Status Update from Down South

 

Well…I’m still on a bit of a high from near May 5^th, which I wrote on my mind shift, prior to that I blogged on seeing the light from how I define events in my life. Maybe its not quite a high, but I feel mentally in a decent place.

 

I’ve got same long-term warranty stuff occurring in my life, ongoing for the past 4 years, but the process is moving in the right direction. My career has been challenging, as the twist and lack of balance that it has instilled on my personal life has been unbearable in the past and this year is no exception. It’s looking to be the year that beats all the previous 32 years, the workload is looking quite dismal and with huge uncertainty and I can’t believe I’m not at work yet. For whatever reason, this year I’m feeling like, what’s meant to be, will be. Every year has worked out until now, so rather than getting unnecessarily worked up, I feel like riding the wave is the best way to handle this. The company I work for has seen some uncontrollable and unforeseen events, which flows downhill, but they inform me there is light at the end of tunnel…and apparently, it’s not a train. lol

 

I have accepted and embraced this year’s work or lack there of and engaged in submitting resumes. As I work myself towards retirement and setting funds away, this was not in my cards, at least the hand I dealt myself. The reality is I feel I’m on the intended path. I have tried to control my life forever and it got me burnt out to a point where I thought there was no return. I am eager to get out and put the work boots back on, but its just looking like it’s not going to happen on my clock.

 

I have been engaged in, one on ones, with Sifu Brinker and truly enjoying them. There have been a couple conversations where we only dipped into I Ho Chuan for a short part of the appointments, but the reality is all the conversations were about life and all boiled down to specifics we deal within in kung fu. We speak on injuries and healing and how our approaches have changed based off of aging, failure or learning the hard way; we speak a bit on our families; we speak on staying engaged; empathy and compassion; judgement; health; nutrition, on and on. I really enjoy and look forward to these conversations, I find It a great way to start my day and trigger goodness in my life.

 

I’ll wrap this up. My surgery recovery appears to be going well. The initial hernia surgery site still has a lump, but in my readings that is normal, I think it may be a lump of scare tissue…I hope so. I feel good, my mobility is nearly back to normal, I just can’t fully stretch back as my ab area is still a little tight. No push-ups, sit-ups or plank and anything like that…lifting weight more that 15 pounds is still not recommended until about week 6, which is June 19^th. I have engaged in a recovery stretching regime and have been doing things to assist in strengthening throughout the body, without pressuring my abdomen muscles. Also started squats and step ups for engagement and the many good benefits of. Holding myself back physically has been a struggle, but I feel I’m doing good and doing just enough to advance my healing as quick as is humanly possible. Sifu Brinker mentioned, there is a point where all feels fully healed but wisdom will say you should allow a couple more weeks.

 

Anyway, a super rest weekend to all of you.

 

May 30 (day 125) 

Acts of Kindness recorded - 319,

Push-ups - 12525,

Sit-ups and or equivalents - 14595,

Rehab - Squats and step-ups (started May 28th - 600, 

Kilometers (intentional extra mileage) - 844.8,

Meditation/ inversion table  (min.) - 647, 

Stretching/ rolling (min.) - 556, 

Sparring/ grappling (min.) - 78, 

# of forms re-familiarized - 7.0

Form reps - 245, 

Form time (min.) - 693,

“Mastery” recite (min.) - 90,

Blogs - 17

Abdominal hernia repair May 8th, 2025