Thoughts on the year past
Tonight is New Year’s Eve – another year has come to an end and what a year it’s been for me. If I were to go back a year and describe my life as it is to my year-ago self, I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s been a year of ups and downs but mostly a year of much-needed change. The path I was on at the beginning of the year was not leading to the right future for me and I’ve found my path now and am on the way to really finding myself. I’ve been reaching the goals I’ve set out for myself and I’ve been enjoying every step of the journey. I’ve managed to overcome my fear of many things in life and have faced them head on and come out only stronger in the end. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life and I am actually starting to feel fit – the shape of my body has changed a lot and it’s only getting better the longer I stay on the path.
I don’t have any New Year’s Resolutions – if you’re interested in knowing why – see this post. Basically – there’s no point in waiting for a special day to make a change in your life. Every day we wait is a wasted opportunity and a sin. From now on I will always be evaluating my path and adapting to whatever gets in my way.
As for what I’ve personally learned in the last year – here’s the quick summary in total stream of conciousness mode – just typing this as it comes to me so no doubt i’ll miss some things:
- Nothing is certain in life
- When you’re at the lowest point in your life, your true friends will seek you out and be there for you
- Apathy is the worst sin of all to commit
- There’s no better day to start something than right now
- We are masters of our own destiny and have complete control over our own paths
- Everyone has a dark side to them and no one is exempt
- Love is the antithesis of logic and can make us overlook things that are quite obvious really
- People are capable of great acts of deception for the sake of convenience
- Music is something that one can feel in their heart and their entire being
- Revenge is worthless – forgive, but do not forget and do not repeat
- It really is true what they say about one partner emotionally detaching themselves from the other long before the end of a relationship
- Nothing good in life comes without pain and hard work
- Another person cannot complete you – whole people can only augment and improve each other
- We are all capable of achieving things that we see as out of reach or impossible
- I am not my own defeatist and I will never take a negative outlook on life
- I am strong
- Communication is vital
- Fear must be faced head on
- Art is in all things and needs to be appreciated
- Family and good friendships are the most valuable thing a man can have and nothing in the world can replace that – I am blessed and truly thankful to have both in my life.
It’s been a good year. I’ve learned a lot and found within myself the strength and determination to truly make lasting change and go after what I most want in life. One day I’ll look back on this year as the time I really grew up and learned to overcome adversity and I’ll smile just like I’m smiling now. I’ll carry that smile into the new year and I’m really looking forward to it. I think 2008 is going to be the best year ever and I’m ready to face it head on and accomplish everything I’ve set out to.
To all my friends and family that have supported and encouraged me over the year – I couldn’t have done any of what I have without your help and you’ve all had a role in making me who I am. You’ve been there for me at the times when I needed you most. You got me out of the house when all I felt like doing was staying inside and sulking. You made me laugh and brought a smile to my face when I was down. You offered words of encouragement and advice that I have taken to heart and have remembered and turned to when things got rough. You were an open ear when I needed to rant, a hug when I needed it most and a shoulder to lean on. Know that I think the world of all of you and if the time ever comes I will be there for each and every one of you – no questions asked.
I hope you all have a great new year and I look forward to sharing it with all my family and friends – new and old alike. Here’s to 2008!
December 30th, 2007 Workout – Snowboarding
Another early morning of boarding after a late night of watching UFC 79 – can’t believe how badly GSP worked over Hughes – guess it’s retirement time. Today I had an hour lesson at 9:20 – slept in a little bit and got there at 9:10 – just in time. After yesterday I was feeling really uncomfortable on my heel side when going down the hill so I decided to do another lesson to get some advice.
Progress started off slow – I was really scared to go down heel side – I felt like I had no control over it and I kept straightening my legs out completely when I put an pressure on my heel side. Went down the hill a few times with the instructor real slow on my heel side and I finally started to get the hang of it. By the end of the day I was pretty good on my heel side and I could even link turns and do a 360 going down the hill.
It definitely wasn’t easy getting to that point though – my elbows and butt are sore and my knees are sore and bruised up. I fell a lot getting used to heel side riding and turning but it was worth it in the end. I realized that when I went yesterday I was so afraid of even trying heel side that I pretty much avoided it completely and only went down toe side. Since I avoided it, I never got any better at it and the more I avoided it, the more afraid I would have become of it. I’m starting to see that a lot of things in life are like that.
If the weather is still decent and the snow holds up I’m going to go again next weekend and try out the longer runs – the learning centre hills seem so short now that I’m not falling constantly. Gotta wait all that time to get up the hill on the lift and then it’s over in seconds – no payoff. Bring on the mountain!
