Men's Health Month: Chill Out

If I had a dollar for every time a friend told me, "Dude, you really need to chill out," I would be a fairly wealthy man.

From time to time, we all need to slow down, relax, stop taking everything so seriously, and enjoy the simple pleasure of just being alive. Reducing stress is part of most of the health recommendations that I see.

To help you take a 2-minute break from the chaosphere, try this site that calls itself "a place to relax."

http://calm.com

Have at it and enjoy yourself; you deserve it!

Working Hard to Get Caught Up

Hey, what's going on here? Is this becoming a blog updated once a month? No, that's not the plan--not the long-term, visionary plan, anyway.

I do have lots of things to post here; I just need to manage my time well enough to do it. Since this blog is about the practice of law and my life, in addition to boxing, let me tell you that the law and life parts have been kind of insane lately. My mother was hospitalized for a few weeks and now she is in a rehabilitation and therapy facility. She's doing much better, and hopefully she'll be able to get home soon. I'm trying to be a good son and support both my mom and my dad (who is on his own with their little dog), but sometimes I really wonder. I wonder if I am offering much of value, despite my efforts. I'm also wondering about my ability to overwhelm myself with activity. I got up very early today to get a head start on the day and it's now 11:30 am, and I'm still scrambling and only about 10% done with my to-do list for today.

Anyway, that's the quick update. I'm needing to bring more hustle to bear on my end-of-January marketing effort for my law firm. Hopefully, that will yield a considerable harvest of lucrative projects. In the short term, the effects of the recession have been dragging me down, like they are doing to everyone else (except the super-fat-cats who seem always to land on their feet, despite the chaos they introduce into the economy and the harm they do to many people and businesses--but that's a separate rant). It's amazing how hard a man can work and not be making any money, at least not at the moment.

I need to stop now and get back to work. I'm hoping to get more substantive content posted later today. It's good stuff. For the moment, let remember what my meditation practice has taught me.

Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.
Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.

Breathing in, I know that I am experiencing a lot of stress now.
Breathing in, I smile at my stress.

OK, that's best effort. The smile is only about a one-quarter smile--no Cheshire-cat-grin on this handsome mug yet!--but I'm working on it.

Not Much to Report

I haven't blogged a lot lately because there just is not a lot to report on the boxing front. I have been consumed with getting ready for my move and trying to keep my law practice going and keeping up with my writing gigs. I've also spent a considerable amount of time helping my parents to get ready for their upcoming move. Training has been less frequent and less intense than I would like, but I know that's a temporary situation that I'll get past soon.

A man named Glen, one of the readers of this blog, who lives in the greater Chicago area, invited me to box with him in a local bout on September 25. Ordinarily, I would jump at the chance, but I have too many distractions right now to add a boxing match to the mix. My training isn't where it needs to be for such an event and there is no way I am going to box unless I am in fine physical and mental shape for it. I have no interest in getting injured or injuring anyone else. I also want to be a worthy opponent. It's a shame because, at least on paper, Glen and I seem to be very well matched.

I had to decline the invitation for this particular match. However, in the spirit of good sportsmanship, I've been reaching out to a few boxers and coaches here and trying to help Glen find an opponent. Also, I told him that I would be very interested in doing a bout in the future, if we are as evenly matched as we seem to be. If I could sensibly squeeze it in, when Glen has his bout, I'd love to be the guy in the opposite corner of the ring. That won't happen this time, but perhaps in the near future we can arrange something. In any event, good luck, Glen, and let us know how it goes!

Brief Update

Not much to report here, but I figured it's better to write something than to stay silent.  Last week, I went to the gym, and over the last 6 days, I've done about 3.5 hours of roadwork, so that's not too bad.

Life has been nuts lately.  (What else is new, right?)  My mother has been hospitalized since Sunday.  She's doing better and should be able to go home soon.  I'm planning for my move and helping my parents to plan for theirs and get the paperwork done for their new condo and so forth.  Additionally, I'm running my law practice and hustling to get some new clients, as well as finish my various writing projects.

In other words, life continues to be challenging.  I'm hoping to get to the gym tomorrow.