Blows to the Body and Mind

A few years ago I invested in a heavy bag that I could work out with. It is set up in my garage and is a reliable source when I need to alleviate some stress. There is nothing more exhilarating than putting in my ear buds, cranking my work out music, and just walloping on the bag for about 30 minutes. At the end of the work out, I am drenched in sweat, my heart is pumping, and my mind is right.

As I am swinging away on the bag, I often do a lot of thinking and recently I got to thinking about how  boxing is a metaphor for how many of us go about our days. If you have ever watched a boxing or UFC bout, you undoubtedly have noticed that during the fight, there are a lot of blows that these athletes take to the body and the head. Additionally, the fighters are very strategic in how they select their moments to attack by figuring out the weaknesses of their opponent and then moving into a relentless onslaught to knock the other person out. What is interesting about the strategies that boxers utilize is that they oftentimes will deliver body blows over and over again until they can find the opportunity to deliver a devastating blow to the head to gain the knock out. That is why you will see fighters protecting their head at all times because it is the most vulnerable part of the body in a fight. Such is the way in life as well.

Let's be honest, life is like a 12-round, bare knuckle fight where our opponent is not another human being, but rather our mind. During this bout, we constantly are taking blows to the body in a variety of forms. In most cases, we have trained ourselves to not let these blows injure us too much by employing a lot of defensive tactics that protect us. The problem is that when we are repeatedly taking body blows or don't recognize they are being delivered, we run the risk of being vulnerable to a blow to the head.

We all have developed grit and resilience throughout our lives by enduring body blows that have come our way. Sometimes they have knocked us down to the mat, but we find the inner strength to get back up and continue on with the fight. When we do this, our mind is telling us that we aren't done yet and that we have more to offer. The key to surviving these blows is to always remember to protect your head because when your mind calls it quits, you will be knocked out. For some, that knock out unfortunately may result in giving up completely and never getting back into the fight.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, we are all in the fight of our life because we are receiving repeated blows to the body and it is making our heads vulnerable to a blow. We can help each other get through this fight by not delivering unneeded body blows to others. Remember, the fight we are in isn't with another person. Our opponent is actually our mind and we need to continue to remind ourselves that we can overcome any blows to the body that come our way. We don't need someone else in the ring with us swinging away when we are trying to deal with our own baggage. Instead, we need people in our corner who can take care of us, provide encouraging words, and help us get through the fight.