I want to kickoff the SPARC blogging for the week by directing you all to a fascinating website. This is not only a shout-out to a friend and valued SPARC member, but it’s an opportunity for our followers to read some powerful stories expressed by real people tied together with the common thread of writing.
thewishdish.com was founded by Bryan Wish. I first met Bryan in the Fall of 2014. He was recovering from a back injury, and one of our Physical Therapists, Mike Hayden, referred him to SPARC to exercise. Bryan’s back troubles were spurred on by an acute instance nearly two-years earlier that turned way too chronic and nagging for a young man still in college. Nevertheless, Bryan is a doer, and he was determined to be able to stay healthy through exercise despite his ailment. We definitely had setbacks as we learned how to optimally train Bryan’s body, but he never quit.
What I admired about Bryan, unlike so many American males, was that he had no concern for the load or technicality of the exercises he was given to perform, or for getting “JACKED!” in 29-days or some random number like that. He so genuinely just wanted to be healthy and have a body that functioned and felt the way God intended. If only everyone approached exercise with that mentality… our hospital bills and reliance on medicine would go down, longevity and quality of life would increase, ads wouldn’t drive our sense of worth towards looking perfect, and we’d get a welcoming sense of community in the gym rather than competition. Whoops! I’m ranting. I truly respected Bryan for denying all of the prideful reasons to enter a gym, but that even became secondary as I learned more about his character.
Bryan just graduated from UGA in May, so I got to spend time with him as he was making the big “What’s next?” decision most college grads have to make. I gathered that Bryan was driven and talented as he shared some experiences with me, such as generating $60,000 in ticket sales for the Atlanta Hawks as an Intern. He had all the intangibles of a savvy entrepreneur, so I naturally got that feeling he’d be really successful one day. Then I truly got to hear about who Bryan was when it came time to make a decision. Bryan had real job offers, but he also had The Wish Dish. He had comfortable security in one and fear of the unknown in the other. Finally, he had the track set to making a whole bunch for himself in the job, or he had laying it down to serve others through the dish.
That’s the essence of The Wish Dish — an avenue to help others by sharing personal experience through writing. People post good, bad, ugly, and everything in between about themselves in hopes it will help others. (Side note: it’s interesting when we hide a struggle and finally expose it we usually find out our “dish” isn’t as uncommon as we think. I believe that’s why this website is special; it will give people courage to talk when they see the writers speaking about related struggles.) It will encourage many and truly help more.
I’m glad I met Bryan. He’s going full-time with The Wish Dish instead of accepting a job offer. I pass by millionaires every day, and there’s nothing wrong with being one. Typically, they are millionaires, because they are excellent at something. However, people like Bryan who have little regard for how they’ll survive and much more for others are rare. It’s even more rare to find someone with the excellence of those millionaires give it all for other people. I could go on for days about how badly our world needs those, but I’m glad their voices are getting louder through platforms like The Wish Dish.
Must I entice you any more to check it out? Here it is -> thewishdish.com !
P.S. this is version 2.0!
By: Fred Munzenmaier
SPARC Athens