Last month I walked around before the Georgia game visiting tailgates.
I am always surprised at how happy everyone is to see me. It’s so fun for me to see all of you, out of the gym, with your families and friends.
“How’s it going, Jamie?” you all ask me, and I reply,
“Living the dream.”
It’s 100% authentic --- I am so lucky to be healthy, happy, and building a business that makes other people healthy and happy too. Just having these conversations reinforces that I am, in fact, living the dream, because every time I get to talk to you, I get to learn about your wants and needs and who you are; and that again makes me thankful, because learning is a gift.
I was raised to believe that learning and growing is at the core of virtually everything. Being stagnant is bad; growing is good. I am so grateful that I was blessed with the aptitude to learn and adapt and adjust. I feel like I know a lot already, but I am always asking questions. Maybe you’ve noticed! It’s because I think there’s always more to learn, and I continually want to challenge my capacity to grow.
I learned at most of your tailgates that on game days healthy eating is impossible. JUST KIDDING! I would never judge what you eat, on game day or otherwise. I saw some delicious fried chicken (you know who you are) and ate a great ham and turkey sandwich (thank you). A lot of you wanted to tell me how your tailgate menus had come together; I love watching how couples communicate. Lots of throwing each other under the bus! JUST KIDDING. I joked with a lot of you that I was going to leave 20 pounds heavier because I wanted you to know that I think indulging is totally appropriate and okay.
In the Letterman’s Lounge I saw some teammates I hadn’t seen in 10+ years. One guy lives in Greenville with his wife and was so generous to offer me a place to stay as I continue to work on the JSF Greenville location. I saw a guy who I used to get in literal fights with almost every day at practice (we’d have made up by the end of the day!). And I got to talk to the academic adviser who helped me decide to change my path at USC. With all of them it was like no time had passed; we picked up right where we left off. I remember Coach Holtz telling us this would happen, that the bonds we’d form with our teammates would be super special and unbreakable. What a blessing to see them all again; another example of how I'm living the dream.
When I tell you “I’m living the dream,” I’m trying to communicate to you that I’m happy.
I define happiness as: living up to my potential. Helping those who helped me. Helping someone else who’s up and coming.
I like to ask people “are you happy?” It can be a hard question to answer! But I really want to know. I can’t think of anything more interesting that knowing how the people I care about are really feeling.
Here in the south we are always telling people we’re “doing great.” I’m not sure it’s always true. Because even though I sincerely feel like I’m “living the dream” and “happy,” the truth is that I’m often really hard on myself. I spend a lot of time worrying that I’m not fulfilling my potential. I lose sleep when I think I could be doing something -- anything -- better. Also, I’ve shared with some of you that I feel really sad about my dad, whose health isn’t great.
I think it’s possible to be happy, living the dream, and struggling simultaneously. Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe your definition of happiness is different than mine. Maybe you're struggling too. Maybe you wish you could tell someone you feel sad, but instead you say you're "doing great!" I want you to know you can tell me how you really feel. I'm genuinely interested.
Struggling doesn't exclude me from consistently making good choices. It's making good choices that leads to happiness. And then it's from a place of happiness that I'm able to take on challenges, and then learn and grow and evolve and continue feel that no matter what happens, it’s always possible to "live the dream."