I love fighting in the ring. Being in a contest of skill, desire, and physical prowess is exciting. When I have a fight that flows and I control the movement and can “see” things coming slip/duck and move away firing back my own punches and kicks I am thrilled by it.
I do think in life we all must be willing to be fighters if we want success.
This last week of my training has been more like a fight with life than a fight in the ring and unfortunately the “flow” wasn’t happening. Punches were getting thrown and I wasn’t seeing them. I couldn’t duck. I couldn’t get out of the way. I was taking a beating for sure, and I couldn’t control it.
When this happens in the ring, (and I have certainly had a few fights that have gone this way) one thing I know for sure is I need to continue fighting. Of course I’d like to say I easily relax rather than tensing up, and that “oh, shit” doesn’t cross my mind, but then I’d be lying.
And all fighters would. There isn’t a worse feeling then when things aren’t going your way in the ring, except maybe when they aren’t going your way in life.
HOSTELS ARE NOT HOTELS:
As an example…Kelley (my awesome sister for those that don’t know) and I took a “quick” trip to Chicago on Sunday to get my visa for Brazil. I was required to apply in person and this little hiccup was only that first “hard punch” that you sorta shake off without worrying too much about.
I wanted to save money and so I booked a room at the Chicago Getaway hostel….suffice to say, we pretty much wanted to ‘getaway’ from there. It didn’t matter too much. Life threw another One-Two and I took it. After all it was was only one night. No big deal right?
DELAYS:
Except that the next morning we got blitzed (a blitz is a series of astounding and fast punches coming out of nowhere). I found out the consulate wasn’t open for veteran’s day and we would have to wait until Tuesday to apply which meant Kelley needed to book babysitters, I needed to find subs, my training was on hold another day, and we had ANOTHER night in Chicago. ACK!
This is that moment that if you were fighting in the ring…the fight isn’t going your way. You are getting pushed around and your brain is telling you that you have no chance at winning, and you are thinking “Oh, shit”!
Here. You get to make a choice.
Give up. Or say….
“I am going to take back my thoughts, take back the center of the ring, and control this mother, or die trying”.
And that is what I did…
FUN:
Kel and I booked a hotel room, you only live once right ?(Please NEVER say YOLO to me, EVER!)
We spent the day traipsing around Chicago, getting some LVA online work done, hitting an open mic night so Kel could rock it out on stage, made new friends, laughed, and rounded out a magical night with a light snowfall and an amazing dinner.
We took back the center of the ring.
Sometimes you get in a fight with life when things don’t go the way you’d expect. It might rush you, decide to fight south paw, or not respond to any of the pushes you make to move ahead. In these moments you can choose how you will respond.
A VISA:
On Tuesday we packed up and hit the consulate to get my visa. It took a serious combination of teamwork and moxie to get everything done, but we did and shot back to home sweet home (read about that in my PYL post for today).
+ A LITTLE SCRAMBLE:
Now I definitely feel a little scramble…I missed a few days of training and have to hit it hard.
All’s good. I am getting in some awesome sessions with my coach (Terry Norblom), Matt at Horsepower gym, and even though I’ve missed my sparring sessions at the Cellar I have gotten in some other sessions at National Karate and with John Kent. I have been at Calhoun Beach Club getting in runs, swims, and conditioning. I am working it.
Winning in Brazil is on my mind.
I couldn’t do any of this without my awesome sponsors for Brazil. Check them out here and support their businesses. Every single one of them is AMAZING and rocks.
Okay I’d love to hear how you “roll with the punches”. Do you have a good outlook when life starts blitzing you and how do you take back the ring?
Pics of our adventure below
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