In the Mustard Trying to Ketchup (Trying to Catch Up With Life)

 

 I am definitely showing my age with the title of this post. But it perfectly describes where I'm at these days.

I've been trying to write about how I managed to stay on track while we were on vacation. Unfortunately, life has had other plans. As always, it keeps interrupting me. Since returning home, my schedule has been absolutely insane. The good news is that I'm still maintaining my healthy lifestyle, even though it hasn't been easy.

First off, my son decided to enter his first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition. He'll be competing in the BJJ Norwegian Cup 2 on September 12–13, and ever since he signed up, we've been training every single day.

Let me tell you—rolling on the mats with an extremely healthy, strong, and well-trained 10-year-old is an intense workout. We're talking five 5-minute rounds with only a one-minute break between rounds, and that's after 30 minutes to an hour of warm-ups and technique training. It has definitely tested my limits.

On top of our own training sessions, I'm driving him to classes, and we attend every open mat we can. Most of those sessions involve two hours of rolling. It might sound like I'm complaining, but the truth is, I'm loving every minute of it.

Of course, I also run my own small business, which has been keeping me busy. In what little free time I've had, I finally completed my book, Gettin Fit After Fiddy (50): Choosing to Live a Healthy Lifestyle. I recently submitted it to a publishing company and am hoping to see it released.

Finishing the final edits and preparing the manuscript for submission was a workout in itself. At the same time, I've been trying to catch up by reposting entries from my original blog. It's been a slow process, but with the possibility of the book being published, I want to finally get everything organized.

So, if you visit this blog regularly, you'll probably notice a lot of "new" old posts appearing. They may not all be in perfect chronological order, but I'm doing my best to keep them as close as possible.

As if all of that wasn't enough, I'm also dealing with two injuries.

The first is neck crepitus that developed after my son caught me in a rear naked choke. It was painful at first, but now it's mostly just annoying. I'm not letting it stop me from doing what I need—or want—to do, but I am being extremely careful.

The second injury is to my brachialis muscle near my elbow. I strained it while doing lat pulldowns, which surprised me because I was actually using less weight than usual. I took it as a sign that it was time to ease up on the weights for a while.

At this point, rolling on the mats and getting in my 10,000 steps each day is more than enough, considering everything else that's going on.

Had I not made the decision to adopt a healthy lifestyle seven years ago, none of what I'm doing today would be possible.

Running a household, raising a child, building a business from the ground up, writing a book, and supporting my son's martial arts journey all require energy, resilience, and good health.

Physical fitness is essential, but I don't think it even comes close to the importance of mental fitness.

The countless hours I've spent reading have been just as valuable as the hours I've spent in the gym.

Actually, let me correct myself...

They've been more valuable.

Overcoming adversity—including the injuries I'm dealing with now—wouldn't be possible if my mindset wasn't strong. My ability to adapt, adjust, and keep moving forward is something I credit to those daily mental workouts every bit as much as the physical ones.

When you move through life with unbreakable faith and a definite purpose, life has a way of guiding you better than any GPS. Things seem to fall into place exactly when they're supposed to.

The fact that, at 61 years old, I'm not only able to support my son by being 100% present on his journey, but can also train with him, coach him, and roll on the mats beside him, is something I'll never take for granted.

For that, I am truly grateful.

Thanks for reading.