December 29th, 2007 Workout – Snowboarding
Woke up early and got a good 3 hours of solid boarding in at Glen Eden this morning. It’s only a 25 minute drive from my place so I’m gonna try to do this more often. Finally got a chance to try out my new board and gear that I got on boxing day – it’s been sitting in the corner of my room taunting me.
I was literally the first person on the hill so I got a chance to do some runs with it mostly empty which was good. The first time I went the hill was absolutely covered in powder and it was a blizzard out – this time there was no snow and the hills was pretty much packed and freshly groomed. The difference was huge – it’s much more slippery and you pick up a lot more speed than on powder. The speed difference was a little scary at first but I went down a couple of times without falling at a decent speed so I got more confident and kept at it. All together in 3 hours I only fell a few times and my board control and confidence is much improved over my first time out. Weird thing is that I am way better on my toe side than on my heel side – which is funny because on my toe side I’m going down the hill backwards pretty much – I’m going to do one more quick lesson tomorrow to get my heel side issues worked out and then I think i’ll be ready for some of the longer runs.
My board and everything worked awesome too – it was definitely worth it to invest in my own stuff and I’m damn sure going to make good use of it this winter. Breaking in new boots however is not fun – my feet were in pain between runs for the first hour and I had to stop and sit between each – but after that first hour they were fine and I was able to go non-stop.
I can’t wait to go back tomorrow now – I would have liked to have gone longer but I gotta be downtown by 2 for a magic show. My feet aren’t complaining though – always feels amazing to put normal shoes back on after being in snowboard boots for hours.
December 27th, 2007 Workout – Muay Thai @ home
Did another workout from home today using body weight exercises and my heavy bag. This time I set out with some clear goals and didn’t stop until I hit them. Not only did that make it more challenging, but it also gave me a measure that I can use to ensure that I am always pushing myself harder and making progress. I’m going to keep recording these numbers and make sure that I improve on all of them each time I do one of these workouts. If I add an extra rep to each I should barely notice it but it will add up quickly.
Today I threw on some metal and did:
- 100 jumping jacks – split in two sets of 50
- 100 stride jumps – split in two sets of 50
- 50 push ups – split up over the whole workout
- 100 crunches – split in two sets of 50
- 50 leg raises – split in two sets of 25
- 20 lunges
- 6 rounds on the heavy bag – different combos each time – I need to time this with a stop watch to be more consistent and improve
- heavy thai kicks / squats on the heavy bag – 1-10 kicks then squats for each leg
By the end of it I was dripping sweat and feeling great. I mis-aimed one of my kicks and my big toe and the one next to it ended up hitting the trim on my closet door at full force – it stung like hell and the tips of both are starting to look purple. They’re a little tender but they’re not swelling up so I think they’ll be ok.
I’m going to try to make it out early Saturday morning for a few hours of boarding on the newbie hill. I’m hoping to get my turns down and it’ll be interesting to see the difference when the snow is a little more packed in as opposed to powder. If all goes well I’ll be back on Sunday for the whole day and I’ll give the easier runs on the full size hills a go. I got my helmet today so I’m ready to fall ;)
December 25th, 2007 Workout – Seasons Beatings
I’ve been mostly taking it easy the last few days – did some short workouts on my recumbrant bike to keep moving but nothing serious. Been a little shlack on my diet as well – but nothing serious. Today I woke up and I felt groggy and had serious Muay Thai withdrawal – the school isn’t going to be open for another week and I was craving a good Muay Thai workout.
So I got up, had a couple of glasses of water and put my hand wraps on. Did jumping jacks, stride jumps, knee jumps, a few rounds of shadow boxing and some stretches. Then I hit the heavy bag around for a bit – did the 1-10 routine with kicks where you do one kick, one squat, then two kicks and two squats all the way until ten and then repeat on the other leg. After that I did a bunch of punching rounds doing different things – speed punching, power punching, combos and moving around. I finished it off with a crap load of pushups, crunches and leg lifts.
The grogginess is gone and I feel ready to take on the Christmas dinner now ;)
Merry Christmas!
Wise words
A wise man and a good friend said to me the other night – “Sometimes you just need to rant and get it off your chest – and even if you have no hate and nothing to rant about, just expressing that statement to someone else will help you to realize and appreciate what a great situation that actually is.”
True words my friend. Things have been going well in my life and I really have no complaints. That doesn’t mean that I am satisfied with where I am at this moment – not by a long shot. But I truly know where I am and I know where I’m going. I’m happy with the path and the goal is almost secondary at this point.
That alone is the most liberating feeling of all – I used to think that I’d magically be happy when I hit some arbitrary goal weight or some other goal – but the real happiness comes from the changes you make that put you on the path to that goal. I finally feel like I have actually started on the path to change – not as some temporary deviation that I will abandon in the future after reaching my goals, but as an actual lifestyle change that has become a part of me.
