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Left to my own devices, I’m a person who takes things on. Challenges, projects, ideas, stuff - I love experiencing and discovering all kinds of things.

I've been running for a few years now. I like it, mostly. Except when I hate it.

Spring is the season of new projects and brave commitments. It's a time when many people decide they are ready to take on big changes. Just having a couple more hours of daylight can be enough to flood our bodies with the desire to tackle new challenges and convince us to set a new plan in motion.

Zowie! Ever since the last issue lit a fire under me (Jan./Feb., Action Plan 2004), I’ve been on kind of an action rampage.

When I travel outside the country, I am regularly reminded of how many people are struggling with immense problems and living in great need, without basic necessities like food, shelter and freedom. I am also reminded, at these times, by how blessed many of us are to be facing lesser struggles.

“Is this supposed to press down on my nose so much,” I asked Ryan, the trainer administering my metabolic and VO2 max test. “Yeah, it needs to be snug enough so air doesn’t get in through the sides,” he explained, adjusting the straps and checking the seal of the mask.

It’s resolutions season again - a time of review and reflection, and for many, a time of frustration. We may find ourselves facing some of the same issues we faced last year and the year before. And not all of them have improved with age.

This marks the end of my second full year editing Experience Life. Two years of reading and writing about wellness, fitness and quality of life.

Hey, did we get an abridged-version of summer this year? I swear it was July before I even got my garden in, and then it seemed like the next time I looked, all my plants were already going to seed.

Maybe it's my imagination, but I've begun to notice this weird phenomenon in my editing work. If I start working on an interesting story, or I get into researching a new topic, I'll often have some sort of direct personal experience with the subject matter. Some of these serendipitous encounters are quite pleasant. Others, not so much.

For the past few months, my neighborhood has been slowly filling with signs. Lawn signs, mostly – signs about war and peace, signs rallying support for different points of view. One morning last week, I went out for my morning run and noticed that all the signs belonging to one camp had disappeared. Overnight, I presume, one side took down the other side's signs – an effort that would have required both trespassing and stealing.

This being the Take Charge issue and all, it's tempting to claim that when we relaunched Experience Life magazine a little over a year ago, we knew exactly what we were doing – that we planned it out and made it happen just so.

It starts when some nice clerk ma'ams you at the supermarket. Then you notice waitresses aren't asking to see your ID quite so often. Next thing you know, you're saying things like, "When I was younger," and it no longer sounds even a little bit silly.

Every once in a while, we come up with a slogan or motto that helps articulate our organization’s philosophy. Earlier this year, we introduced one such slogan: “Grow Forward.”