A while ago
I wrote a post that was about one of the dearest concepts that I hold in my heart. I couldn’t find a way to put into words how I felt so I used the analogy of stamping gratitude with my shoes as I move across the Earth. A dance of gratitude of sorts.
I explained that I had never exercised but I moved my body with gratitude. Four years later, hundreds of thousands of people have read my post on “Grateful Movement.” I am still stamping that gratitude every chance I get and I even got a tattoo to remind me to keep stamping.
So many things have changed since then. I lay those stamps down a little faster now. Sometimes I put those stamps down with bike tires or with strokes in a pool. Sometimes they get stamped with the bottom of a barbell as I am doing repetitions. The stamps come in different forms than they used to and things look a bit different for me in the realm of fitness but one thing that will never, ever change is my focus on moving with gratitude.
For some reason I was divinely blessed with a second chance that most will never get. I’m not really sure what that reason is but I am sure that I have a lot to be thankful for. It’s easy now to look back and recognize that I found gratitude before I got my second chance and an amazing life. I had spent most of my life waiting for it to be awesome so I could be grateful, I’d still be waiting if I hadn’t flipped my perspective because I had the entire idea completely backwards.
With that said,
A thought has been floating around in my head for some time and typically nagging thoughts tend to leave me alone after I write about them.
I follow many crazy athletes on social media. Honestly, I have been doing a ton of soul searching because I always feel a bit guilty that I don’t have that “Rise and Grind” mentality that many (certainly not all) have. I mean, I feel majorly committed to my goals. I work really hard to accomplish goals that mean something to me. I know how to be uncomfortable, and I have no problem with that.
I think I figured why this “grind it out” and “do something you hate everyday” concept bothers me so much. At first it made me feel like I was missing something because I just couldn’t latch on to the whole badass concept of grinding. But today it occurred to me that I have already been there and done that. Actually I feel like I was grinding harder than Chuck Norris a long, long time ago. Today, I have absolutely no interest in ever grinding again. Now, I have really good friends that rise and grind every morning and they are quite happy to rise and grind. If they are happy than that’s what counts. But in my opinion if someone is doing a monotonous task they they don’t enjoy just because they are “supposed” to do it then my best guess is that it will not be a sustainable life change. At best, it will be a temporary badass that reverts back to their old ways with the chance that they may get back on the wagon and start again. This is where yo-yo dieting and fitness are born. (Again, only my observation and opinion) Ok, so maybe this is a bit of a play on words but please allow me to set this up.
Rise and Grind
Give Thanks
After the 4th alarm goes off my wife finally had enough and worked relentlessly to get me to get out of bed. This part of the day was a grind for both of us. Stumbling to the bathroom so I could splash some water on my face to try and wake up, dehydrated I would splash some water in my mouth just to get rid of the nasty taste of last night’s aspirations of acid reflux. It was a grind to look in the mirror because I hated who was looking back. It was a grind to make sure I had enough pills to get through the day. It was a grind to remember to stay on top of my prescription refills. It was a grind to keep my charade going so that no one found out the amount of Fentanyl, pills, and alcohol I was consuming on a daily basis. It was a grind just to survive the day and crawl back to the couch. Every day was a grind, a grind that I didn’t ask for nor did I want. Oh, I did something that sucked everyday…… It was my life and every aspect of my spiritual, emotional, and physical life was indeed a grind. So “Rise and Grind” I did, not by choice but by necessity. I sincerely hope that I will never rise and grind again.
I guess I can change that little phrase to say, “Rise and Grind Give Thanks.” Nope, that attitude will probably never make me a badass, an elite athlete, or even an average athlete. At the end of the day I could care less. Here’s why:
Before my alarm goes off at 4:45 am. my eyes open and a smile forms on my face. Heather is slightly annoyed but quickly falls back asleep. I rise and give thanks, thanks for the precious gift of a brand new day that many did not get today. I look in the mirror and smile as I tell myself that my life is priceless. I toss on my swimming, running, or workout shorts depending on what day of the week it is so I can rise and give thanks. Thanks, because it is an honor to be able to enjoy any physical activity while others are waiting for an organ transplant or their next round of chemo. Make no mistake though, I do push myself to my limit, I struggle, and sometimes I endure pain. I make no claim to be an athlete, runner, or badass but I can tell you that I compete against who I was yesterday and I am on a mission to better myself every day in every aspect of my life, not just fitness. When I run, walk, bike, swim, or lift it is an outlet for me to release my gratitude. The more gratitude I stamp the more my soul gets refilled.
Again, maybe this is just a play on words and again, I have many friends that are as close as brothers that “rise and grind” every day and are happy as can be and I am happy for them and their progress. For me, I prefer to think of it as rise and celebrate life by moving with gratitude or “Rise and Give Thanks.”
At the end of the day, the very idea of “rise…” means that you woke up today and whether you grind or not, be thankful because you were blessed with another day to grind, dance, or stamp gratitude.
Eat plants and move your body, all ya gotta do is a little more than ya did yesterday
Thanks for listening,
-Tim
Oh, one last thing!
I have a very basic recipe book out on amazon. Click the link below. If you don’t have the 2.99 for the eBook, you can’t use the kindle app, or you just don’t think it is worth it send an email to fatmanrants@gmail.com with the word ‘book’ in the subject line and I will get a PDF version free of charge. Money should never get in the way of good health!
