The Goings on and Work of Sam Mahlstadt

I have a baby on the way, I’m working on a book, and I have a baby on the way.

These three two things have me in a state of serious introspection right now.

I find myself asking questions about my legacy, my involvement in the right causes, and my personal life story.

Enter: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
(affiliate link)

I have been devouring this book, and have plans to read it a few more times before it finds its way to the bookshelf.

A Million Miles, appropriately subtitled, reveals a glimpse into Miller’s life after being approached to turn his hugely successful memoir Blue Like Jazz (affiliate link) into a movie. As he learns, a movie has to tell a clear story in order to hold an audience’s attention. And while his book was popular, the story of his life was boring.

This is a great fear of mine, perhaps even my greatest fear. I do not want to live a boring life. This is partly why I am deathly afraid of cubicles.

The danger in living by this fear is becoming over-involved, over-extended and never fully present. As much as I am afraid of office buildings, I also try to avoid chasing my tail, never accomplishing anything. Because busyness is just a mask for a boring life.

I am trying to live in the tension – to be fully present and engaged in a few major things that matter the most.

As Andy Stanley would say, I am the only person on the planet who can be my wife’s husband and my baby’s father. So I’ll start there.

Here’s to living in the tension, living good stories.

Thanks, Don, for the reminder.