The 1,115
On January 1st, 2014, I made a decision that would change my life forever—I started FlipADay. At the time, I was absolutely unaware of the amount of personal growth I would go through, and the tremendous warmth of gratitude I would be feeling 1,115 days later. Now, here I am, with the FlipADay logo permanently tattooed on my arm, wrapping up one of the most dizzying, challenging, and most of all, fun chapters of my life so far. All I can do is extend my utmost, whole-hearted gratitude and thanks to the universe and every single person that has supported me from Day 1.
In the beginning, besides the flipping itself, FlipADay was out of my comfort zone. I vividly remember my bestfriend and drummer, David Martin, filming me in the parking lot of the Kroger in Bellevue, Tennessee, freezing my booty off, verbally stumbling through the intro for Day 3. I was camera shy, and began to feel like I had set myself up for major embarrassment. I did a backflip in the frozen pizza isle and left my confidence frozen there with them.
Over the first three months, I would get spurts of anxiety about keeping the content entertaining, as there are only a finite amount of flips I can physically do, and in a limited amount of places. I was worried that it would become a burden for my friends to have to film me (this was before Vine allowed you to upload videos from your photo album, making it near impossible to film myself), or that people would think I was doing it to show off. I also felt like I needed to ration my “cooler”, more difficult flips as to make sure I didn’t shoot off all my fireworks at once, so to speak. If you know me well, however, you know that I absolutely hate quitting when I have set a goal for myself.
The days went on, and I was becoming more comfortable with being on camera and posting something to social media every day. My worries about what other people were thinking fizzled away while I heated up with doing my own thing. I began to realize why I was doing FlipADay; it became increasingly apparent that I was absolutely loving flipping every day. The challenge, the creativity, the physical benefit, the mental and emotional benefits, the liberating feeling of being weightless—all of those were attributing to making me happier every single day...especially when I was able to film myself. No burden for others, just me doing what I love. I started thinking about what the world could be like if everyone started doing what they loved every day, even if just for a few minutes. This was the spark for Inspire Happiness.
My initial goal was set for one year, as you can hear in intro of Day 1. I figured that by doing something I loved at least once every day, I would be making an effort to make myself happier. When I started FlipADay, I was battling the darkest depression of my life. Starting my day felt similar to someone trying to start and drive a manual car for the first time, but with no instruction. I felt horrible most days, and sometimes I wouldn’t even know why I felt so down—that’s what really irritated me. It got to the point where I had to do something about it.
To quote Jim Carrey’s character, Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber, “I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Flipping has made me happy since I was a toddler, so by doing it every day I figured I could help myself attack the symptoms of my depression. I had to Inspire Happiness for myself.
All Inspiring Happiness means is this—doing what YOU love every single day. Finding YOUR happiness, and living it. It’s something everyone can do. You don’t have to do what I have done, and film yourself every day, then share it to social media as proof—that’s just me creating and fueling the Inspire Happiness movement. Just do something YOU love every day, and do your best to stick with it. Don’t worry about making it an entire year, let alone 1,115 days. Trust me, the task will seem pretty daunting if you look at it as a massive chunk of time. The key is literally focusing on one moment, one day at a time. Once it becomes a habit, it’s actually easier to do than not. You just have to develop the habit—DOING what you said you were going to do until it becomes the “normal” thing for you to be doing. I firmly and truly believe that if everyone makes an effort to do what they love—something that makes them happy—for a moment during each day, the world will become a happier place. THAT is why I have done this for as long as I have. I have aimed to maintain as clear and honest of an approach as possible to this dizzying escapade since Day 1.
Over the years, a lot of people have asked me if I have ever cheated. Many people assumed I would film a bunch of flips in one day, then post them throughout the week. Not once did I let that happen. I never, and could never, let myself cheat. That’s not FlipADay. That’s not truly Inspiring Happiness every day. Yes, there were somedays when I was injured, or incredibly sore, or sick, and one time when I was even in the hospital. In all honesty, I probably shouldn’t have done a flip on some of those days, but I still did anyway. It wasn’t always easy, but I pushed through and made it happen because of my belief and passion in strengthening Inspire Happiness message. I have ALWAYS completed, filmed, edited, and posted a flip on the day it was done, before 12:00AM (in whatever timezone I was in). The latest flip I ever posted was at 11:53PM on Day 182, I believe. That night caused me to set an alarm on my phone for 11:15PM every single day, so I would have time to film the flip, edit, etc., if I hadn’t done it yet that day. It hasn’t been shut off since. This leads me to why I chose Day 1,115 to end my consecutive daily flipping streak.
For three years, I have had my alarm set to 11:15PM. On Day 1,115 of FlipADay, I am looking at that alarm as a reminder that there are other things that bring me just as much joy as flipping—the main thing being music. Music, like flipping, has been an obsession of mine since I was a toddler. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career, so the vast majority of my focus will be shifting to my band, Mutual Groove and my bass playing. I will also be focusing on further branding both FlipADay and Inspire Happiness, so stay tuned for some merchandise coming out soon!
To be clear, I am not quitting flipping. I will flip for as long as I physically can because of how much I love it. I’ve been flipping since age two, according to my mom, so there’s no way I would completely stop. I am, however, discontinuing filming myself and posting a flip to social media every day. That’s the only thing that’s changing. To be frank, it’s exhausting, and in extreme cases, can take up to eight hours out of my day. Think of this transition as a shift to quality over quantity. Also, there are probably over 400 videos of me doing a simple (for me) standing back tuck in some random place late at night. If you’ve followed FlipADay at all, you know those flips aren’t the most exciting to watch. They were done simply to continue the consecutive day count which continued to give merit to my Inspire Happiness movement. I will continue to make videos of me doing all sorts of crazy flips, trick shots, and create collaborations with other trick shot artists and acrobats. These videos will be highly produced, well-thought out, filmed, and executed as professionally as possible, all in the name of fun. The music in these videos will be done entirely by my band, Mutual Groove. I will also continue to give back in the form of exposure to the kind companies that have sponsored me along the way. (American Gymnast, Franklin Sports, Disc Store, Far Out Sunglasses, Strand Life—all of you are amazing brands, and I can’t wait to increase the quality of our professional relationships by reaching even more people than I have before.)
Lastly, and most importantly, I want to extend my sincerest and warmest gratitude to all of you who have helped me along the way. Amie, my incredibly supportive, patient, and loving girlfriend, thank you for dealing with the madness for so long. You helped screw my head on straight when it was dizzied from all this flipping insanity. David, the same goes to you—thank you for being so patient and supportive since Day 1. Our musical journey together is really now just beginning, my brother! My wonderful family, your love and advice has never been taken for granted—thank you, and I love you all dearly. Dee Ann and Eric Melton, thank you for letting me use the equipment at Mpact for so many long hours, without which, many of my favorite FlipADays would’ve never been achieved. Jeff Lee and the staff at Above All, the same goes to you—thank you for being generous and kind enough to let me make Above All FlipADay’s home for the last seven months. Cooper Morgenthau, your generous contributions of the basketball goal and other gifts brought FlipADay to a level I never would’ve imagined. Much gratitude, Uncle Coop! Whistle Sports, all of you have been so great in helping give FlipADay a wider presence through consistently sharing my work. Thank you! To every single person who has ever filmed or been in any part of any FlipADay, you have helped me more than you realize—thank you! Lastly, and surely not least, my followers—my “Flips and Flops”! Without your feedback and growing support, I’m not sure I would’ve made it this long. Thank you, and don’t be sad that I won’t be posting every day. This is the beginning of something bigger and better!
With all the love and gratitude in my heart, thank you.