Another week, the 4th this year, has arrived...slipped in the backdoor like an Uncle, late to a wedding.

 Time to stand up, walk over to your 4K Weeks poster, and fill in the next square.

Done?

Happy Chinese New Year!

It is remarkable the amount of high quality input that I have to take in each week just so I can eek out one of these newsletters. So... I am always on the lookout for little morsels to share with you. Here is one:

I am not a religious man, take that how you will, I only offer it here as background context for this... Yesterday I heard a lyric that stopped me in my tracks. It is in the song "The Endless Running Out of Time" by The Secret Sisters. You should listen. Here is the Lyric:

"That I exist, it is a gift, I never could have earned"

I want to write 100 pages about those 12 words. Instead, I will just leave them here for you to feel. Enjoy.

1. Week #04 in the year 1993 , Maya Angelou became the first African American, and woman to recite a poem at the inaguration of a US President. The poem, "On the Pulse of Morning" is beautiful.  She was 3381.00 weeks old. (64.84 yrs)
2. Week #04 in the year 1981, Muhammad Ali talked a 21 year old man named Joe off a ledge where he was threatening to commit suicide. Read about it here.  He was 2035.29 weeks old. (39.03)
3. Week #04 in the year 1957, Walter Frederick Morrison The Frisbee, invented by Morrison begins to be sold by the Wham-o Company. (they were originally called "Pluto Platters". He was 1930.71 weeks old. (37.02 yrs)

"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got." -Janice Joplin

I am of two minds with this quote. And I suppose it has to do with the presence of nuance.

On one hand, you are not "all you've got". But... if you are "all you've got", then that needs to be fixed first. We NEED each other. Strong social connections are a HUGE factor in getting to 5200 weeks. But... if you have a checkmark in the "strong social connections" column, then this next part is for you...

Don't compromise yourself and don't compromise with yourself. Do the hard, amazing, weird thing!!! Don't give up because it's hard! You can make any excuse for yourself inside your mind, and you should make NONE! Seriously. Do you talk to yourself? You should. And you should use that self talk to hold yourself to a high standard, and to hold yourself accountable to that high standard. Don't soften that drive for the people around you. It isn't your job to bring them along. Their journey is their journey.

You owe it to yourself, your loved ones, your Earth, and The Universe, to drive yourself to your own weird, unique, personal greatness.

That lyric. 

"That I exist, it is a gift, I never could have earned"

I have listened to that song 20 times just to hear that line. It's true. I don't even know who gave me the gift of existence.  Maybe you know who gave it to you. Either way it is still mind blowing.

I don't even know if it is a good gift or a gag gift. This could be The Bad Place, or a simulation. The Elysian Fields could be what happens after or before these 4K Weeks. I mean, I love it here, but everything is relative.

In my mind this week I have been vacillating between wondering what I should do to be worthy of the gift of existence, and certain that I could never earned it, and so should just accept it graciously.

It reminds me of this scene, which always makes me cry.

A freely given, unearned, unasked for gift is the hardest to accept graciously. I want to end this with some tidy summation like "maybe we all should live a life worthy of an unearned gift." but that's not it.  That would be still trying to live up to the impossible.

Maybe it just is what it is.

Thanks for being a part of the journey with us! Please let me know if you liked/disliked the content this week.

Talk to you next week.

-Spencer, Owner of 4KWeeks.com

What did the food blogger say about the pelican sandwich?    It tasted great, but the bill was enormous!

P.S. Hear a great quote, Topic, or joke we should use? Email me at the link above. Cheers!

P.P.S. What are you working on?  We are working on building new tools... Have thoughts? Send them over!

P.P.P.S Thanks for reading down this far. I worked hard to make it worth it,