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The 5 Year Itch: Was it all a Waste?

By Anthony Dream Johnson in Curtis Noll

For the past 5 years, I’ve hosted a camping trip to a park in Florida named Cayo Costa. The first year I did it with my best friend, seen above (yellow shirt), who died about 8 months later. The last thing we ever talked about was continuing the Cayo Costa camping trip. We agreed to keep on doing it (together).

He died, and I decided to keep hosting it, as agreed before his death, and in a way, in memory of him.

That was 2008. Its now late 2011, and the fifth trip was just held last week. It was much smaller than all of the previous trips. Only 5 of us actually made it to the island, compared to every previous year being in the range of 15-20 people.

I was initially kinda pissed with myself for this, for the group not being nearly as large this year. I blamed myself, for not investing more time and effort rounding people up, and in general, organizing the trip….

2 Things That Made Me Cry

By Anthony Dream Johnson in Curtis Noll

Conventional wisdom tells us that “manly men” don’t cry. And if they do, they don’t tell anyone about it. Keep it bottled up like the dark, shameful secret that it is — right?

I call bullshit — an epic load of it.

To the contrary, fully rational men are also deeply, and passionately emotional. The two are complementary, and are in no way opposed to one another, as some would claim — and as some have on this blog.

In fact, with one comes the other, and without one fades the other.

Or in the words of Nathaniel Branden.

“To think clearly, feel deeply.”

  • With shallow emotions come shallow, hollow thoughts.
  • With deep emotions come deep, clear thoughts.

~~~

I sold my boat yesterday. The bow of it is pictured above. More pictures will be shared in a moment.

Why would I cry over a boat?

Because of the mountain of memories embedded in and with it. I have owned the boat, Beachmuscles, since I was 13 years of age, and took it all over…

Clarifying “Uncertainty over Unhappiness”

By Anthony Dream Johnson in Curtis Noll, Independent Thinking, Lifestyle Design

In my 2010 Stockholm speech I discussed unhappiness and uncertainty, and how I chose uncertainty over unhappiness — when it mattered most, and when I was not getting the details right (when I was screwing stuff up).

I will clarify what I mean by this today — choosing uncertainty over unhappiness.

Clarify because I see it as necessary to get my ultimate point across, because I have come to further understand the gravity of what I was saying … and because I have come to understand that this is one of the greatest gifts my best friend gave me before his death — and that this is an expression of the greatest sensation man can experience.

~~~

When James Galt II chose uncertainty over unhappiness (in regards to a work related decision if I’m not mistaken), little did he know, I think, that in the process of choosing “uncertainty”, he was choosing his own certainty.

He chose to…

The Dream You Guys Never Got to Meet

By Anthony Dream Johnson in Curtis Noll, Independent Thinking, The 21 Convention

I was discussing the possibility of an investor in The 21 Convention the other day with my dad. He mentioned a problem I had was that if something ever happened to me, the whole business goes adios.

For one, he’s right. If I ever got into an accident and died, T21C would go bye bye.

For two though, there was once a possibility that this did not have to be so. Contrary to how it may appear now, I was not always the lone wolf. I had a friend that was a brother at the same time, and his name was Curtis Noll. He was the best man I’ve ever known.

He died of cancer August 1st 2008 – although that is a bit misleading considering his treatment, his doctors, the information those doctors were working with, and the medical status quo then, that prevails to this day.

In any case, Curtis dieing presented a difficult time in my life. It was the first time someone so close and so prevalent…

The Quest for Nutritional Truth: Why I Eat the Way I Eat

By Anthony Dream Johnson in Curtis Noll, Independent Thinking, Nutrition

At this point, I’ve tried writing this post over half a dozen times. I’ve promised it for so long, I’ve decided to finally hammer it out, no matter the cost. I feel good though. My head is clear, and I’ve done enough writing lately that I feel I can organize my thoughts clearly, logically, and passionately.

Let’s begin by analyzing why this post has been so hard to write for me.

In short, “nutrition” is an important topic to me. It’s something I have been heavily interested in for many years now, have spent a lot of time (as in hundreds, if not thousands of hours) reading about, and had many different experiences as I tried nearly everything under the sun that caught my attention in the field.

We could summarize all that as, I’ve invested a lot personally into the subject – both intellectually, and in real life actions taken.

But, it doesn’t end there. The second reason it’s taken…