RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW

WEEK OF 12/8/25

Right here, right now.

That’s all we really have.

The future is unwritten, and the past is etched in stone.  But in the now we tell our story.

Last night, our opponent suffered a potentially life altering injury in the ring.  She fell with some velocity onto her head,  It wasn’t immediately clear if couldn’t continue simply due to a concussion, or if something worse, like a neck injury or other traumatic event, had occurred.  Emergency medical personnel attended to her after the fight and took her to the hospital for monitoring, with some concerns over a possible cardiac episode as well.

In all, super scary.  I am happy to report she is, howeveer, fine!

If you spend enough time in this sport you will see some crazy stuff, so I make sure to emphasize to my competitors that you may never really know when your last fight is.  You never know when the rug can be pulled out from under you.

So always focus on two things:

First, gratitude for the ability to pursue something extremely difficult.  Many, many people are unable to even attempt what we do every day in the gym.  As challenging as it is, it’s an incredible privilege.  This is often only realized in hindsight, from the bench.  Do your best to practice gratitude as a counter to the frustration you feel when things get hard.

Second, accept yourself and your outcomes.  We often want to be somewhere else, telling a different story.  Not every win plays out the way you envision, and not every loss derails you from your true path.  Literally, your true path is simply the one you walk — and therefore every outcome you achieve, whether positive or negative in the moment, helps you more clearly define and refine yourself.

Most of all, just take it in.  Right here, right now, that’s all we have.  Every moment is literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience.