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Josh Miller Ventures

Daring ventures to create a more inclusive world.

  • Josh Miller Ventures
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Connect
  • Adorned in Imagination
  • Public Speaking
  • (Un)Known Project
  • African Creators Festival

31 to 31

runJMrun July 20 2019.jpg

Embarking this morning

Before the heat, and with the sun

I ran across the Big 4 Bridge

Knowing I would be back soon

To walk

Because we are better than hate

Running to complete 31 miles for the week, as I enter my 31st year on earth

Sipping coffee with book in hand before my outdoor excursion

I read The Passion Paradox

Eudaimonia, it said

is the “kind of happiness that results not from overwhelming pleasure but from striving to meet one’s full potential by engaging in activities one considers meaningful”

It talked, of harmonious passion

Of a mastery mind-set

Heading out the door

These words reverberated in my mind

I asked what it would mean to further live my values this next year

What evidence did I have that my understanding and relation to the world had already evolved

Over the past 18+ months

I’ve tackled an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and been sober for over 12 months

Sought out therapy

and named and slowly started to unpack an imbalanced relationship at the intersection of body image/eating/perfectionism that I’ve struggled with since my early teens — but more on that another time

This year has brought with it new ways of understanding

Of accountability

Both in how I relate to myself, the stories I author internally

And with others

Of naming what’s unclear to me, that seems so clear to them

And a reconciling of the two

I thought about why I run

And the language I use to describe it

Long ago moving away from being a “marathon runner” to

Running to explore

I don’t run so that I can win marathons

I run because it’s a journey that intersects mind, body, and spirit

It’s a lifelong series of lessons

On adaption as my body changes

On patience

On curiosity

I ran past a group of teens

They collectively looked at me, at each other, back at me

“Good morning,” I said

And back at each other

As I ascended the ramp of the bridge, they broke into a fit of giggles

Immediately

I wondered if the giggles were meant for me

And a narrative started playing

Picking apart my appearance

But wait

Their world-view doesn’t have any impact on my value

In fact, it’s been shaped just like mine

Through whatever they’ve been exposed to

And no more

I looked East, over the railing

As the sun slowly peaked over the horizon

It’s magenta and peach hues cast across water and sky

Peaking through a layer of dark clouds

Why do I love to run in those early hours

As whichever city or place I’m in begins to stir?

Because each morning, the sun creates an experience just for that moment

One that changes each day

The sun’s life spanning millennia

And it presses on

Looking at the moon as it continued it’s journey past Louisville’s skyline

And the sun as it rose over the bridge

I thought about a recent conversation that focused not on a specific outcome

But a vision

Something bigger than one action or initiative

Something without a true culmination

But of ever growing strength and endurance

Removing the running belt from my waist

I knew that the time of its constriction was over

Because it triggered over 15 years of a posture and relation to my body that wasn’t supporting my journey toward 120 good years

Or at least the incremental gains I can achieve by acting now like I’ll have at least that much time

With a quality of life that allows me to feel the joy of running at 100

Running that may just be a quick walk

Or a jog

But nonetheless

Experiencing nature and possibility

Tremendous strides have been made this past year

And the next promises to be no less challenging

For its at the intersection of growth and learning

That we create impact that reaches beyond ourselves

With gratitude -

Josh

About: Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer. He is the owner of Josh Miller Ventures and the co-founder + CEO of IDEAS xLab—an organization that uses the art of storytelling and community collaboration to impact public health. Miller’s work has been featured by The New York Times, the Aspen Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a Soros Equality Fellow, received the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First, and was selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First's Forty under 40. Miller is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been described as a "force in our community.” He holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University. Previously, he served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health advisory board’s communications committee. 


tags: WrittenWhileRunning, RunJMrun
Saturday 07.20.19
Posted by Josh Miller
Comments: 1
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