Starting a Movement

Last weekend, my wife and I did the Warrior Dash in St. Louis. This is one of the silly activities we do as a couple.

To complete the warrior dash you have to crawl through mud which is about one and a half feet deep (it was super cold, the Run Ruckus in November will be worse). By going through this pit you get mud in places you did not know you had.

Following the race, everybody’s first goal is to get the mud off and the event organizers have fire trucks on hand to spray off the participants. By the time Andrea and I got to the fire trucks they were out of water (some people were actually trying to clean off in a two inch puddle leftover from previous cleanings) and it was going to be about 45 minutes before they returned. As Andrea and I stood there listening to everyone complain about the lack of water and being dirty (and watching those folks unsuccessfully wash off in the mud puddle), I noticed a lake about three football fields away and I started walking to it.

As I got to the lake, two other guys came from another direction to also get in the lake (in other words, we did not know the other was going to the lake).

We hopped in, stripped down to our undies (I know, it sounds weird), and cleaned the mud off the best we could. The interesting thing was that  no one else was getting in to clean up. This was out of about 500 people.

Once we were done, we walked back to the event area. While walking back, we were passing the rest of the people heading down to the lake to clean off. When I got to Andrea, she mentioned that people started to notice us in the lake and decided to follow our lead.

This made me feel like the kid in the video below. I felt like we started a movement. I know, we did not change the world but we saw a problem and took action without worrying if everybody else agreed.

In my previous post, I mentioned that my wife and I are going to start bending this site and brand to talk about you becoming a superhero and finding joy in your life.

To tie all of this together, to be a superhero you have to be willing to step out from the crowd and change what you think is wrong.  Be it your life or what you see in society. You were given a superpower when you were born and though it may be subtle, you need to be willing to use it. One of my superpowers is to be the center of attention. By heading to the lake to clean up I was using my superpower to help others be willing to do the same.

I have found using my superpowers for good has really helped me to enjoy my life more.

What is one of your superpowers and how has it brought you joy?