Training Log and Observations – Plugged In

Monday: DAY OFF

Tuesday: “MUSHIN” with Wayne, Hatha Yoga

Wednesday: “MUSHIN” with Wayne

Thursday: Officially Joined the St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club

Friday: Cutting 17 lawns in 6 hours

Saturday: DAY OFF

Sunday: DAY OFF

In just about every way, April has been the toughest month for me since starting my sabbatical: I barely worked out; I never meditated; I lost my enthusiasm for and desire to fight; and felt disconnected to myself and, by extension, to all those around me.

Despite the sour flavour of the month, I managed to stumble upon some tasty morsels and thankfully they left their sweet and spicy tang for me to savour and remember:

-Now I’m more concerned with how I live my life as opposed to what I do for a living; lately I’m less interested in a career and more interested in truly living a life that aligns itself with my values. Maybe it’s time to construct a new paradigm in which what I do is the glue that binds the infrastructure of a life lived and loved intentionally as opposed to being the support beams of said infrastructure.

-I have a new appreciation for the true working class; it is almost impossible to live off of minimum wage and the grueling nature of the work makes the meagre compensation that much more unjust.

-I’ve changed (I think for the better) and I need to be true to the version 2.0 of who I am. When I’m with people who knew Tracey 1.0, I need to be careful to not fall into a bugged behavioural pattern that never served me well; one that was rooted in the fear of rejection and whose objective was to establish my worth through acceptance. In Tracey 2.0, self-worth is the operating system.

-After my fight, I want to continue my growth and learning, but through a new medium. I’m thinking yoga. I figure the learning I’d acquire through a yoga instructor’s program would temper the lessons I’m learning in my boxing training as well as the lessons I will learn in the ring.

-I think it’s time to fall off my wallet and go to Thailand to train. This year is a gift and to not travel, even for a short amount of time, would be so wrong given how much I love travelling.

-On a lighter note, I love the feeling I get when I realize how strong I’ve become. For 10 minutes after breaking a shovel at work while trying to dig out a tree, I walked that lawn with a strut. Yes, I’m a muscle-head and I kind of like it.

As April came to its end, I had enough of sailing through time without a rudder. So, I stepped up and once again took control. I plugged back it and started to act. Despite my end of the day fatigue, I started to work out again and I joined the St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club. Joe, the manager of the club, is pumped to have some “white-collar” fights. I guess crowds come out to watch regular folks who are trying to be amateur fighters. Who cares what you call it, one day, I will have that fight!