Don't Do What You Can't Do... Do What You Can

After the blast we had last year, I’ve been trying to convince some of my friends to join us in this year’s Krispy Kreme Challenge.

It’s a pretty simple concept: you and 6,000 of your closest friends meet at The Bell Tower on the campus of NC State University on the first Saturday of February at the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed hour of 7 a.m. You hope it doesn’t snow. You marvel at the costumes. You wonder when Halloween moved to Valentine’s Day. The guns fire and everyone runs two-point-something miles to the Krispy Kreme on Peace Street. It’s a happy little donut herd. You scarf down a dozen original glazed morsels of wonderful (that, by the way, is 72,000 donuts total. That’s a lot of Hot Now!). You run two-point-something miles back. The happy little donut herd is now a sugar-induced giggly mass of people complaining that their tummies hurt. You do it all in one hour... and you try not to get sick. (And if you do get sick, you try really hard not to mess up your commemorative t-shirt!) But, in truth, this blog isn’t about the K2C, that will come later (on February 5, somewhere late into the afternoon, after I’ve recovered from my happy little donut coma).

This blog is for the people who, when asked to join us in the K2C, say, with wide eyes, “I can’t eat 12 donuts.” My response is: “So don’t. Eat 2 and give the rest to the guys working at the oil change place. That’s what I did last year.”

And to the people who say, “I can’t run 4 miles.” “So don’t. Run to the corner and walk the rest of the way. You have 6,000 people in the crowd. Someone will be beside you the whole way.”

To people who say, “I can’t”, I say, “Don’t do what you can’t. Do what you can.” There’s no reason for you to sit at home missing out on the fun things because of two little words that live only in your mind. The world is willing to be flexible when you are flexible enough to be willing. Get out there, do what you can, give it a try. Next year, maybe you’ll run to the second corner or maybe you’ll run the whole way. Does it really matter? Not really. Next year, maybe you’ll eat four donuts; maybe you’ll eat 12 plus a few from your neighbor’s box. Does it really matter? Not really. Am I saying that the K2C should be your event of choice? Not really. Do what interests you. Do anything you want. Do something that matters to you because what really matters is that you’re getting out there, meeting new people, doing new things, and making memories. You never know when the thing you did on a whim will become your greatest passion. You never know when a happy little donut-eating moment will become… Something More.