As I pick up the pieces of my life in Atlanta, I’m slowly appreciating the small things as I pack them into my luggage.

The early morning smell of coffee followed by the loud and anxious scratching of 12 paws from the three large whining dogs rushing to the door to use the bathroom.

Waking up well before the crows, triple checking the gear list and rushing out the door with out hiking boots and leashes. Singing and talking for the two hour drive into the forest of greenery. Lugging ourselves through the hills. Cozily listening to the crack of the fire as the sun sets.

The cold Autumn breeze on my skin, and a little wet patch on my back after a long day of cycling around the city streets. Days filled with Cafe’s, smiling faces on the belt line, beers with friends. Sometimes grooving down the block in the local basement club.

Slowly I pack in these small experiences like Tetris pieces along side with the neatly folded friendships that I can’t wait to unpack when I get to the other side, wherever that might be.

The friendships that have pushed me out of my Comfort Zone more times than I can count. The people who inspire me to be more creative in life and in living. The ones who slow down so I can catch up or pushing harder so we can summit together. Friendships that I’ll always make room for, no matter how far I go.

4/30 Picking up the pieces was originally published in Jacobjohnaguon30daychallenge on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When I asked her about what she thought intention meant she told me that she was kind of unsure. She took a moment to ponder on the word and said, well, I know what it means to have good intentions and bad intentions.

We thought of an example and she gave me one where she tried to do something for a friend that she thought would be good for her friend, but didn’t know the whole story and it ended up hurting her friend on the long run.

She was trying to help and had the right intention. Intention is when you’re taking an action with an expected result.

She expected to do something good for her friend, so she had good intentions.

One this next question she also paused to ponder on what it meant to live an intentional life.

Well if intention means to take an action with an end goal in mind, then to live intentionally means to live all your actions with an end goal in mind.

I don’t have all the answers, in fact, I don’t even claim to have some, but what I think I know is that life is much better when it’s focused around building relationships and having incredible life experiences. My adventures and goals and actions in life aren’t perfect. In fact, I feel like I’m fumbling around most of the, but I do try my best to live intentionally around those two concepts.

My sisters friend is still in high school and I just shared with her something that took me 27 years to figure out.

3/30 Oct 31, 2019 was originally published in Jacobjohnaguon30daychallenge on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today I had the opportunity to go to lunch with a friend of my sisters and we asked each other really good questions. She asked about my travels, why I went on adventures and where my favorite place I’ve been to so far was; I asked her if she knew what intention meant to her, and what she thought it meant to live an intentional life.

To answer her question about my travels, my favorite place that I’ve visited to date has been Yosemite, which is almost funny because I didn’t know that it was a place that existed 3 years ago. It’s also my favorite place because of the way it makes me feel when I’m there and the sentimentality of it as it was apart of the adventure that changed my life.

Why I go on adventures now is kind of always different. Sometimes it’s for a specific goal such as hiking or climbing a particular mountain, or just to see a friend and hang out for a few weeks. I think regardless of the reason, or lack thereof it’s always still worth going. Life is about relationships and experiences and I think any kind of adventure accommodates both.

I have new goal, which is to write every day. I feel like my mind races with new ideas all the time and I never take the time to write them down. So here’s to having goals, and to writing down ideas.⁣
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So here’s apart of the reason why. A few years ago I read a Medium article and it talked about how my generation, millennials, had a hard time finishing things. It said that we were all wrapped up in instant gratification, taking the easy routes, only reading headlines, and never following through. The article actually challenged any millennial who was reading it to finish the whole 5–7min article (Medium gives you an estimate of how long an article would take to read) from beginning to end without stopping, skimming, changing screens, or getting distracted. ⁣
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I remember this moment specifically because I was finishing my lunch and had to get back to my desk. So, I failed. But I made it a point to go back to my desk, and finish reading the article. Which I did, and it actually felt amazing. The article was right. I couldn’t tell you the last time I didn’t skim through an article, or just get the gist, assume I knew the rest of it, and move on. ⁣
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After reading the article it led me to finish other things that I had pending in my long list of stuff that needed to be done. ⁣
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One of those things was to finish a book called, “Taking our Places” by Norman Fischer, which I highly recommend to anyone trying to figure out this “Adulting” thing. Finishing this book cover to cover changed my life.⁣
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I also got into the habit of running and trained for my first 10k, which I also completed.⁣
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Now I’m setting a goal of 30 days of meaningful, thoughtful posts and hoping that the habit sticks. I want to become a better writer, sharer of ideas and mindsets, and story teller. First, I need to meet the goal of finishing 30 days and see where that might take me. ⁣
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Also, I’m open to any feedback and direction! Thanks for reading :)⁣

