2020: Things Are Looking Up

Happy New Year 2020!

Photo from our 5th annual New Year's Day hike on Saddle Mountain, for NW Wilderness

I'm starting Garth's Blog clean this year, moving all the 2019 posts to my private blog*. Even my 2019 adventure and travel blog posts and unfiltered late-night tweets are hitting the cutting room floor.

Things are looking up. I'm healing, getting stronger, breaking the chains, leaning on my faith in Jesus, practicing self-care, and moving forward to a brighter future. When you see me on a mountain or on the trail looking happy, I'm (usually) not faking it. It's genuine.

I've been learning and experimenting with tools that have been enormously helpful in dealing with depression and insomnia. Examples: Meditation (shout out to my two favorite apps, the Calm meditation app and the Christ-centered Abide meditation and prayer app) and keeping an ultra-minimalist Bullet Journal are now daily habits. Weightlifting and the outdoor events I organize for NW Wilderness also help clear my mind… As do my visits with naturopathic therapist Dr. Carol Zamarra… As well as love from family, friends, and church family… And many more good things I could enthusiastically list.

Hit me up publicly or privately if you’d like to hear more in a future blog post. It could cover additional things that have helped me, as well as offer a look at what a journey towards wellness might look like. I'm still learning, as we all are. Otherwise, it's back to blogging book reviews and travel adventures.

Though if you are hurting, just know that there is hope. I'm with you, and I'm on your side. The 2020s have the potential to be your best decade yet.

Next on Garth’s Blog:
My Top 10 Favorite Books of 2019!

*I wanted to end that on a positive note, so I buried this footnote way down here. Many of those raw “in the moment” blog posts from 2019 gave non-constructive language to my struggles with depression, insomnia, and hurt… Primarily triggered (but not caused) by two specific failures: One in a friendship, and the other regarding state-related ministry. Trying to live with being unforgiven for both of these failures is still a struggle for which I ask prayer and support. I am still prayerfully and mindfully working though these two issues. Things will continue to get better. I believe it. 🌞

Run - Hike - Climb

Back in my giant beard days (last month, that is): Taking Lena and our newborn Levi on the first hike of his life; More on that in the coming weeks!

The post below is yet another share from my other blog, originally drafted as a response to the U.S.A. athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

But no more stalling, and no more slacking...  An original "Garth's Blog" post is finally coming here on Wednesday: A play-by-play of baby Levi's birth!

Barely 30 total miles in January. Pathetic. Recording my hiking and running miles via my preferred GPS sports tracker app last month was quite an eye opener for me. Seems I cover a fraction of the miles that I used to.

Granted, January was anything but typical. A typical month would have fewer missed hiking opportunities due to wimping out in the face of nasty weather. And then there was the minor, itsy bitsy issue of taking a couple weeks off to have a baby boy.

But it's clear that I'll need to step up my game if I'm gonna train this year, as planned, to:

• climb a couple of the Pacific Northwest's highest peaks
• run that marathon relay race with our team in Cincinnati (and maybe a mud run or two?)
• get back in shape for my TV commercial/photo shoots
• carry Lena and Levi on some backpacking trips, and do more hikes with our students
• outperform and outlast my former self on the wake board, surfboard, snow skis, bicycle, kayak, and whatever else I can find the time to ride

So much training to do, so few calories to work with. At least, after my raging metabolism has its way with those calories.  Plus, there's always the matter of hitting the free weights harder to add a bit more meat to this embarrassingly lean body frame.





But all of this is secondary to what is really important-- prioritizing time with my family, as well serving the needs of the wonderful people whom God has placed in our church and my life. I could definitely stand to spend more time training for both. Couldn't we all?


24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Unproductive: Reflections on paternity leave

Mommy naps at home earlier today, holding our 11 day old Levi.

This is another share from my other blog, originally posted on Thursday.  I'll try not to make a habit of this, but I just haven't found the time to complete any new updates to the "Garth's Blog" site recently.

My belated family Christmas post is almost ready.  And pictures from baby Levi's birth last week are coming soon!

Our newborn baby Levi turned one week old yesterday [Read: Wednesday]! Yet the week zipped by so quickly that it seems like Levi was born only a few hours ago.

After confirming that my mom was available to care for Kathy at the house today, I felt confident enough to return to work this morning. Let's hope I made the right choice.

Think returning to work after vacation is tough? Try returning after paternity leave.

Kissing Lena and Levi goodbye several hours ago, I tore myself away from domestic bliss in the middle of the night. So many memories from this past week brought an irresistible smile to my face. But I also chuckled while suddenly remembering the list of things I expected to accomplish during my paternity leave. As if.

Now, I don't typically aspire to be Mr. Super Productive. That title belongs to my amazing dad, Doug Hamilton. But I DID have over a week off from work, right? And even the most travel-starved husband/ father would never dream of dragging his wife, daughter, and newborn son onboard a series of international flights during this time.


So just for kicks, here is a to-do list of tasks and fun stuff that I earnestly thought I would get started on (yet never touched) during my paternity leave's "free time":

• Get some friends together to log a massive amount of climbing, hiking, and trail running miles
• Carry Lena and newborn Levi on a flat, easy hiking trail that a recovering Mommy can join us on (rescheduled for this weekend!)
• Design and begin my latest weight training program
• Reevaluate my entire 2014 student ministry goals and vision
• Submit another of the nine book reports due for my credentialing process
• Study for my upcoming sermon on 1 John
• Draft an agenda for our upcoming Alumni Council meeting at Warner Pacific College's Homecoming
• Play some Uncharted 3 on the PS3, as 2 year old Lena always pleads for me to do
• Delete dozens of rarely used apps on my phone, tablet, and laptop... But not before I:
• Brush up on speaking the ol' español for our upcoming travels (Duolingo app)
• Learn to play guitar (Gibson's Learn and Master Guitar app)

Laugh if you will, but I was dead serious about tackling every single one of these. At least I thought I was. In practice, I didn't even do the stuff I'd NORMALLY do in my free moments, i.e., drafting mobile updates (okay, I posted a few here) to this blog and it's mainstream counterpart, "Garth's Blog."

So was this a week of wasted opportunities? It certainly could have been, had I prioritized anything on that list over family time at home instead. Playing, praying, reading together, taking care of Mommy and the munchkins, getting to know my baby boy Levi, enjoying visits from family and friends, and helping Lena understand and deepen her relationship with our newly expanded family have all been more important than any part of that list.

It felt like the best week ever, spent with what now feels like the perfect family. And it was gloriously unproductive.