High Speed, Low Drag

In life, like in many other aspects, one has to be reminded that not everything is as seems. The things that seem the best for you may actually be the things that hold you back the most, the things that seem to make you happy may in fact be only things that will bring about sadness and despair. Take alcohol for example, when taken in the right amounts, and with careful moderation, it can bring a sense of "joy" and "happiness", pass the threshold though, and you have stepped into an entirely different dimension, one that can only bring about pain, sorrow, sickness and in some cases death.
The same could be said for something that is also meant for daily intake and for nutritional value such as food. When one eats the right amounts of food, it can be extremely beneficial for one's own body, providing the nutrition that the body needs. On the other hand, if too much food is consumed, this could eventually lead to many different forms of obesity and high blood pressure. This state can quickly lead to depression and unhappiness, and as one can clearly see, too much of a good thing can sometimes actually be bad for you.

I always thank God for my military training and I am constantly reminded of it, sometimes it comes to me as a surprise, but other times, it comes to me when I needed most. To "carefully analyze situations, assess the danger, and then move in when it is the right time". Being part of the military has served me a higher purpose than I could ever imagine, as I mature, I realize just how much it actually all meant to me, all the lessons that were carefully and dutifully taught to me by those with much more experience, flow back as reminder that although I may be out of the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps will never be out of me.

As I assess my life today, one VERY important lesson came to mind, one that we would jokingly talk about, make fun of and use it when it was inappropriate. What I am talking about is of course the "High Speed, Low Drag" lesson we were taught. I cannot fully remember when it was the first time I had heard this phrase, or what it really meant to me at the time, all I knew was that it was Marine Jargon and that we all used it. Yes, we all had different meanings and times to use this phrase, but in the end, I believe we all meant it to be all the same.

High Speed, Low Drag, so what does it mean? It means that something is very efficient, running smoothly, very "Lean and Mean" as we like to say it. But how does this relate to life today? Well, imagine your life as an engine, when the engine is running at a very "High Speed, Low Drag" state, it is running smoothly, no problems whatsoever and best of all you as the driver, have no worries that you will get to your ultimate destination. On the other hand, if lets say the Check Engine light was on, the engine stalls once in a while or you are putting more fuel to make the car run than it actually should, well then, we have a problem.

I believe it is time to go back to running a very "High Speed, Low Drag" Lifestyle, optimize your life as you would your engine, fix all the problems at hand and figure out how to best run this engine you call life, as smoothly as possible. In life, one should trim out the unnecessary things that may be hindering you from moving at an optimized speed and capacity. Let go of the things that will only slow you down, but most importantly of all, have checkpoints that allow you to check not only how smoothly your life is running, but make adjustments once again when things start to slow down.

Although it is not new years, and it is late in the year to make a resolution, I have always believed that resolutions were meant to be broken, why else would people make the same resolution each and every year without seeing any significant results? No, I will not be making a resolution, but a REVOLUTION. What is the difference one may ask? By definition, a resolution is "a formal expression of opinion or intent made", while a Revolution "comes from the Latin word Revolutio (a turn around) means a fundamental change in power or change in structure that takes place in a relatively short period of time"... I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Today, I start a revolution, High Speed, Low Drag is and will always remain my motto, it is good to be reminded of these lessons which I learned years ago, and I thank The Marine Corps for teaching me such important lessons that I would be allowed to carry with me through my life. May I never forget this lesson, and be reminded of just how much I love to have this engine optimized.