My Sanctuary, Social Media Walk-Outs And What Helps Me At Certain Times

 We all have our struggles, our demons and what we choose to do with what's possible to keep going. I'm no different, had my fair share of battles, physically and mentally. Others have it way worse than me and I wouldn't compare myself to someone who doesn't have much but wishing they did so they can live a peaceful life. Hell, maybe it's the universe or god or whatever you want to call it that gives me a reason I'm still going strong when I was already close to death before I even knew what the word meant and able to spell. 

Have my own struggles and fears daily but also have places that I can call home, be around those I'm closest to me and be able to talk to those who care enough to listen. I'm very grateful for those things. It's never easy to ask for help but if I need it, there are people I know I can turn to. I wish others had this because many are alone in this world or feel like they're alone and have no one to turn to. At times it may be by their own mistakes or people shut them out and they end battling themselves more than what they may end up doing to themselves.

This isn't just some random rant about anything. Just what I'm thinking in my head. Have I had the worst upbringing? Hell no, but it wasn't sunshine and rainbows either. There were things I learned growing up a kid shouldn't know and understanding some of the things that could've led me down a path to drugs, drinking and smoking but didn't. I knew people who were heavy into drugs, some were and some are still very close to me. The things I saw what drinking does to people, pushed me away from it damn near to the brink where I never wanted to drink at all. Been only drunk once in my entire life and that was in my early-mid 20's and that was it. I didn't black out or anything, I was a happy drunk from what I remember but after that, having a sip of anything was the majority of the time. When it comes to drugs, I think the closest things I ever did was have a few pot brownies once and that was more than a lesson I don't want to remember. Another was when I had my sciatica injury and I was taking muscle relaxers and getting to a point I had to stop myself and just push through my own pain so I stopped taking them and focused on supplementation and other things.

There are very few things in my life that I would call my Sanctuary or things that give me a sense of peace. One will always be my workouts because when I get into them, the world shuts down and I get to create my own universe, be in a state of mind that I feel safe and get to do what makes me happy. Another is being around people I love especially my wife who's just insanely awesome and makes things in my life seem like it's a dream. Yeah, I can be a sap at times, but I'd rather be a sap than some hateful asshat with no remorse towards other human beings that don't agree with him. A third sanctuary, is my office in my apartment. Sometimes, I just sit in here, by myself and write down things, train, read or listen to music and/or meditate. It's where I'm calm, collected and get to look at things that are cool like my decks of cards, mandalas I've drawn, pictures of legends I've met and seeing what I know is me.

I've had my ups and down days like anybody else. The one thing I do believe and anybody who knows me will understand it right off the bat is that I break out into laughter at the most random things at the most random times. A certain thought I think is funny that pops into my head just has me burst out laughing to the point where people like the wife has asked "what the fuck man, the hell you laughing about." I would tell her or whoever and I get looks at times that have them questioning my sanity. In the words of Uncle Albert from Mary Poppins "I love to laugh." Either I find things funny somewhere or a random movie line/scene that comes out of nowhere just has me rolling at times. I guess that's one of the reasons why I've never had severe depression, something inside of me won't let that happen. Laughter, truly is a gift and not just a form of emotion.

For a while now when it comes to Social Media, it becomes more mind boggling how ugly it can get each and everyday. Now I still have Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tik Tok and Threads but I don't have others such as Lemon 8, Tumblr, Rumble, Truth Social or Snapchat. The first two I ended up walking away from because neither one were doing anything for me and I have no appeal for them. The rest, just a poor excuse of apps that people go on to shit talk about dumbest stuff that hold no real merit to anything relevant. Snapchat to me, is a poor man's Onlyfans. I deactivated my twitter/X account a while ago and have no desire to go back to it. It just has way too much bullshit and other things that take away other people's reach who have far better platforms than dumbasses who seem to try to be like the Mean Girls in high school, popularity that ends up hurting others. Granted some numbnuts out there have claimed that I only ended my account because of them and want credit for it and act like it's a fact. It isn't, they don't get or even deserve any credit, not to mention that they're just wanna be ego maniacs who can't fight out of a paper bag. If I were a betting man, a 16 year old nerdy girl has more fight than people like that. Besides, they're nothing more than a sag of bones that have no life and have nothing to offer other than wanting someone to put them in a chokehold just to shut him up. 

Social Media is a whirlwind but the ones I've kept, suit me well and have plenty of friends and acquaintances on them that are great people that accept me for me. There's negative bullshit on there like anywhere else but I can choose where to go and have conversations that matter. Twitter at the end of day has more people getting away with murder than anywhere else. I do miss some of the folks there like baseball fans or wrestling fans and the few friends I had there but after a while with the other stuff being shadowed, it was a "fuck this" kind of moment for me and it was a route in my journey that I didn't want to cross into anymore and I'm happy to make that choice.

Overall, sure nothing is perfect, why would it? If it were perfect, it be boring as hell. I'm in the best shape right now at 41, I've maintained and even built muscle this year I didn't expect from, I live in a great apartment with an amazingly awesome and beautiful woman, I can still train at a level that has my conditioning be where it's needed, I'm not a big spender so money isn't a huge issue and have a system in place that works, donating clothes I don't need anymore or tossing out ones that have too many holes in them and get to eat awesome food. I'd say, life is pretty damn great and it can only get better from here. We never know what tomorrow will bring but we can make it interesting. 

Hopefully you all have a great day and keep killing it. Be amazingly awesome and thank you for taking the time to read this, I do appreciate your patience. 

