Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is having a great Monday! I am currently sitting writing this blog in the living room of the my hotel room in Pretoria, South Africa!
The summer is quickly winding down and Fall will be here before we know it. I want to re-iterate my life motto: Rise and Grind People! When life gets hard and all you want to quit, you have to push through. There is no other way. You must wake up every morning with an attitude that you will make the best of that day!
As mentioned in the first blog, I am most passionate about 3 things right now! Business, Travel, and Fitness. Below, is what I have been doing in each sector to pursue my goals!
Business:
I have accepted a job offer with EY in their assurance practice. I am extremely excited for this opportunity to work for such a big and prestigious accounting firm. Working here will not only enhance my auditing skills, but will set me up nicely in the professional world. I will be starting full-time in their Boston office come September 2018!
Travel:
The travels continue. This summer I have been a traveling guru. After I got back from Australia, I had to pack up my apartment at UConn and move out. On the drive home back to Wisconsin, I stopped at Niagara Falls. The falls is truly a site to see and is a beautiful gift that nature has given us.
After the falls, I continued my journey home by driving through Canada and eventually coming back into the states through Detroit, Michigan. Here, I spent the next 4 days playing in a national roller hockey tournament called Statewars. It was such a fun time lacing up the roller skates again and playing at a very competitive level. The competitive drive I had when I was playing college hockey re-emerged and it felt amazing!
After Detroit, I drove the last 7 hours all the way back to Madison, WI. My time at home was only short lived as I was heading to South Africa in less than 48 hours!
On Tuesday, August 8th, I embarked on the over 8,000 mile journey to South Africa. My travels started with a 14-hour flight from Chicago to Dubai, followed by a 4 hour layover, and then a short 8-hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. South Africa is truly an incredible place that doesn’t get as much attention as other places that people visit. This past weekend, Dana and I did a tour of Soweto. Soweto is a township of Johannesburg, where many African Americans were relocated to during the Apartheid years. During the tour, we stopped at a Soweto slum, which was a very humbling experience as most people were living in tin shelters about the size of your average walk in closet. After the tour we went to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, where we got to learn more about the history of South Africa and the racial segregation that took place here for many years. It was fascinating to learn how inhumane it was during this era in South African history. History classes in the United States, at least from my experiences, don’t really cover the Apartheid era or any South African history for that matter.
On Sunday, we went to a Lion and Safari Park about an hour away from Pretoria. We did a 2 hour mini-safari where we got to see lions, giraffes, zebras, hyenas…etc. The safari jeep we were on was fully caged, so it was really cool being able to get right up close to the animals in the game park. After the safari, we got to play with some baby lion cubs. This was probably my favorite thing, since I am a big “cat” guy. I don’t mind dogs, but cats is where its at!
I am still in South Africa for another 10 days and will be heading to Cape Town next weekend! I will talk more about my travels in the next blog!
Fitness:
I am currently still clinging to fitness as much as possible. With all the travel I have been doing, it has been hard to stay on a consistent workout schedule. My plans for a marathon might be dwindling and I might have to switch to a half marathon. Its not that I am giving up on the marathon, its just that I haven’t had the time to put in the “miles”. With marathon training, sticking to a training schedule is key and at this stage in the game, I should be averaging probably around 25 miles a week total in running. This hasn’t been the case lol.
Once I get back from South Africa, I want to continue my running, but also get back into strength training. I feel another 3-4 stint of powerlifting building up in me!
Remember: Fitness should enhance your quality of life, not control it!
Future Plans:
I start my graduate school studies at the end of August. I am doing a Masters of Accountancy through UConn. I will also start studying for the CPA exam at the end of August as well. As mentioned in the previous blog, I want to dive into personal training and online coaching. Fitness has always been a passion of mine and I finally want to do something with it. Right now I plan to obtain my personal training certification, as well as start a YouTube Vlog Channel, which will pretty much be the video form of this current blog!
Always remember to keep grinding away and never take anything for granted! It’s your life and “YOLO” (you only live once) so make the best of it and pursue your dreams.
Rise and Grind,
-Brett
Business: Travel: Fitness
Brett Skibba Business: Travel: Fitness 