1/30 day Challenge. The Beginning was originally published in Jacobjohnaguon30daychallenge on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

My sister’s Debut

Victoria, Tori, sister, Torrence, tick tick, nunus and of course my favorite… brat.

Wow have I learned so much about you over the past few months, especially after our trip to Nicaragua together. Here’s a few things I’ve learned:

• You’re not a morning person
• 73% Cacoa chocolate is the perfect amount
• And 13 hours of hiking is a little too much

And here’s a few other things

• You’re very adaptable
• Even if I make us miss our flight
• Learn fast

Like learning to code, while taking Spanish classes and all while working behind the counter of a cafe you’ve never worked at before

• And you’re an extremely empathetic person with such a big heart

So big, in fact, that it’s brought all the people in this room together, and there’s still so much room for so many more.

There’s a 9 and a half year gap between us which means while I was off struggling and stumbling through my early 20s, you were growing into this beautiful young woman who’s sitting here before me.

When I look at you now, it’s hard to not think you’re not still the 3 years old little girl sitting on the counter, holding your feet, swinging back and forth singing “ tick tick” or that you’re not too short to reach the cups from the cabinets.

Okay you’re still too short to get some of the cups, but that’s okay, that’s why you have tall brothers. And you’ve always been resourceful.

Which is why I can honestly say that I’m very excited to see what you will offer to this world and to see what this long journey called life has in store for your future.

The next few years will likely be your most influential years of your life as this will be a time when your eyes will be most open to all the new things that you’ll learn.

You’ll encounter all sorts of people, influences, and lessons with each new experience and meeting. Pay very close attention to these and embrace each as if you’ve never encountered anything like it before.

Remember to ask yourself frequently, who am I? Where did I come from? What do I want? Are the people surrounding me helping me be a better person and are supporting me to where I want to be?

You will have some days that you’ll think will never end, and some that you will wish that would last forever. Don’t be afraid to ride each wave and fully embrace the rises and the falls.

You are a strong, smart, beautiful young lady, who’s worthy of so so much, so never settle and always trust your heart.

One more thing —

Don’t do too much crazy shit but do enough of it that you’ll be able to look back and laugh. You might be an adult now but don’t ever forget to live young forever.

Andrew and Tylor originally met at UVA through their acapella group — The Virginia Gentlemen. When you keep a friendship and don’t see each other after a few years there’s only one solution for catching up: atlas-based, no-GPS road trip from Denver, Colorado to Hilton Head, SC for an acapella group reunion. After 2,200 miles, two campfires, and two couches, they made it. We had the chance to meet them as they passed through Atlanta for two days before the next leg of their trip — the Bonnaroo Music Festival. ⠀
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Making new experiences with old friends is always a great excuse to get off the couch and travel!⠀

Andrew and Tyler — Virginia was originally published in World From a Couch on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

📍Netherlands

instagram.com/azzeration

The most inspiring people I’ve encountered in my life are people that have experienced some kind of suffering that I couldn’t even begin to imagine and overcame it. It’s truly incredible how people find the the strength to take a stand when everything has fallen and the brain demands to give up. When they decide that they will not let their suffering define them and that they will become a better version of themselves because of these experiences, incredible feats are accomplished and a new person is born . These are the people I look up to the most.