Follow Your Fitness Destiny

           I believe that no matter who you are, you aught to follow your own destiny. It’s important to learn who your true self is and that nobody aught to tell you who you should be and that you need to live by a higher standard according to society’s standards. Fitness is really the same thing. The truth is, if you are passionate about something and it helps you in your life than that’s where you aught to go. There are many methods you can learn and my hope for you is take bits of pieces of what you learned and apply them to what makes you happy. For real fitness and getting real results find and use what brings you those results.

            In almost 20 years in fitness and health, I’ve learned a great deal of things, some work, some don’t. In that time I’ve also seen a great many people who tarnish certain things because it doesn’t suit their standards, they want to drive you away from your destiny and teach you only their methods and if you’re not on par than you’re going to fitness hell. Open your mind to different things, challenge your body and brain to what yields them a great learning experience. I have fallen to the “one true method” mindset and it nearly killed my expansion to be able to understand different ideals. Some people do only one method and for them it’s the end all be all and that’s fine but last time I checked there are 7 billion people in the world, not all of them are going to follow you.

            I want you to find what you love to do. If you don’t like something and it doesn’t help you much, that’s a clear sign that you aught to look into something else. I’ve seen countless people bicker at each other what they don’t like and tell people that because they don’t like it, it’s not going to work others as well, bullshit. If you’re a fan of kettlebells and they do well for you, then you go get whatever kettlebell course is out there and you bust your ass on them because it’s what you love, if you don’t like kettlebells, don’t buy them and don’t give others crap about it because it’s not for you.

            There are a lot of things I love in fitness like cables, hammers, bodyweight, ropes, isometrics and other things so I take bits and pieces of these things and mold them in my own unique way. That’s the true beauty of fitness is the ability to be unique and creating the best way for you to get what you want for your body and mind. Don’t let assholes who tell you that because of what you do, you’ll get injured, you’re depriving to train like a man or better yet because of what you preach and love, they’ll come up with any lame way of what is terrible about it.

            I’m not an angry guy, as a matter of fact I’m very happy about what I do and I get to learn from very amazing people; however I do get a bit irritated when I find out about people who over criticize about another person’s methods and tell them their an idiot or that you’re not an animal you’re a man, train like it; just makes me want to slap those people. Be unique, if you like doing just one method that’s great for you but I believe in learning multiple methods and taking different parts that you find suitable to your needs and goals.

            Build your own destiny, find your calling and passion and run with it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man, we all have something unique about ourselves and it’s important to find what our true self is and grasp it by grabbing it by the horns and create something out of it in an awesome, positive and beautiful way. Help others find their creative side and give them the power to fulfill their own destiny, you don’t have to like what they do but if they’re important to you make them feel important and guide them.

Take care and have an awesome day wherever you are.

Having Fun With Your Brothers/Sisters In Physical Culture

            

           When you’re apart of a group that has great admiration for fitness and willing to help you in any way possible, they become more like a family sort of speaks. It’s that camaraderie that just has that special bond that you don’t get from other people in your life. It’s when some of us get together and you never know what’s going to happen. One of my best friends in this type of world is Logan Christopher and he’s one of the first guys that helped me shape up what I’ am today. Whenever I hang out with him, he always ends up putting me in some weird workout situation, one time he pretty much threw me into a kettlebell contest, he even got me on the rock climbing walls after kicking my ass in warm ups, even pushed me to get better at bridging. It’s all about making someone better and the right people will talk to you.

            Helping each other out is one of the coolest things in the world. Sometimes we struggle to make a goal or at times you doubt yourself, that’s when they give you that big slap in the face (figuratively and literally at times) to wake your ass up and make things happen. I had one of those experiences when I spent time with Bud Jeffries when he came around my town in Idaho. He helped me out by putting things in another perspective and from his knowledge and wisdom I learned a lot from him in a very short period of time. When you have someone or some people like that, it’s very rare to find and it be wise to be around those types of people. Even when they might try to hook you up with a couple girls at Wal-Mart (thanks Bud).

            There are people in your life that want to bring you down but they do what they can to hide about it and some are right in your face. When those people don’t believe in you, there will be people that will and they’ll go out of their way at times to tell you so and show you why they do. Being around positive people that share similar goals and want to help you in any way they can, those are the people you want in your life. There are plenty of men and women I've met and even more that I've chatted with more than being in person with but the principles are still the same. I love helping others because I had the opportunity to be helped out by those same people and want to pass that on. Doesn't matter what color your skin is, your background, religion, creed, passion you’re another human being like me who’s doing their best to make it in this world.

            In the world of Physical Culture, just like everybody else sometimes there’s a bit of chaos but in a good way, when you have a group of guys who train their asses off and then get together at a restaurant, its bound to get loud at times, telling stories, cracking jokes and even learn a few tips. Other times when you hang out with each other, they’ll push you like no one else will and at times there’s no remorse. You hear stories go around that are just plain strange and others are just funny as hell (Bud told me a story about Dennis Rogers that just made crack up). Even with all that shit going on, you’ll know when they have your back and give you that love and respect for one another even when one of them is a bit nuts but then again we’re all nuts in our special way.

            You are never alone and you’ll learn sooner or later who your brothers/sisters are in this wacky world because there comes a time when everything is in its place and you share things with other people that even your own family will never understand. It goes back to that bond you don’t see much in this day and age. Find them, learn from them and help each other out because eventually, success will be well in reach and you’ll soon find out how you got there.