orbited around books and tea, before the tea became wine and the books turned to music we danced and sang and laughed and passed out, and it was heaven. But I needed something to fill my mornings.

I have always loved the lake. As a matter of fact that picture at the bottom of the site is of me coming out of Stormy Lake in October which everyone thought I was crazy to do at the time. Having grown up just around the corner from Lake Huron I’ve spent a lot of my days beside the water. If you were wondering what the tattoo on my left arm was it’s a traditional Japanese water tattoo that, as you can image, is a strong reminder of where a piece of my heart remains. For a long time I never seemed to get to the beach as much as I wanted so I would always jump into the water no matter what time of year. Now this was always within reason of course! Until these past two weeks.

Before we went out west I ordered some new equipment so I could train wherever and whenever I want, and I took it with me up to the cottage. Having spent the last few weeks blissfully in love and blissfully unaware of my growing waist line I was pumped to throw some heavy stuff around and run up some hills. So every morning I got up early, rolled out these achy joints, and got after it in a way I haven’t in years. With all the pretence of the gym and of competition out the window I could just get back to moving my body the way I wanted and work hard for it’s own sake. Nothing like reseting your mind to bring you back to where you belong.

And after an hour or so of old school style hard work, out in the snow with my heart racing, sweat crystallizing on my shoulders and still trying to make up for all the time lost time not having got to the beach, I would strip down and jump in the lake. Need I remind you that I take a cold shower everyday so before I hopped in for the first time a big game was talked. But after 30 seconds of ice water putting me into contact with the depths of my soul making me question why I’m allowed to make my own decisions I quickly jumped out, ran back to the house, and balanced out my 30 second cold water submersion with a 30 minute scorching hot shower! As one does. But the funny thing is (and if you’ve known me for a day just replace “funny” with “obvious”) I went back in the next morning. And the next. And the next, all the way until we came back to the city yesterday with each day getting colder and my time in the water longer until 2 days ago in the early morning with parts of the lake starting to freeze and the sun coming up over the horizon I stayed in the water for 5 minutes. It was -8°C.

I really thought I was so tough with my daily cold shower but I realize now there is always another level to the game. And that’s just it. You will never realize your true potential but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you keep trying. Most of us think that we’re working hard to improve our lives. We’ve got demanding jobs, we work out, we have families to take care of, etc. And crashing down to your bed at the end of the day, exhausted and in need of some relief you might actually believe you’re at your limits. That you’re tapped out and don’t have anymore to give. I’m here to tell you that it’s a lie. You have no idea what you’re capable of! But I promise if you voluntarily expose yourself to something hard everyday you might get to peek through the door and see the truth; that you’re powerful beyond measure. And along the way it might just have the added effect of turning you into a person that loves with their whole heart, wiping away doubt and anxiety so that you can level up when the time comes.

Stay humble. As for me, I’ll be turning that daily cold shower into an ice bath. Wish me luck.

Until next time,

-Coach Kev