From Pistols To Pushups To A Life Unforeseen
The Entire Landscape of Life Can Be Swayed From The Most Minuscule and Minute Decision For Which We May Not Even Put Thought Into. The Course of Your Life and The Day To Day Existence That You Dwell In Are The Result of The Smallest of Decisions That Paved The Path To This Present Destination. The Job That You Have, The Shape That You Are In, The Mental State That You Embody Within That Head of Yours, The Health You Possess, The Loves That You Have, The Stability, Awareness, Car You Drive, Music You Listen To, Food You Eat, Friends You Have, Satisfaction With Life, Shows You Watch, Emotions You Feel, Etc. They All Stem From A Single Choice That Was Either Acted Upon or Not Acted Upon, All of Which At The Time Could Very Well Have Been Overlooked Completely, Which Begs The Crucial Concepts of ‘Being Present In Every Moment' and 'Never Allowing Fear To Dictate The Direction of Our Life’.
I Have Dwelled Upon A Multitude of Scenarios Over The Past Few Weeks Ad Nauseum In Which Seemingly Small Decisions Have COMPLETELY, (And I Cannot Stress The Intensity of The Word COMPLETELY) Changed My Life. For Now Though I Will Tell You One Story and As You Read This (If You Read This I Should Say), I Ask That You Think About Possible Scenarios That Parallel Events In Your Life.
And Yes I Will Keep This As Brief As I Can While Still Making My Point…In 2010 I Wanted To Buy A Handgun, I Have Friends That Shoot At Ranges and Had Gone A Few Times and Loved It, So It Was Settled…I Was Going To Buy A Gun. Well The Biggest Issue With This Now Became The Following…I Had Just Come Off A Year of Substitute Teaching In Which I Made Essentially Zero Money, A Year of Working My First Job In Flint In Which I Was Making Slightly More Money Than I Ever Had Before, But The Drive From Shelby Twp. To Flint To Armada To Coach Every Single Day Left Me With Essentially No Money. Then At This Point I Started My First Year of Teaching In Armada, But It Was Only A 1/2 Time Position Which In Turn Meant That I Was Back To Making Less Money Than I Had Been When I Was Just Broke With A Lower Case b…. Ergo I Was Now On A New Level of BROKE With A Capital B. This Newfound Sense of Broken-ness Didn’t Bode Well With The Fact That The Gun I Wanted Cost About $600, So My Main Man Jason Moore...
...(Who Is Amazing At Most All Things In Life, and Also The Owner of Macomb Tees If You Ever Need To Get Your Custom Gear On) Set Me Up On The Right Path To Get My Glock 19 and I Started A ‘Gun Fund’. It Was Not A Priority So I Began Chunking Money Into That Fund As Best I Could Over The Next Couple Years. Fast Forward To 2013/14 I Wasn't Making A Ton of Money But I Had The Money To Buy The Gun, However In The Course of That Few Years My Life Had Changed and I Had Transformed In Many Ways. Along The Way I Had Went From Obnoxiously Out of Shape To My Current State of Just Semi-Out of Shape and I Had The Notion That I Was Supposed To Be Helping Other People Feel Better, Move Better, and Live Healthier Lives As Well. So I Was Faced With A Decision, I Could Take That $600 That I Had Been Saving For A Few Years and Get The Glock or I Could Take That $600 and Start The Coursework To Become A Personal Trainer. Well I Am Still Currently Gunless As I Type This Section, and As Much As I Would Still Perhaps One Day Like To Own A Handgun, The Decision To Not Do So Has 100% AND COMPLETELY CHANGED MY LIFE! That Decision Led To The Eventual Starting of Zarate Fitness, Bootcamps, Lifting, Core, Classes, Online Healthy Challenges, Etc…NONE of Which Would Have Happened If I Bought That Gun. I Would Just Be A Guy That Works Out and Shoots Guns Sometimes. However, It’s Far Far Far Deeper Than The Fact That I Do Not Own A Gun or That I Have A Small Training Biz…It’s What Lies Within That Reality. That Decision To Not Purchase A Gun Has Led To The Building of More Relationships In My Life Than I Could Have Ever Imagined or Ever Deserve, It’s Been The Most Life Transforming 2 Years of My Life For Which Words Could Never Fully Describe. People That I Never Knew Existed, Many That I Had Known But Only In Brief Passing, and Those That I Have Known Well, Have Become Some of My Closest ‘Family’…And The Word FAMILY Does No Justice To The Level of Connection I Now Feel/Have With These People. I Have Had The Very Distinct Honor of Working Out With, Losing Body Fat With, Moving Better With, Sharing Infinite Laughs With, Having Meals With, Attending Concerts With, Raising Thousands Upon Thousands of Dollars/Items For Charities Ranging From The Homeless In Detroit, Water For Flint, Cancer/Terminal Illness Sufferers, Underprivileged