Means to an End

60%. This is the number I calculated that my daily life is spent on my job/career. Some weeks are less, some are more. This doesn’t leave a whole bunch of ‘time’ for everything else. Family, Kung Fu, sleep, self care. 

When I talk about ‘time’ what I am really referring to is energy. My job saps the life out of me at times, especially this time of year. I struggle to find the energy to go above and beyond in everything else. I maintain the best I can, but often there is no actual progress. When I do make some positive progress it feels great. 

Tomorrow is not promised, but I cannot live life like tomorrow will not be here. Doing what I do now is a means to an end. I can only hope that I will be able to enjoy life when work is not such a big part of it. And if there is something else in my cards, then my family can enjoy the fruits of my labor. 

That is not to say I feel I am wasting time or my life, as I do enjoy what I do, and I do believe I make a difference. My family is still my number one priority and I do everything to not miss out on anything. Sometimes that means exhaustion but it is all worth it, as they are what truly matters. 

What disappointments me the most is how this affects my training in Kung Fu. Some days it’s all I can do to get myself to class. I don’t miss many classes, and I am always grateful that I have gone, and feel better for it. But, I also feel there is not a lot of progress or energy for a lot of practice outside of class. I am certainly not at the point I had hoped to be a year and a half after my surgery. This weighs on me. I cannot stop aging, but I must find a way to progress and feel good about my training again. This is an important part of life to me, and an important part of my means to my end. 

I’m hoping for a better next week, and going forward as the team member I was covering for is back from two and half weeks vacation. Double duty is over, and I’m grateful! My Kung Fu numbers suffered again this week, but I wasn’t as exhausted as last week, so that’s a positive. 

Looking forward to the Canada Day demos, have fun everyone! 🇨🇦

Push ups- 15,850

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 16,250

Form reps - Hand 428 Weapon 220

AOK’s - 446

Sparring - 360

KM’s - 800

Blogs - 23

Where am I? What am I Doing?

 Overcapacitated and Treading Water.

It is very apparent where I am at/have been with my training. I have blogged about this in past blogs. The start of the Chinese New Year for me very shortly after always becomes a very busy time of year for me, which continues for several months. I go into RSP season, and jump right into Real Estate season right after. As I get older, my capacity for everything is changing both mentally and physically, becoming less.

While I realize that my job can be done by anyone, and the Corporate world is a beast, it is still a must for me. The income I bring home from said job is an important part of sustaining our daily life today and for our retirement financial health in the ever increasing nearing future it seems. So the long hours and everything I do is not negotiable. I am proud of the work I do, the people I help, and firmly believe I do make a difference for the better. But it can be exhausting. This past week especially so, as I am covering for two people, one of which is about the same capacity as myself, so my week was working at the capacity of 2.5 positions. 

I’ve recently received a promotion as well. While it is a new job title, it is essentially what I already do. Some restructuring for positions, and some further expectations. I now need to take some specific courses which will take approximately 90 hours to complete, which will provide some fancy letters after my name. Again, what I am already doing, but will have accreditation for doing it. The timeline to get this completed is good, but will be on my own time as there is no capacity in my workday. A plan is in place. This new role change is supposed to allow time for my role specific duties, and alleviate some of the other stuff, and provide time in the community. Only time will tell.

My family is very understanding of the time that is spent doing my job, and the extra hours that are sometimes needed to be put in. My family is and always will be my first priority, but sometimes at a cost to other priorities in my life. As hard as I try to do my best, and be my best at all things, I falter. Exhaustion overwhelms me, and affects my sleep. I struggle to shut my mind down and stress about what is missed and what is not being done the way I would like it to be. I am always trying to prioritize what is most important day by day, but sometimes my plans do not succeed. I may reconsider my role in the IHC next year, as I don’t want to be the fractured wheel, a disappointment to my team, school and instructors, or to myself. That does not mean to quit, there is no quit. But it may mean I need to reprioritize for the time being. I need to make changes in several factors, spend more time on what is really important. My family, my health both physical and mental well being. Having Kung Fu in my life is one of the ways to provide the benefits, I am just not sure at what capacity it will be for next year.  Life is finite, and we need to make the best of what we have. I have always done my best to live a life of Mastery, even before SRKF, it just wasn’t specified as Mastery before. 

With changes in anything, there will be adjustments to provide the best outcomes. Changing something is meant to provide positive outcomes for everyone and everything involved. While I consider change in my life in several areas, I must still remember what is important and why. My job is not going way for the foreseeable future, and at my age, changing careers is not necessarily an option. I love what I do, but I need to find a way for it not be so all consuming. 

So, Where am I? Giving 100% to the best of my ability, and struggling on all fronts. What am I Doing? Reflecting on the future changes I’m considering, and weighing very carefully the benefits, or negative impacts of such change. 

