1/24/22
The following is an blog installation in a creative communal action with WordPress called, Bloganuary
There are many things that I do to feel strong physically, mentally and emotionally. I love creative outlets such as playing guitar and expression through painting. I love to eat a healthy diet. These are things that certainly feed me (one literally) and make me feel more confident due to the simple fact that I am an active participant in activities that move me forward; meaningful pursuits.
Eight years ago, I made a life changing commitment to a journey that has exposed me to levels of strong that I had never thought possible. It would be apparent that physical strength would be the obvious “strong” attached to this source. But as I came to discover, and continue to appreciate to this day, I have become “life” strong since the day I put on boxing gloves and entered into the world of Boxing Fitness.
Boxing came into my life during a down time and filled a hole that has brought me greater understanding of and personal connection to myself. Although I have a repulsion to seeing someone, in real life, being harmed, the art of boxing, I have discovered, is a beautiful thing.
The physical endurance aspect alone is awe inspiring and simply, insane. To be moving your legs and arms; ducking and slipping, punching and blocking, with all of your effort for eight-three minute rounds, is a degree of exhausting that I had never known. Add to that the mental components of having to focus on hearing the combinations as they are called out, reacting to and acting on that information while continuing to push through the poking desire to give up and crumble into a pool of sweat on the mat, and you have recipe for uncertainty. With boxing there is a combination of strong that benefits your body, yes, but equally, if not more so, your mind, your spirit and raises a new awareness for what one person can endure and attain. When the desire to push through and past the discomfort, that surely wants to defeat you, is stronger than your desire to give up, you are a changed person.
These lessons are applied everyday to my life, no matter what it is that I am pursuing. I do so with the spirit of overcoming the pain, the discomfort, the uncertainty and the doubt. My will is strong and I know that if I continue to try even when I would want to or the opportunity exists to give up, I will go on and face what challenges lay before me. I go with the confidence that anything is possible because I can stand on that mat for a hour at a time and give all of me to that relationship I develop anew, each time, with that bag.
Peace and Keep Rising!
Special Ed Rising 