Kids, Homeless/Unemployed In Macomb/Pontiac/Lapeer Just To Name A Few, Animal Rescues, We’ve Supplied School Supplies For Children In Need, Abused Women and Those Victims of Sex Trafficking, Filled Food Pantries Across The Surrounding Counties, and The List Goes On. I Have Had The Honor To Spend Multiple Hours A Week With So Many People On Both A Large Scale and One On One Setting As They Conquer New Feats That Once Seemed Impossible Physically and Emotionally…All The While Shaping The Direction of My Own Actions, Mindset, Abilities, Faith, and LIFE In The Most Profound Ways. I Have Grown In Relation With Fantastic People That Have Led Me Deeper Into My Religion and A Church Home. I Could Input An Innumerable Amount of Specific Individuals Here That Have Come Into My Life and Have Reshaped Every Aspect of It. Old Dreams Have Been Reawakened, New Dreams Have Been Brought Into The Distinct Reality of Achievable. We Have Seen A Vast Array of New Friendships Grow Deep and A Community of Support Help To Resolve Most Any Situation. When The News of Kidney Cancer Was Thrust Into My Life, When The Fears of My Own Mortality Were Ever-Present, and A Numbing State of Disbelief Had Inundated My Thoughts…An Extended ‘Family’ Was There For Me, Those That I Had Not Known A Short Couple Years Prior Were THERE To Hold Me Afloat At All Times…I Could Go On Forever Here But The The Point Is That ALL of These Things Happened, ALL of These Things Were Possible…All Because A Pistol Was Left Unpurchased…
What ‘Pistol’ Did You Leave On The Store Shelf That Led To The Position You Are In Now? Because The Reality Is That It Truly Is The Small Decisions (That Seemingly Have Nothing To Do With The Depth of Our Current Status) That Position Our Life.
This Reality Is Significant For 2 Reasons In My Opinion, For Which I Think It’s Critical To Ponder…
2) Consider This Reality Deeply When Facing Your Day to Day Decisions Moving Forward…Where Will Your Action or Inaction Lead You To In 1 Month, 1 Year, 10 Years From Now? Will The Fear of Taking That First Step Into A Task That You Have Been Avoiding Be The Reason of Regret In 2 Years. Will The Fear of The Unknown Deter You Once Again From Stepping Out On A Limb? It Is Not An Exaggeration Whatsoever That The Simple Choices That We Face Will LITERALLY Transform Your LIFE…These Decisions Can Quite Literally Be The Possible Factors That SAVE Your Life, or Even Someone Else's.
Yes, Indeed The Scariest Factor To This Life Altering Reality Is That The Decision To Do or Not To Do That Which Can Alter The Course of Your Entire Life Does Not Even Have To Be Taken By YOU. The Action/Inaction of Others Can Be That Which Changes Your Existence. It Can Be The Choices of Others That Lead To The Life You Currently Possess. As A Quick, Yet Excessively Prolific Example, Let’s Re-enter That Very Reality That Was Me Getting Cancer. I Had The Extreme Gift of Being Helped By A Number of People, However One In Particular Was Danielle Beste, To Whom I Am Forever Grateful. As An Incredible Beaumont Employee She Helped Me Get Through To Specific Doctors, Specific Exams, and Put Me On A Fast Track That Led To The Finding, Diagnosing, Treating, Removing, and Recovering From This Dreaded Disease. She Urged and Many Times Forced Me To Get Certain Tests Done For Which I Would Have Not Known To Do…These Things Led To Me Being Here To Type This Today. I’ve Been Made Aware That The Cancer That Was In My Body Could Have Begun Spreading Anywhere From A Couple Months To Multiple Years…I Could Have Allowed This To Go Under The Radar Until It Was Too Late…But I Had Help. Truth Is I Didn't Know Danielle Existed Just A Year and A Half Ago, and I Never Would Have If She Didn't Decide To Come To A Bootcamp One Day Last February. A Decision That I Have Later Found Out Was Contemplated For A Few Months and It “Just Seemed Scary.” If She and Momma Boar Never Made The Decision To Come ONCE, If Just That First Time Never Happened I Would Have Continued To Not Know She Existed, Which In Turn Would Have Led To Getting No Help With Discovering and Moving Forward With My Cancer…Which In Turn Could Have Led To My Inability To Be Able To Type This Very Message…All Because On One Winter Day She Decided To Overcome A Fear and Just Try A Bootcamp! That ONE Decision, That ONE Bootcamp…All Led To…Well…You Get The Idea.
So What Will Your Next Decision Be? How Will You Change The Next 10 Years of Your Life With The Choices You Make Today? Will You Save Your Life Today?
If Nothing Else It’s Just A Cool Concept To Think About!
Smile, Laugh, Tell Someone You Love Them, and Keep Living The Gooder Life!
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