I’m currently ~30,000ft above Perryton, TX on my way to San Diego.

Robert and I are headed out to Tijuana, Mexico to meet up with the winner of the 100 Miles for $100,000 Miracle fundraiser. Cancer Doctor was able to put this fundraiser on with the help of The Cancer Guide Research Foundation. A raffle winner was drawn at random to receive all the funds raised to receive integrative treatment. It’s pretty awesome.

The plan for this trip is to capture a ton of footage and film a documentary-style video for the fundraiser and promote it across Cancer Doctor. So I’ve got cameras, microphones, SSDs, batteries, even more batteries, and a massive tripod with me. I’m beyond stoked.

But… similar to [[A tradeoff for late nights|my recent blog post about long nights]], this endeavor is bittersweet.

It so beyond awesome that our team has the opportunity to bless a cancer patient with over $40,000 — but it’s also super hard on the family being gone for four days.

These moments bring me to a foundational lesson I’ve learned in life;

Maturity is holding two opposing ideas at the same time

So often we can get into a mindset that feels our circumstance or a particular situation is either the greatest thing in the world, or hell on earth.

I’m so guilty of this. This is exactly how my brain works. If I’m not careful, I can easily let something feel like either a 1 or a 0. Black or White.

However, meaningful relationships, business initiatives, and pretty much everything else in life is not black and white.

There is often a third option: A “yes… and”.

My wife and I were talking to another couple about this just last night. This couple recently had their first child about three months ago and are now facing a difficult life decision.

I told the husband exactly what I needed to hear:

“Yes this was an incredible experience, you were able to do a lot of good… AND… it’s time for you to move on and make a change.”

Isn’t it funny that it’s always so much easier for us to give someone else the advice we know we should be taking?

For me in this particular instance, it goes like this:

Yes, this is an incredible opportunity and experience for our team; to bless a cancer patient with treatment, to have the means to capture and share these moments… AND I am going to miss the heck out of my girls, these are days I cannot get back with them, so I must be even more intentional when I get back home.

It’s bittersweet. It’s awesome. It’s going to grow me. It’s going to grow my family. It’s going to have some negatives. It’s going to be majority a positive. Plus, I get to take incredible photos while flying over the rockies like this:

…and I’m officially the furthest out west I’ve ever been.

This is cool.