The Best Books Club: Leave your "buts" behind

Max Kukurudziak

Like most people, I have a few pet peeves. It drives me crazy when, for example, people poke along in the left of two lanes, not even going the speed limit and definitely not passing anyone.

Another irritant is when a person mentions they have a goal — to be debt-free or to travel more or, now that the kids are out of the house, to downsize to a smaller place and buy a little cabin on the lake — but then quickly switches gears and shares a litany of “buts.”

You know what I mean. We all have “buts” — the excuses used to justify, to ourselves and to others, the fact that we talk about reaching a goal “someday” without taking a single step today to make it happen.

Take me, for example. If you were to look at the “This Year’s Goals” page of my last three planners, you’d see the same goal still at the top of the list. With a couple of red stars next to it, even! And yes, I’m irritated with myself because of it.

I think that’s why the book “I’ll Push You,” by Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray, resonated with me. Like Joe Rantz and his fellow crewmen from our August selection “The Boys in the Boat,” best friends and authors Gray and Skeesuck didn’t allow the “buts” to get in their way of achieving various goals they set for themselves.

And there were certainly some “buts” — and not “a pebble in the shoe” type of problems, by any stretch of the imagination — that could have stopped them from pursuing their goal of traveling the 500-mile Camino de Santiago. The financial obstacle alone would no doubt have stopped the vast majority of us in our tracks, but it doesn’t deter Gray and Skeesuck. These two young family men of limited means simply get to work procuring the money and supplies needed.

They also don’t allow the fact that Skeesuk is confined to a wheelchair to be a “but.” Instead of focusing on the fact he cannot take a single step or lift himself in and out of the wheelchair or take care of any of his bodily needs, they set their minds to training to do what is necessary in order to travel the mountains and notoriously-rough terrain of the famous spiritual pilgrimage.

When 2020 was drawing to a close, no matter where I turned, I heard people talking about all the things they had missed out on doing because of the pandemic and the resultant shut-downs. That has continued to be a refrain these past nine months, as well, despite the fact there have been very few shutdowns or restrictions this past year.

Let’s all stop talking about the pandemic and remove “but” from our vocabularies. Let’s spend the final 12 weeks of 2022 revisiting our goals, identifying what we need to do to bring them to fruition by the end of 2023, and intentionally and consistently taking steps each day to do just that.

When a “but” tries to insidiously drain our resolve, let’s turn our minds instead to Gray and Skeesuck. Picture them — Skeesuck in his wheelchair, Gray straining to push it — successfully traversing a mouintop in Spain.

And then take one more step toward our own goals.

Some topics we’ll discuss in our Facebook Live discussion in “The Best Books” discussion group on Oct. 11 at 4:30 p.m.:

•In what ways did “I’ll Push You” impact your thoughts on friendship and on what it means to be a friend?

•Is there a significant challenge you would like to undertake? What is it, and what is stopping you?

•Of all the factors that came into play as Gray and Skeesuck undertook this journey, which one do you feel was most empowering?

Coming Up

I realize how busy the next few months will be for most people. Before we know it, we’ll be tossing a turkey and yams in our grocery carts, putting up our Christmas trees, and wrapping presents. With that in mind, I chose a really short book — a novella, actually — for next month.

Our November selection is the delightful “The Uncommon Reader,” by Alan Bennett. I originally had this novella planned for 2023, but with the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, I thought it would be fitting to move it to next month. So grab a copy, pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy!

Patti Miinch, a resident of Cape Girardeau, is an author, mother and mother-in-law of two, grandmother of three and retired educator; while she has many loves, spending time with her family, sports, travel and reading top the list.