On a somewhat related note – I found out the snowboard I want is going to be a third off the normal price on boxing day and I’ll be able to get a good deal on boots and bindings too. I’m going to have to get up early and brave the crowds – ugh – but it’ll be worth it to finally get my board. I figure I can just pop my iPod on and try to phase out the crowd – or I could put on a luchador mask and stare at people with wild eyes until they move out of my way ;)
I doubt I’ll post again until after Christmas – too much stuff to get done – so have a good holiday everyone!
December 20th, 2007 Weigh In – hit another mini goal!
I did another weigh in today and I’ve already reached the goal I had set for the end of January!� The way the weight has been dropping off since I started taking Muay Thai has been crazy!� I’d been at a plateau for about a month but I don’t think it was a real plateau – just me getting sloppy with my habits.� Now that I’m back on track I’ve been making great progress.
Here’s my updated stats:
As of December 20th, 2007
Weight: 245.0 (-32.2)
Bodyfar %: 30.0 (-5.9%)
Hydration %: 48.1 (+4.2%)
I can’t believe I’ve lost over 30 pounds now!� I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life and that’s just going to get better as time goes on.
I hadn’t really thought of a reward for getting to 245, but I think I know what I’m going to do.� I loved the feeling of snowboarding so much when I went that I’m going to get myself a board and some boots.� I’m going to make a serious effort to get out boarding at least once a week – might even go on nights after work some time when I get better too.� I get my Christmas bonus today which will cover the cost of the board and boots – don’t you love when things just work out great? ;)
December 19th, 2007 Workout – Muay Thai
I had another Muay Thai class yesterday – it’s going to be the last class of the year since I won’t be around on Saturday for the morning class :( Makes me sad because everyone from the school has been awesome and I’ve had a hell of a time there since I started. My punching bag will have to tide me over until January 3rd – boo!
This class we did an extra long warmup – was not fun but I managed to do pretty well. We then did an entire class of learning different responses to a jab / thai kick combination. We pretty much did nothing but try different responses to that combination with a different partner each time. I liked switching partners up in the drills because you can get used to the way one person moves and just start to anticipate it. This way you have to watch a little more carefully to see when your partner is going to jab.
In the last bit of the class Kru Joey said that we were going to do 200 kicks. Ouch. You think boxing with a heavy bag is tough? Try kicking it – 200 times in a row with no rest. 10 on each leg until 150, then double kicks on each leg and then 5 real strong power kicks on each leg to end it off. By the time we finished 200 my heart was racing – but I never stopped or let myself get sloppy and I felt great after finishing.
December 17th, 2007 Workout – Muay Thai
Muay Thai class is the best possible thing after crappy Monday workdays – it pretty much dissolves any kind of stress I’m feeling from the day and leaves me feeling amazing afterwards. I was pretty sore from snowboarding and shoveling yesterday but I went today anyway since I’m going to be away for Saturday’s class and then the school is closed for a week. I think I’m going to have withdrawal :( Luckily I have a punching bag in my room to keep me busy over the week.
We did a lot of attack / defend / counter drills today – my reaction time is getting quicker and I’m getting more comfortable with fists and feet flying at me ;) Can’t wait to start sparring!
I went snowboarding – and lived to tell the tale
This morning my little brother and I braved the blizzard and went to Glen Eden for some boarding. The drive there was an adventure in itself but we made it finally and the weather ended up making it perfect for me to learn.
There was hardly anyone there because of the weather, so more space for me when I went out of control and no line ups for the lifts. All the fresh powder made it soft for me when I fell (and did I ever fall). It also helped slow me down a bit so it was a little easier to keep it under control. I had a really great instructor too which made the whole thing go really well.
I actually made it down the hill a couple of times without falling and I had a blast. Even though I wasn’t great at it I did pretty good and I got better every time I went down the hill. I really loved the feeling and I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how well I did for my first time. I liked it so much that I’m looking for some equipment now and am going to go way more often this winter. I set aside some money to take more lessons but my instructor told me that I had all the basics pretty much down and I’d be better off getting equipment and just practicing on my own to get the hang of it.
I’m really happy with the way things are going in my life right now. Last winter was horrible – just sat inside, watched tv, ate crappy food and was just miserable in general. I feel like I’ve completely turned things around and I’m really proud of myself for doing so. I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I’m capable of. Now I’m going to be turning my focus more to my career – it’s time to get more serious about it and really accomplish something. I know that if I apply myself to that aspect of my life the same way I have in the other aspects that I’ll be able to achieve whatever I want.