Patrick Cummings, the co-host and producer of the Chasing Excellence and Consistency Project podcasts, has been a big presence in the CrossFit space for years.
With his new book, The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy, his impact has broadened to include a younger audience.
The Details
The book takes the reader through the alphabet, with every letter representing a specific word explained with a short poem and vibrant illustrations. It isn’t specific to fitness but focuses more on healthy development and common themes of growth and maturity.
The book begins with the letter A, which stands for “attitude.” Here’s how Cummings tackles this theme in the book:
“A is for Attitude, that thing that you bring
Into every room, every day and everything.
It can feel like a backpack full of big rocks
Or tiny rockets glued to your favorite socks.
What most never learn is that you get to pick
Whether your attitude will help you soar or sink.”
Other themes include “determination,” “imperfection,” “movement,” and “reflection,” giving children new ideas and situations to ponder.
Cummings addresses concepts like “whining,” “gossip,” and “judgment,” acknowledging that even at a young age, kids begin to experience challenging and hurtful interactions.
With its mini-lessons, the book encourages young readers to be true to themselves and lead with kindness and bravery.
The Inspiration
Cummings told us he didn’t set out to write a book for children, but the idea came about organically as a father of two boys — Emerson, 7, and Miles, 4 — who regularly discusses concepts of “excellence” on his podcasts.
- “I asked myself, ‘What would it look like to translate some of the ideas Ben [Bergeron] and I talk about on Chasing Excellence for kids,’” Cummings told Morning Chalk Up.
He used his sons as his prime motivators and inspiration to complete the project.
- “One of my primary missions in life is to impart whatever wisdom and lessons I’ve learned over the 40-plus years I’ve been here to my boys. I want them to know at 20 what I didn’t figure out until 40,” Cummings said.
He sees that as his main job as a father with little time to waste.
While he sees this as his mission as a father and as a leader in the fitness space, he recognizes that there are only two ways he’ll succeed.
- “First, I need to show them what it looks like to orient your life around health and happiness,” he said. “I need them to see me living in alignment with these ideas.”
- “Second, I need to talk to them about the whats, the hows, and the whys,” he continued. “I need them to know that health and happiness don’t happen by accident or luck and that they aren’t reserved for the special few.”
Cummings hopes that this book will help prepare children for “a life of happiness, health, fulfillment, challenge, bravery, and curiosity. These are the things we all hope to instill in our children before they leave home.”
Besides his own home, Cummings hopes that these lessons stretch far and wide throughout our community.
- “My hope for impacting our community — CrossFitters and others who care about these ideas and principles — is to provide parents who are already practicing these concepts in their own lives with an additional resource,” he said. “One more little packet of seeds, one more opportunity to introduce these ideas, a few more rays of sunshine, one more chance to create a shared language in their homes.”
The book is currently available on Amazon.
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