Aziri sent my roommate a last minute request to stay with us in Atlanta for a couple nights. We’ve hosted almost fifteen people from all over the world for the past couple months so I was starting to feel a little exhausted from hosting but it didn’t take long for us to decide that we’d host him because it just felt right. This was Aziri’s first time in the U.S. and we were his first hosts. You could tell this guy was stoked to hang with people after traveling alone for a week in a new country. His personality lit up the room and you couldn’t help but smile when he would enthusiastically talk about his passions and his plans on traveling the U.S.

Aziri’s story started with him telling us how his parents have both passed on within a short time period of each other and that traveling the world was the only thing that made sense after his life was just rattled with despair. To make matters get more complex, Aziri ended up having health issues of his own during the first night with us and was instructed to fly back home to the Netherlands for immediate attention. I was amazed at his ability to maintain a sense of confidence that he’ll be back and that this was just a small hill in his journey that he needs to get over (and will get over). Long story short, Aziri flew back to Atlanta a few weeks later and stayed with us. He became a brother to Jacob and myself and were grateful to be a part of his adventure. Safe travels and keep on living the life you want. Thanks for being a living testament to not letting past experiences define you and moving forward is possible — even in times of hardships

Aziri — Netherlands was originally published in World From a Couch on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

📍Princeton, NJ

instagram.com/iratepro

“its hard to give an exact time frame hitchhiking,
i am so sorry thank you for your kindness”

This was the message I got a day after declining a request due to them no-showing. I hesitated with reporting them, because we’ve never actually had a no show before, and I really didn’t want other hosts to have to deal with something like this. For one, I realized that the request was never confirmed, and two, at Apple we learned about assuming positive intent. I decided to follow my gut and let it slide.

I followed up with asking him if he still needed a place to stay. We found out he was about an hour out of the city, but fortunately right by where I grew up. I called up my parents to see if they would be willing to pick him up from the library and drop him off at the Marta Station a few exits down. They were a little hesitant at first, but I told them why we host, and why he was travelling. After a few moments they finally agreed.

Roy has been on the road for over a year now. He moves wherever the wind tells him to. He gets there through the kindness of others by hitchhiking, or by discovering groups of “Train kids” to help him find which freights to jump on. During his time with us he told us stories about these train kids, or of the kindness he’s experienced on the road. When you meet someone who’s lived off the passion for human connection, you regain your faith in humanity.

Roy — Princeton, NJ was originally published in World From a Couch on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

📍Cleveland, Ohio

“So why move?”
“Have you ever been to Cleveland?”

Quinton and Jonathan are brothers. They started their journey with the understanding that they couldn’t live to their fullest potential by staying in an environment that didn’t allow them to fully flourish. They grew up in Atlanta, but eventually had to move to Cleveland with their family. After grinding in the video and marketing industry in a city that isn’t creating content they took it upon themselves to create their own destiny.

Quinton initially messaged me and let me know why he was coming to Atlanta. Him and his brother has a passion for creating music and films, and what better place to start than your hometown. He explained to me that he already landed a job working as a cook at a vegan restaurant and was looking to be more immersed in the city. They’ll be travelling through other major cities to find the best fit over the next few months.

This duo is doing whatever it takes to make their dream come alive. We’re glad we had the opportunity to be apart of their Journey!

Jonathan & Q — Cleveland, Ohio was originally published in World From a Couch on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

4 Sets TF

Round 2: One-Arm High-Pulley Cable Side Bends

4 sets 10–12 Reps

Round 3: Decline Reverse Crunch

4 sets 10–12 Reps

Round 4: Exercise Ball Pull-in

4 sets TF

References:

https://www.bodybuilding.com/workout-plans/the-7-day-six-pack/overview/the-7-day-six-pack-the-brick-builder