I am aging. I don’t like to say that. I was really not counting on that happening. I have kept it a bay for quite a while. But it seems inevitable.

However, I am not going down without a fight!

I like the line in Toby Keith’s song “As good as I once was”, “I may not be as good as I once was, but I am as good once as I ever was.” I gotta give props to the video too, well done Toby!

I am, somewhat, having to view life through that filter. Yea, I can hold my own for a while, toe to toe, but not like I use to. And having spent many years studying Martial Arts and standing toe to toe with people I am keenly aware of what it requires to do so.

But like I said, I am not going down to age without a fight (and I fight dirty).

I really feel like you have to look at this like a fight. You need to train for it, you need to prepare physically and mentally and you have to have the heart (soul) to drive you when there is nothing left.

There was an instructor I once had who loved for me to show up on fight night. He was also the guy who loved to use me as his instruction dummy. Being 6’5” in a dojo is like a neon sign that says, “yea, sure, use me to show people how easy it is to take down a big guy”, over and over and over again. I tended to leave a training session with more bruises from being said dummy than from me actually getting to fight.

However, like I said, he liked me there on fight night. We were much alike, he and I. We both liked getting punched and punching back. I know that may sound odd, but for someone who is a true warrior, “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” You stuff down the former and never even consider the latter. You become a machine.

In life I really don’t want to fight, but I am not afraid to bleed. And this goes for every aspect.

When it comes to aging there are days I feel beaten, bloody and fatigued but I keep moving forward. As I begin after a long hiatus to train my body again I am noticing how right Toby had it. Recovery is longer, but I push through it. I pin point what is ahead and work toward it.

My wife works hard and is much better nutritionally than I am. But I know that this too I must face head on, toe to toe and not allow myself to succumb to the easy route (read everything fried or bathed in butter and sugar – actually buttered, fried and covered in sugar is one of my favorite food groups).

Some of the previous training I mentioned is now invaluable. I know WHAT to do, I just need to stay in motion and DO it. Additionally, if you take a more traditional view of Martial Arts training you come to understand that it is as much about your mental state (probably more) than your physical state. You learn to foster too your spiritual perception of everything around you and “sense” what might happen before it does.

This too affords and fosters a keen awareness of the body. After training I can work to flex and work each muscle and joint individually to see where my “hot” (pain) spots might be. Thus, working on these before I am stiff and immobile the next morning.

And yes, I highly recommend the use of a good masseuse as you age!

But here I am, moving into the second half of life if a full on fight with age: yea, from time to time the old bugger gets the better of me and I end up limping about for a day or two. But I am smarter the next fight and I learn his tricks and techniques.

I just have to be quick enough to counter them.