When I type “every day” into this document, my automatic spell check wants to change it into one word “everyday.” But that’s not what I want this to say. As a single word, “everyday” means “ordinary, normal, and of no distinction.” As two words, “every day” is actually the opposite: “extraordinary, distinctive, and significant” because that’s the kind of effort it takes to achieve at the highest level. Few people choose to apply themselves to their goals, their purposes, and their achievements every single day. Few are willing to find that level of focus.
How “every day” can someone be? The answer to that connects to another question: How “every day” can three siblings be? Here is the story of one family.
The older brother Tim, now thirty-three years old, began running daily on Christmas Day 1999 and hasn’t missed a single day in almost sixteen years. The middle child, sister Kerilyn now twenty-eight, decided, “If Tim can do it, I can do it!” and she has run every day for thirteen and a half years. Twenty-seven year old Michelle, the youngest, was not planning to be a runner at all, but when she wasn’t selected for the high school volleyball team, she decided to put her energy into cross-country. She began running that very day and has run every day of the twelve years since.
In spite of the fact that they are siblings, Tim, Kerilyn, and Michelle have no genetic gift that has given them the ability to run every day. They just find a way, and before you know it, one or two or twelve or thirteen or sixteen years have passed. They celebrate milestone moments, a big party for the ten-year anniversary or a 5K family race to commemorate running day number 5000, but generally it is an internal decision to lace on their running shoes each day and then do it again the next day. New acquaintances are often amazed at the accomplishment and react with “I don’t think there’s anything I have ever done for twelve (or thirteen or sixteen) years.” Kerilyn’s reply: “It’s not even a choice anymore. Doing this every day has become a part of who we are.”
Whether you choose to run, or play the piano, or pray, or praise your children, or participate in community service, or even brush your teeth, there is power and potential in taking an every day approach.
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