DMB Digest: One Bite at a Time

It's either that or run away screaming.

The Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas hosts the world famous seventy-two-ounce steak eating challenge for anyone suicidal enough to accept it. Personally, I throw in the napkin after about twelve ounces these days. Even then I’m gonna feel gross for the next several hours. I know. It’s embarrassing. I grew up on a black angus cattle ranch. What would my dear deceased grandfather think of me now? I mean, it’s not as bad as being a vegetarian, but still. (I once asked my dad what he would have done if I had been gay. With a smirk, he said, “Well at least you’re not a vegetarian.”)

All of that to ask, how exactly do you go about eating a 72-ounce steak? Of course, the famous response is “one bite at a time.” (I’ve heard in some parts of the world they ask, “How do you eat an elephant?” But that’s just crazy talk. No one can eat an elephant. Even a baby elephant is over 250 pounds. And if you get caught eating a baby elephant…wow. That’s just…talk about being cancelled. I don’t even want to know about it. How could you?)

Where was I? Oh yeah, one bite at a time. You know how some tasks are so huge you just can fathom accomplishing them? How do you even start something so monumental? So daunting? So complicated, vast, and incomprehensible? That’s how I feel right now, for a couple of different reasons.

I’ll turn fifty-years-old later this year. Just in the last several months I’ve become aware of another layer to my purpose in this world. A couple more. But they aren’t simple things like The Big Texan’s steak-eating challenge. Accomplishing these things won’t be a matter of traveling somewhere and taking a selfie. If I’m being honest, chances are I’ll never really “achieve” either of them in any sort of measurable manner. These are big goals. The type you craft purpose statements for that typically end with the phrase “or die trying.”

But that’s not an acceptable excuse to throw in the towel after a measly twelve ounces. Or even before the first bite. Right? Of course not. Here’s the thing. For most of my life, I’ve been a big picture person. Energizing vision. That’s my gig. The promised land. Envision the end game. Can you imagine? Think of what it will be like to get there. No matter how tough things get between here and there, keep that inspirational vision in your thoughts.

But then I learned a hard lesson. Sometimes vision isn’t enough. Sometimes, you have to have a concrete plan on how to take the next step. How to eat that next bite. In addition to envisioning the promised land, it turns out a map can be pretty invaluable. But here’s the thing about maps; no one wants to know about all the detours in advance. Some treks are simply so arduous that if you saw the entire map up front you’d freak out and run away screaming. Thus the tense balancing act between the big picture and that very next step. Some people call everything else in between “faith.”

Personally, I think faith is even bigger than that. It’s what keeps me from throwing in the towel all along the way. For now, I’m trying to foster small thinking. Focus on that next bite. The vision is still there, gleaming in the distance as bright as the sun. But I’ve been around long enough to know the map is gonna be anything but direct. I don’t need to see the whole thing at once to know that. What I do need to do is be faithful to the next step, and make sure it’s not into the ditch due to focusing on the ever-mesmerizing horizon.

From the Desk of DMB

More big thinking this week. Big thinking and small thinking. It’s hard for me to keep those in balance. But I’m learning. Keep the end goal in my peripherals. Don’t lose sight of it. But at the same time, focus on each step as I take it. What needs to come next for me to get to the end eventually? It’s so easy for me to get wrapped up in dreaming that I stop moving forward all together. The present can be so mundane. So boring. So painful. But obviously, the present is the only time we can accomplish anything. Think small. I have to keep reminding myself. Live in the now.

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