"I would rather be ashes than dust!  I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.  I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.  The function of man is to live, not to exist.  I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.  I shall use my time."

Although this passage cannot be entirely and undoubtedly linked to Jack London, there is evidence that it was inspired by him.

As you may or may not know, the name "ONDEG" is simply a play on words...referring to living life "on the edge" or "on da edge" as it might be said.  Several years ago at a business seminar, I heard the quote "if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room".  The quote was used by Tim Foley (an NFL hall of famer and big time Amway distributor) and is attributed to many people, but I suspect it was first said by Jayne Howard.  Regardless, the quote is quite often used to motivate people and is the typical rah-rah stuff you hear as the "experts" are telling you how to "pursue your dreams".  For some reason it resonated with me and I remembered it.  So goes the rest of the quotes I rely upon to keep my dreams alive and motivation to keep pushing ahead...I prefer to be reminded that the easy way is usually the less satisfying way.  I don't subscribe to the "adrenaline junkie" lifestyle...extreme sports, so to speak, but I do live my life in a way that I am always under some sort of pressure.  I think I perform better when I am up against adversity.

I share this attitude with you in hopes that you experience "the edge" in our workouts...push yourself to the edge sometimes.  Find your limitations.  It doesn't have to happen all the time, but occasionally, go beyond what you think you are capable of.  You might learn a little about yourself.  Failure is not all bad...sometimes it's the best, or only way to learn.

In a little less extreme vein...I offer you this to think about:  a cruise.  Leave a comment and tell me if it's something we should pursue as a group.  And speaking of groups, we often are labeled a "cult".  It doesn't bother me, since the purest definition of cult doesn't necessarily have negative connotations.  But I think tribe fits us better, for a number of reasons.  More on this in a future post.

Here's some quotes for you to ponder if you need some motivation to approach the edge...wherever the edge may be for you.

"The edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."  -Hunter S. Thompson

"We should all start to live before we get too old.  Fear is stupid.  So are regrets."  -Marilyn Monroe

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."  -Martin Luther King Jr.

“Come to the edge, he said.
They said:  We are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came.
He pushed them and they flew.”
  -Guillaume Apollinaire

“When you have come to the edge of all light that you know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen:  there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.”  -Patrick Overton

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over.  Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.”  -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“When one jumps over the edge, one is bound to land somewhere.”  -D.H. Lawrence

From "The West Wing":
"My father was very fond the analogy of the Irish lads whose journey was blocked by a brick wall seemingly too high to scale.  Throwing their caps over the wall the lads had no choice but to follow."