On November 22nd 2021 I told myself I am going to take a break from all the things that keeps me busy and spend more time with loved ones while recovering and recuperating. The last article I wrote was meant to be the last article for this year because it caps off with the lessons I learned on my first year of blogging. It also meant that I take a break from Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and lastly to ease up on my weight lifting regimen, instead of doing 4-5 days a week training routine I will just do 3-4 days starting then. That was the plan.
My plan was not successful obviously, the first thing I was supposed to take a break from was writing yet here I am, this is not necessarily a lie. I’m writing now, not because I’m breaking my promise but because I am deviating from the plan just a little bit. Let me explain.
An advantage I have now is that today I am armed with the ability and capability to write and share the lessons I have and have been learning, it serves not only to track my progress but also as an avenue to help other people.
Here is something I wanted to talk about for a period of time now, believe it or not refusal to take breaks slapped me in the face a couple times in my life and it seems I was not taking the hint at all. I have been hurt, injured, burnt out and in rare cases bored of the routines I set for myself, not ones, nor twice but multiple times already, and this is what happens when you decide not to take breaks.
My most recent example happened On December 9, 2021. Friday.
On the 8th of December, Thursday my good friend had invited me to hang out with some of our friends, I have not seen the guy for almost a year now and he reached out like always and asked if I was free, unfortunately I said no, I could have gone and hung out with them but I chose not to because I chose to attend my jiu-jitsu class that night and I have work after anyways, so it seemed like the right thing to do.
On this night after my Jiu-jitsu class I received a stripe on my belt. This meant a lot to me, I have worked hard and consistent on my jiu-jitsu and the sport brought a lot of frustration while I was in training. Having my first stripe awarded to me meant I was getting better at it. However, at what cost?
The next day on Friday around 8:45 PM I suffered a lower back injury on the 9th set of a 10×10 front and back squat workout, after the 9th set my lower back and glutes started to spasm so I sat and rested for about 3-5 minutes. Keen on finishing my 10th set amidst the pain, I went and started squatting a measly weight of 155 lbs. on my 8th repetition a jolt of electric shock just shot on my lower back, I paused, re-racked the weight, stopped and sat down, it took me about 10 minutes to laboriously get up while feeling probably the worst lower back injury I have experienced in my life, it also did not help that after this I still had to go to work from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM, it was brutal man.
I then realize that I got really good at saying no to the things that does not lead me toward my current goals. Most times I have to choose between my goals, relationships and in this case taking a break or rest. I really do not bother thinking about the dilemmas I get myself into. Looking back at it, had I chosen to stop at the 9th set of my workout would I have been injured? Or was it alright that I pushed myself? Or is that stupid? If I did not try, would I have felt accomplished knowing I could have done more? The stupid thing for me is, that somehow I feel fulfilled because I know I pushed myself hard enough to a point where I got injured, what a dumb fuck.
The other thing is that had I not attended the jiu-jitsu class on Thursday maybe my body got enough rest and was more primed for a weight lifting session on Friday therefore avoiding injury, if I took a day off from martial arts, I could’ve spent time with my dear friends and kept my relationships intact. However, if I didn’t push myself? If I hung out with my friends? would I have been promoted? Maybe.
Then, as reality set within me the harsh truth again came and smacked me in the face as it always did, because I chose to ignore my friends, neglect my relationships and fail to listen to my body, I am now forced to take that break, I have now discredited myself of the promise I have made to train 3 days on a week, and have become the opposite of taking a breather from writing. I was not even aiming to get promoted in jiu-jitsu anyway and the audacity to ask myself if I had not gone to class, would I have been promoted? Of course I would have, if my instructors deemed that I was qualified then I would have gotten it regardless and I believe they would have done so.
Conclusion
What do you care about?
For some people not doing anything is actually harder than being busy, I am one of them, I always have in mind the idea that living my life as a Man should be of a strenuous nature. George Whitefield ones said: “I would rather wear out than rust out” what a beautiful quote. We have been gifted the ability of locomotion, our bodies were primed by evolution to withstand substantial physical exertion, most of us are tough and resilient, so I choose to be of this order.
To expand on this one, it’s really a matter of asking yourself, what’s important to me right now? Finding the answer to this question is much more complex than it usually is but realizing what you really are into and knowing what it is, is a good path to follow. I mentioned that I choose to embody the strenuous lifestyle, I have been following the artofmanliness.com for some time now and picked up quite a few things on how to become a real man in today’s time. I have my reasons on why I do what I do, but often times I forget that part of this lifestyle is to take rest days seriously, one cannot sustain something when pushed hard to his absolute limits, even athletes have designated recovery days, why shouldn’t I take it. For a lifestyle to become much more effective, longevity, sustainability and consistency is paramount.
Take breaks when you can and schedule necessary time for the real things that are much more important than yourself.
I am now taking a hiatus, see you all next year! Happy Holidays!
XERGIUS 