KEEP THE FLAME BURNING

WEEK OF 12/1/25

 

Habits are like fires.  They need tending, and they need fuel.

The size and the intensity of the fire can change in an instant.  It can go from a roaring bonfire to a some smoldering embers and back again, easily.  But once the fire goes out, getting it started again can be a huge (if not impossible) task.

Your habits are the same.  There will be times that you will be roaring along in your training, with everything in your life synced up — job, family, recovery, training, and other hobbies.  You will have a ton of fuel for the fire.  And there will be leaner times in which those other things demand more of you, and you can only afford to feed the fire just a little bit.

Make sure to feed it, if only to keep it burning.

Keeping that spark alive makes it so much easier to get roaring back into your groove.  Letting that spark extinguish makes it extremely difficult.

During this holiday season keep that in mind.  You will be subject to a number of things pulling you in different directions.  Your routines will get scrambled.  And it will seem easy to just walk away for a few weeks then “jump back in.”

But that’s not how it works.  Keep the spark alive, if even at a low burn.  You will thank yourself later!

Again, I write this to you as someone who has kept the flame burning for 21 years straight.  It’s no easy task, and there were times that the fire was little more than a pile of smoking ash, but it was still alive.