I'm All Shook Up (with apologies to Elvis)

I think I need to do something extreme. Not odd. Not weird. Extreme. Some years ago our home had an invasion of mice. I set traps around the laundry room. That was normal. Then I declared war on the vermin. That was weird. Next I found myself sitting on the clothes dryer late at night waiting for the SNAP that would signal the demise (de-mice?) of the furry creatures. That was extreme. I mean, it worked so it wasn't an altogether bad plan. But I would think the traps would have done just fine without my presence. I did forego the camouflage face paint and uniform so that's one point for me.

When I took a year off from ministry in the local church I spent a lot of time reading and talking to God. "Decompressing" if you will. Pretty normal stuff. Then upon my relocation to Cleveland I took the personal challenge of throwing a ball from my ninth floor balcony into Lake Erie. The management even gave me access to the 11th floor (better known as the roof) one day so that I could try it from there. They were cheering for me. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I only had one baseball and every time I threw it and it fell short I had to descend the nine floors (I walked. We baseball players do that.) to get the ball and then nine floors back up again. All of that just to hurl the ball one more time and watch it bounce on the lawn. Yes, I finally got the ball into the lake on one bounce. Since I couldn't get it back to try again I chalked it up as a win and moved on with life. But it was a challenge. (If you keep track of these things my rotator cuff is in the lake too.)

But have you ever felt yourself "flat lining?" It's not that I'm not enjoying life. It isn't like there is nothing to accomplish. I love my job, my church, my wife. That stuff is all great. But a guy has to step aside from that once in a while and do something extreme simply for the sake of doing it. And at the moment I can't seem to find a challenge worthy of making my adrenaline pump ... my heart race ... my imagination soar. So.

It's time to shake things up.

Not sure how I'm going to do that yet. I may have to start with odd and weird. I mean, I may have to work up to extreme. Before I skied down from the continental divide in Colorado I spent a few years skiing Missouri. Missouri was my "set-up." I would have killed myself had I gone straight to the divide. And as much as I want to shake things up, if I go from boring and normal directly to extreme ... well, it could be hazardous. Probably to myself.

So here we go. I need some suggestions. The comment line is open. Help a brother out, would ya please? I need a good suggestion on how to "Go Extreme." I prefer that it not involve spilled blood (mine) or jail time. Other than that ... I'm open. Let's shake things up...