The journey of writing this blog has really taken off over the past few months and I decided I needed a name/logo, so new readers will understand what to expect. Connecting the Dots is the name I chose for a number of reasons. The main reason I chose this name is that it encompasses my belief in being the best coach, husband and person I can be on a daily basis. Life is complex and I want to create a community that realizes and embraces this. It is my hope that current and future readers of Connecting the Dots leave my blogs with more questions than answers. We look to social media for ideas so often, and it has created a culture of shallow thinking. Shallow thinking is thinking that the situations that we encounter are complicated. Complicated means that there is a certain way of going about things. There are a small number of paths to understanding complicated issues. This is not the case with much of what goes in the world today. Now how can I convey this through a simple logo? 

The Yin and Yang Symbol is something that has enamored me for a while. Even before I began my journey of self-improvement, I thought that it described life perfectly. No matter what choice that you make, things will even out. If you eat ice cream, you get the satisfaction of eating the ice cream. But, that ice cream has negative effects on your health. Side note, I just had some ice cream. That’s an example of instant gratification. Here is an example of delayed gratification. You choose to meal prep organic food. The prepped food is not going to be nearly as tasty as going to a fast food joint, and it takes much more effort to prepare. The benefits will be delayed, but better for you in the long run. This is an easy example that everyone can understand. There is always good and there is always bad. Now what about the dots? There is always some good in the bad and some bad in the good. I thought this gives further explanation of how life works. I’ll go back to the last example. Your fast food joint is not always going to have good food and meal prep might be a breeze vs a hassle sometimes. This is how I thought of the Yin and Yang symbol before I did any research. Here’s a youtube video that explains the symbol better than I can. 

Now for the grey laces in my logo- that gives it that extra meaning for me and what I want this logo to mean to those who are reading this. There are the good and bad times- but there are also grey areas that help us get from the bad to the good and vice versa. Baseball has been a huge avenue to bring me through these good and bad times and it shows in my logo. I do hope that people outside of baseball can look past this logo and see more than what it is at face value. I love the addition of grey to the Yin and Yang symbol, because life is not always black and white. There are going to be grey areas of our lives that we’re not able to decipher or understand at the time.

A big part of what has made me fall in love with writing is everyone’s response when I talk about uncomfortable life issues I’ve gone through. I’ll share a moment in my life where connecting the dots was never more important. The last time I talked about mental health, I left off with how I dealt with the passing of my mother. When this happened, some family issues were brought to the surface and we eventually hashed them out. This is what family is all about, being there for each other. One of the benefits of this situation was a new relationship with my uncle. We had not been the closest before the passing of my mom. My mom and my Uncle BG were best friends, and he did all that he could to make sure that I was alright. I hadn’t seen him since the funeral and I got invited to a tryout for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Chicago. This is where he lived and he set up a great weekend for us. I went to the tryout and he took me to a day game at Wrigley field. If you know anything about the bleachers at Wrigley, then you know I had a GREAT time. Now this was September of 2015 and the Cubs were about to make the playoffs for the first time in a while. The Cubs ended up losing the game and we went to Cubby Bear across the street. I have yet to this day seen such an unreal atmosphere. It felt like I was back in college at a bar at 11pm at night but it was only 3pm. The fans were getting rowdy in anticipation of a Pirates loss. This would clinch a spot for the Cubs. Once the final out was recorded the place erupted even more, which I didn’t even know was possible. We stayed out until like 10 pm and stayed in a high rise of my uncle’s friends apartment. It honestly was one of the most fun days of my life. From that day on, our relationship was even stronger and I was so happy to have him in my life. Here’s a picture from that special day of us singing Sweet Caroline in the bleachers. 

Now as you know, life is far from fair. Losing my mom should have been enough…but less than 6 months from that day at Wrigley, my Uncle BG passed away from a heart attack. It sucks for me, obviously. Now think about how my grandparents (who I often call my parents) feel. They have had to bury two of their children. No one should have to do that. There are no words to describe what our family has gone through so I’m not even going to try. We all could have thrown the towel in and used this as a crutch the rest of our lives, but we haven’t. It obviously hasn’t been smooth sailing for our family but I am so proud of how we all have dealt with this. 

Why tell you this story? I had to tell you this story because these are the tough stories that need to be out in the open so we can all help each other. We all have these stories but not many feel comfortable talking about it. I can tell you first hand that it weighs heavy. Now that I am a coach and trying to win games and build men, I see the missing piece. If we don’t try to learn from the lowest points of our lives, we’re never going to get where we want in life. I had a conversation with my wife over quarantine and it was about living a long life together. My family health history is obviously not the greatest so I should be on top of it. In baseball, long distance running has been vilified for years and I never saw it as an option for my workouts. After having this conversation with my wife, I thought hard about BG and knew I couldn’t let this happen to me. I want to live as long as possible with Taylor and taking care of my heart health is going to be a huge part of this. I ran that first mile in June and wanted to die. I knew that it was going to be a long road before I was able to run long distances with ease again but I was ready for the challenge. Last week I ran 5 miles for the first time in my life and don’t plan on stopping there. I was able to connect the dots. It goes much deeper than just looking into my family’s health history. I am curious to learn as much as I can. Without this I don’t think I could have connected the dots. My goal is to grow this blog so that we can connect more dots and all be curious for life no matter what life throws our way.