Life gets in the way Of EVERYTHING.

For a lot of people, 2020 was a disaster of differing levels. For me, it was pretty bad. I lost my Mom, the matriarch and the voice of wisdom in my family, and while recovering from that, I lost one of my closest friends. And normally my training is a refuge and sanctuary that renews my energy and my mind, but because of covid shutting so much down, that was not available for many of the times I needed it last year.

There were days where I just could not keep up with my regular actions –daily reading and daily training. I also was not much of a good friend or good husband, or good father at times, being distant and hiding from contact. And both of those things fueled the negative feedback loop that I would find myself in. It became easier to beat myself up and stay in that bad place rather than fixing it. And I don’t believe that is an uncommon reaction. We all fall down, and then we look at ourselves as a failure.

Here is the truth. We ARE NOT FAILURES. We failed, nothing more. We have failed in the past, and we will fall short at some point in the future. And so what? That is not us. It is just something that happened and it can serve as a guidepost for those actions in the future.

Don’t beat yourself up for screwing up. Get back on your feet, rub some dirt in it, and get back to it. Smash that goal on the next attempt. Every great person who accomplished monumental stuff failed as well. Take solace that you are on the same level as them and get back to the grind.

You did not go to the gym last week and feel bad? Just go to the gym today! Only worry about what you are doing in the moment. If you don’t feel up to going to the jiujutsu academy, or lifting heavy iron, or doing a long run, or sweating out an intense dry fire session, just go simple and small. Do 10 goblet squats where you stay in the hole for a few extra seconds each time. Or just get ten trigger presses from a low ready position. Or five technical standups. The sky is the limit. Not every training session needs to be a world beater. Just get some work in and feel good that you did so.

Constant daily little bits add up to a lot of work capacity over a long lifetime. That is a worthy goal. And you can do it. Just like I can, and also like me you can be a little less hard on yourself.