100 Pedals

Recovery for Parents Dealing with Addiction in their Families

## Avoiding the distractions in adversity and conflict

December 20, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

Struggling to focus a little today. I have some adversity that is attempting to distract. I am not sharing this information to sound alarms or signal anything to really concern yourself with, but I am sharing this news as a reminder to each of us the power that adversity has on interrupting our focus.

As I suffer from my stress related ADD, I am reminding myself (and you) that even when it is hard to focus, maintaining your efforts and energies in the directions defined as necessary and productive is the most important task at hand.

Losing momentum, giving up on hard earned progress, or simply being distracted and unproductive in the face of adversity is absolutely the most counter productive response to conflict.

I am committed today to manage what I can control, honor the commitments I have made to myself and others, and will stay in the moment of the task at hand not the threats around me. Like all storms, this one will pass, and I must press on so that I will find myself in a better and different place tomorrow than stuck in the place I am today.

Filed Under: Inspirational Perspectives, Make A Commitment, Managing Adversity, The Four Wheels of Personal Leadership Tagged With: dealing with adversity, dealing with conflict, honoring commitments, inspiration in the face of adversity, Managing Adversity

## Sometimes the noise can be overwhelming

December 9, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

Do you sometime find yourself thinking the holiday season — the music, the traffic, the shopping, the stress — has become awfully noisy? There is so much going on — too much — this season at work, in the coffee shops, on the road that it is hard to escape, relax, and enjoy a little quiet time. The Christmas chaos invades our everyday life in so many adverse ways, it is often hard to enjoy the spirit of the season.

All that holiday noise is not too dissimilar from the chatter that goes on in our heads. Each of us has so much to celebrate, enjoy and appreciate about our lives, yet we allow all that head chatter to interrupt and distract us from a peaceful celebration or find time to enjoy the quiet enough to appreciate our accomplishments.

This holiday season take a moment to appreciate all you have. Celebrate your family, your friends, your fans. Give yourself credit for being a light in someone’s life. Remind yourself that you have had a good year and you are please with all you accomplished. Give yourself the gift of contentment every single morning for the rest of this month. Remind yourself you have worked hard and have given a lot to yourself and to others this year.

If, in celebrating the gift of you, you feel you haven’t done all you could, or been all you wanted, or have farther to go — that is okay. It does not mean you have not had a good year. All those thoughts are an internal encouragement to improvement in those areas. These are not failings. They are challenges. They are a call to action. Embrace the opportunity and view that call to action begins from a place that says:

> “I have had a great year, accomplished so much and I am looking forward to the opportunity to build on it.”

The pressure to get things done, fight the noise and crowds, and work through the chatter — this is not a spirit of love, giving, or hope. You don’t like that part of the holiday season and you certainly don’t like it when it is between the ears. You can control the noise. Celebrate the gift of you and all you have done and be inspired to continue sharing the gift in every way you possibly can!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Live With Passion, The Four Wheels of Personal Leadership Tagged With: celebrating accomp, finding peace

## Five simple steps to creating change in your life

December 2, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

When you find yourself at that place where you are not celebrating the outcomes you desire in your life, you have two choices — do something or do nothing. Ultimately the situation will not change until you decide it must. The easy part is knowing what to do; the hard part is making the commitment.

Rather than getting all hung up on an overworked action plan, here are five steps you can take to change your future outcomes:

1. Declare: “I am not satisfied with where I am.”
2. Inquire: “What can I do differently?” or “What can I do better?”
3. Explore: “How will this change the outcome I am experiencing?”
4. Confirm: “This is what I need to do!”
5. Act: “I will…” Make the commitment, challenge yourself, do the work!

Whatever the situation, there is a solution. Everything begins with embracing personal responsibility for the outcomes in your life. Once you openly, honestly, and receptively explore the options you will find the answer. Armed with the solution, the only step remaining is taking action and making it happen.

The answer is usually quite obvious. What holds us back is not the solution; it is the work, the risk, and the task of implementation. Have the courage to trust your path and embrace the challenge. Successful and incredible outcomes to change are just around the corner.

On Sunday, December 1, I challenged myself to step up and make some changes in my life. This challenge reflects behaviors and activities that I were once part of my life routine and that I had fallen out of. I have challenged myself to actively focus on making the necessary changes in my life to get back into those routines for the next 100Days. I will be sharing comments from my daily experiences on my 100Day Challenge Facebook Group. Please join me and follow along with my experiences and thoughts on this journey.

Filed Under: Make A Commitment, The Four Wheels of Personal Leadership Tagged With: change, change behaviors, commitment, creating change, embracing change, focus, personal responsibility, The 100Day Challenge