My 41rst Birthday....

Is fast approaching and I fight it every day - mentally at least..............

When I was 35 it was a problem for me to hit 40, I went through my mid life anxiety attack and finally accepted it...................... (3 weeks before I actually turned 40)! But now that I am 40 - soon to be 41, its a whole new anxiety. I don't fight in the ring or cage anymore so there is really no way to gauge or justify my 41 year old athletic mind...............or so I thought!

It took awhile for me to create another outlet, another way to rationalize being 41 and how - in all of my manly testosterone way - I could still be 25. Then it hit me, I am going to sprint 100 yards, 41 times - up hill (a mountainside specifically - 6000 ft elevation), at 45-60 incline! This challenge, this opportunity to push myself - to  compete against myself - sounded wonderful............until my first training session for it!

41 - 60 second sprints on a treadmill at 30 degree incline @ 4mph
41 - sets of power and explosive work - 3 exercises done in a row to comprise one set - row, clean to press,
        and a curl. Done with 135lbs for 41 times
41 jumps onto a 36 inch platform
&
41 single leg TRX explosive jumps

It was somewhere in there that I came up with the idea for this post after realizing the abuse I was putting myself through - my attempt to stop something that I will never be able to stop.

Getting older or becoming more "life experienced" as i like to say, should not be a burden. It should be welcomed with open arms and embraced. At 40 years of age, the fact that I am still pursuing the fountain of youth is a battle already won.

I tell my all of my clients that a positive mental is the first step in changing who you are to who you want to be.  So in listening to my own words of wisdom, I am coming to grips with..............
............I am not getting older, I am getting better..........
............I am not as old as the number says, I am as old as I feel...........
............I am not limited to what I can't do, I am limited by what my mind can imagine...........
............I am only as old as I feel............and I feel 25!

Life is what we make of it, and if I have been allowed to live to be 41 then I am going to embrace it, but i will always challenge it. In my mind, being a fighter - it is always about the next fight, the next challenge, the next opportunity to step into the ring hearing the crowd call my name while I test myself against another fighter.

In this case I am up against my hardest critic, my strongest opponent, my only true nemesis......I am up against  myself!

Turning 41 was not the challenge, the challenge was getting here - now that I am here, I am going to challenge myself, push myself, and look forward to every battle. That is benefit of getting older......................
...................you never run out of challenges and opportunities to  prove yourself - to yourself!