The Importance of Our Purpose

Friday, January 28, 2022 · Mike Davis

Good morning my friends and happy Friday!

I am so blessed to have served our country as a member of the military for over 33 years. It is difficult to grasp I have been retired from my military service for nearly six years. When I wore the uniform, I had many rewards beyond that paycheck every 2 weeks. For most (I believe), wearing the uniform gave us a sense of purpose different than being a civilian. This purpose came with challenges and various sacrifices, and for some the sacrifice was far greater than those of mine. I considered it an honor to serve and to have had this purpose for 33 years.

After retiring from the military service, I was excited to be free of the requirements (shaving), and able to choose my path ahead. However, I did not realize how important “purpose” was in my life. One day I am in a uniform as a part of a team helping to provide security to our country and the next day, I am no longer part of that purpose.

The next days after retiring I enjoyed the new freedom from the military life, but it did not take long before I felt a sense of loss and some sadness. Do not get me wrong, while the military gave me a purpose, my identity has always been centered on my faith in God. Thankfully my faith keeps me centered, but out of the military uniform I now felt a little lost.

The wonderful blessing that comes with knowing God has control in my life, is He would lead me through the next stages of my life. I had some ideas, but I really did not know what was to come…

My plan was to retire to North Carolina and continue coaching runners. Well, that plan did not go at all as I expected. Surprisingly, I ended up in college with a unexpected new mentor, despite being many years my junior age wise, my professor and advisor. Ms. Shelby Bassinger (Ms. B). Ms. B taught me so much about the technical aspects of fitness, but even more importantly, she displayed a genuine passion for caring about people. Her teaching centered around helping people with their fitness beyond the vanity of muscle. Ms. B helped me to better understand the need for functional movement through resistance and range of motion training. Not only did this education help my ability to work with runners, but I also now had a desire to help others outside of runners.

Post education…

Somehow, I ended up back in New Hampshire and opening the doors to a small fitness studio and not really having any idea how it would turn out? No Finish Line Running became No Finish Line Fitness (NFLF), and while we continued to work with a good deal of runners online, our goal was to add functional fitness to our business model. I was unsure, but we forged ahead. Unbelievably, within 8 months, we had built a client base ranging from 16 to 76 years of age. While we had a couple of clients who were primarily wanting to improve their physical appearance, most all our clients came to us to improve and invest in their quality of life through fitness. What a wonderful opportunity and purpose for us!

Yet change again…

After nearly 4 years, life changed again and yet again we have decided to use this opportunity to change our current model. Relocating to Pawleys Island South Carolina, we decided to move our operations totally online, but not lose our personalized affect. Thanks to technology, we can help people without boundaries of distance. Today, people have all sorts of opportunities to train from their homes without needing businesses such as NFLF, but we have built a model of skilled plan development, while keeping a personal aspect. Daily we interact with clients and regularly we use video to have face to face communication. Some clients have even chosen to have us oversee their workout using live video technology.

An email we received from a client yesterday:

“You keep me going, my friend. Have a great day. Thank you.”

John Schafer

Yet again, we are blessed to have a purpose. John worked with us in person and is now thriving with us online. He is just one of the many we are working with, as we continue to develop this new opportunity we have embraced.

I do miss the military life sometimes, but that life is for younger people, thankfully God has continued to direct my life and made possible other opportunities to help people. Making money is necessary to support a business but thank goodness having a purpose is never about the money.

Thanks for coming by my Friday Coffee & Chat. Have a great Friday and stay safe this weekend!

God Bless,

Mike