Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Hi there! My name is Andrew and I’m the creator and founder of Wild Olive Coaching. We help attain those hard to reach dreams and overcome tough obstacles so you can pioneer a life you are proud to share. I’ve been helping people achieve for the last 15 years, and here on the blog we examine and survey the wide array of knowledge and know-how that pulls the good life into reality each and every day.
On that note, here’s five little things you wouldn't know about me if I didn’t bother to share them:
I’m an amateur (emphasis needed) hand-drumming enthusiast. I had a stint on the middle school drum line, but things didn’t quite gel with the band director. My current percussionist endeavors are mostly reserved to family room sessions with my daughter, her toy organ and new red recorder whistle. I did receive commendations for my cymbal contributions at the eighth grade final concert, however.
I’ve played and enjoyed sports my whole life including soccer in college, but it’s often taken me a minute to find the right fit in athletics. For example, as a child I quit the hockey team to join the gymnastics club. The foam pit turned out to be far more enticing than my Mighty Ducks aspirations.
I love to learn and share what I’m learning. I studied political science and sociology in my undergraduate and then got my masters in theology and leadership. I peer through the cobwebs from “studying” French in high school to offer unsolicited translation services to my family during the Olympics, and currently stay linguistically stimulated by imitating Siri’s Australian accent from the navigation app on my phone. My daughter loves the resulting Crocodile Dundee-inspired character that I use to pass our time stuck in traffic. Crocodile Dadee is a big hit.
For three consecutive summers in college I worked for the government photographing honey bees. They were pollinating sunflowers grown in literal cages to ensure the genetic purity of the harvested seeds. The seeds were subsequently stored in a giant, locked refrigerator for an undisclosed period of time. I’ve probably already said too much.
I grew up in a family split evenly between boys and girls. Now I am surrounded by the opposite gender, including my wife, daughters, our lady-dog and six hens. I compensate with regular demonstrations of masculinity. This includes obscure references from my extensive knowledge of Disney trivia (I specialize in the pre-CGI era), presentation of my double-jointed thumbs that can twist 180 degrees backward or by offering to build my wife homemade knock-offs of designer furniture and home decor with my recently acquired radial arm saw.
What do these have to do with the good life? On the surface very little. In a whole different way, everything. It’s the quirks along the way that gift life’s path with beauty, goodness, laughter and hope. Each detail is part of a story. Each story matters, but it also has to be shared.
Don't skip enjoying or sharing the small stuff. Don’t pass by what matters most just because it doesn’t fight for attention. It’s often those things that don’t demand to be seen in the first place that save us in the end.