I apologize for the long winded blog today. My numbers this past week are low as well.

Push ups- 15,400

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 15,800

Form reps - Hand 418 Weapon 216

AOK’s - 428

Sparring - 360

KM’s - 767

Blogs - 22

Numbers

 Push ups- 15,105

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 15,400

Form reps - Hand 399 Weapon 201

AOK’s - 419

Sparring - 360

KM’s - 730

Blogs - 21

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads! 💙

Go Oilers Go! 💙🧡

Choosing Change

 I am an inherently emotional person. I don’t necessarily view this as a bad thing. I feel it makes me more of an empathetic person, and showing emotion can be a good thing. But, I also feel I trigger easily, and sometimes not always in a good way. Past feelings and situations rise up easier, and it is harder for me to temper that, and sometimes realize that for what it is.

As I get older, and experience more situations in life I am choosing to reflect more and react less. I am choosing to work on changing how situations are handled and how I react immediately to them. Sometimes this is easier said than done, as any change will have a ripple effect with myself and possibly others. Careful consideration, digesting instead of reacting, and thoroughly analyzing the situation are things I am working to get better at. 

Sometimes the most positive resolution may be to completely remove the situation and/or the person from my life, but I need to be extra careful of making sure this is the best resolution. I need to make sure that the decision is not purely emotional based, and it truly is the only way to resolve it, and be the best choice for all involved. 

Anyway, thought I’d share some personal reflections that have been on my mind the last while.

Push ups- 14,445

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 14,650

Form reps - Hand 370 Weapon 185

AOK’s - 407

Sparring - 335

KM’s - 697

Blogs - 20

Looking Forward

 April and May have been pretty crazy busy months. It seems to have gone by in a blur. Looking forward to some weekends that aren’t packed with have to do’s, and maybe have some enjoyable relaxing time. Summer will be busy as well, but the calendar isn’t packed every weekend which will be nice. 

I’m also looking forward to having more time to work on my forms. I haven’t had a lot of extra hours to concentrate on the two new forms I would like to learn in their entirety this year. I’m about halfway with one, and not even halfway with the other. It wasn’t one of my written personal goals, but rather an unspoken goal for myself. 

Push ups- 13,620

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 13,925

Form reps - Hand 355 Weapon 180

AOK’s - 380

Sparring - 320

KM’s - 659

Blogs - 19

Missing the Tiger Challenge

 This was the first year that I have missed the Tiger Challenge. It makes me sad I missed it as I always enjoy the day. I missed the camaraderie with everyone . It is always so great to hear everyone cheer one another on, and see all the great performances that everyone worked so hard to prepare for. I had to work. I had my shift covered initially but that team member moved and I couldn’t get anyone else to cover it. Such is life, I suppose.

I’ve heard some great stories about the day, the fantastic performances and some learnings from the day. Well done everyone that participated and helped the day run smooth. Next year…

I tweaked my elbow/forearm on Thursday. Not quite sure what I did, but by Friday afternoon I could barely move it. I’ve been stretching and massaging the area, and it is starting to feel better. I laid off of my push ups for a few days due to the soreness, but put some extra sit ups in lol.

Off to watch the game. GO 🧡 Oilers 💙 GO!! 

Push ups- 12,850

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 13,050

Form reps - Hand 340 Weapon 180

AOK’s - 366

Sparring - 320

KM’s - 622

Blogs - 18

Sil Lum

 I can’t believe how much I can sweat ‘stretching’ lol. The Sil Lum seminar was fantastic! I was only able to attend 3 of the 6 classes, but I learned so much from this class. There were so many take aways it will take me a bit of time to organize everything I learned and all of the benefits. Fortunately, Sihing Kohut provided us with a ‘cheat’ sheet of all of the stretches. 

I was looking forward to taking the class and always learn from the seminars that we have the opportunity to attend, but the Sil Lum seminar provided many benefits for me to incorporate in my daily/weekly routine. Not only the health benefits, but many physical benefits, not only in rebuilding from injury, but also to compliment our other physical training. Some of the stretches in the class I already do, but the information provided in doing these, and the muscles to focus on will help greatly moving forward. Mindful movement, and quality over quantity, in invaluable information to maintain. So thank you Sihing Kohut for sharing your knowledge, experience, and expertise with us. 

My blog is a bit late, as we had a busy weekend. It was a great family weekend. My numbers are counted up to Saturday to keep in line with how I’ve been tracking. 

Push ups- 12,100

Sit ups and equivalent time with plank - 12,150

Form reps - Hand 325 Weapon 175

AOK’s - 342

Sparring - 310

KM’s - 578

Blogs - 17