As with many of life’s pivotal decisions, the mental energy expended while processing all factors and potential consequences can be overwhelming. This is true of making the choice to better balance personal and business life with charitable activity. My ego was resisting what my heart was telling me very clearly, and that dichotomy was pulling my spirits down like a whirlpool. The more my ego demanded a “no quarter” approach to achieving the goal, the louder my heart signalled that a repeating pattern in my life was emerging. Achieve that goal… no matter the cost!

Of course, I am not unique in this mindset. Many of society’s systems are designed to reinforce this kind of thinking. Everything from corporate KPIs to video games teaches us that we have to do things bigger, better, and faster to measure up. To be worth our bonus or be given a power-up, we must figure out a way to accomplish the seemingly impossible. In life-or-death situations, this is arguably an appropriate primal instinct into which we can all dig deeply. The mother who lifts the car off her trapped child forces her body to do things it would not normally be able to do. The goal is achieved, but at what cost? Chances are, after the adrenaline and endorphins subside, that mother will be left with unfelt injuries to deal with for a lifetime. Worth it in the name of saving one’s child. In other circumstances, not so much.

This is perhaps the most pertinent deciding factor for my decision. I have no doubt that the original target could be hit, but the cost to relationships, my overall wellness and potentially my livelihood would be just too high. In other words, there would be no point in hitting an arbitrary number if I could not live to fight another day. I want WāōH to endure, not just be a one-and-done feat. To make that happen, living to fight another day means not destroying the elements of my life that enable me to put energy into helping others in need.

So, my ego lost the battle, and this morning’s first walk quickly validated the decision to scale back WāōH’s inaugural effort. Our dog Ocho accompanies me on all my initial walks on any given day. He is a big boy and can be intimidating, so I go out of my way to avoid situations that might cause conflict between him and other dog walkers. While detouring and course correcting this morning, I ran into one of our guests, a neighbour and the son of a more distant neighbour. Had my head been down focusing on fitting in all my kilometres for the day, each of those interactions would have suffered. Instead, I felt comfortable, open-heartedly connecting and conversing with each of those individuals. The respective results were learning that our guest was an avid birder, educating our neighbour about dog behaviour and making a new walking friend. Needless to say, I am confident the decision was correct.