Blind, I look the other way.
I've been absent from LJ for a number of reasons. A deepening of a wonderful personal situation. School work and the ebb and flow of that particular tide. But also because of the physical exhaustion of my fairly new physical regimen.
I box now. And I love it.
In fact, earlier today, I sent out an essay on the subject and I could not be prouder of my first real foray into personal narrative nonfiction.
It's been incredibly instructive, but one of the biggest gifts the sport has given me is a growing trust in myself. So much of my life had been spent developing intellectual capacities and stimulating the mind and I always felt a lingering guilt in the fact that I wasn't doing more with my hands than using the fingertips to type on a keyboard. I've for a long time wanted to build something and still carry that desire around with me, but boxing has gone a long way in curing that particular itch.
Coach has been chipping away at my overthinking and I couldn't be happier. When I throw that left hook, I just have to move. Not think, not position myself, just move and trust that the punch will land. The next instant, I hear the satisfying slap against the duck tape around the heavy bag or the leather of his focus mitts and I know I've done right. And that I don't even have a moment to ruminate on that because I'm busy throwing the next punch. It's akin to the feeling I would get sometimes while shoveling my driveway in the winter. Losing myself in the physical labor of it. And it's fantastically productive in that I can sleep soundly at night and my body no longer creaks with the snap and crackle of gears in need of oil.
Hopefully some of this self-trust can bleed into other aspects of my life.
I box now. And I love it.
In fact, earlier today, I sent out an essay on the subject and I could not be prouder of my first real foray into personal narrative nonfiction.
It's been incredibly instructive, but one of the biggest gifts the sport has given me is a growing trust in myself. So much of my life had been spent developing intellectual capacities and stimulating the mind and I always felt a lingering guilt in the fact that I wasn't doing more with my hands than using the fingertips to type on a keyboard. I've for a long time wanted to build something and still carry that desire around with me, but boxing has gone a long way in curing that particular itch.
Coach has been chipping away at my overthinking and I couldn't be happier. When I throw that left hook, I just have to move. Not think, not position myself, just move and trust that the punch will land. The next instant, I hear the satisfying slap against the duck tape around the heavy bag or the leather of his focus mitts and I know I've done right. And that I don't even have a moment to ruminate on that because I'm busy throwing the next punch. It's akin to the feeling I would get sometimes while shoveling my driveway in the winter. Losing myself in the physical labor of it. And it's fantastically productive in that I can sleep soundly at night and my body no longer creaks with the snap and crackle of gears in need of oil.
Hopefully some of this self-trust can bleed into other aspects of my life.