Keep That Towel on the Shelf — Stream of Consciousness Saturday (#SOCS)

“Don’t you do it.”

For whatever reason, as often happens with these things, a random image popped into my skull at today’s prompt. Apollo Creed telling Balboa not to throw in the towel againgst . . . what was the Russian’s name.

Drago. That’s it. Hmmmm, Ivan Drago. Khal Drago, I wonder if Georgie Boy had that in mind writing Game of Thrones.

We know how that turned out for Apollo, and, later, in the name of The Heartland, Mama, and Apple Pie what Rocky did to Drago in an orgiastic, America as underdog, Stallone fellating every good, Communist-hating American finale to Rocky IV. All of us who lived through the end of the Cold War know what I’m on about. (For the record, I enjoy the Rocky franchise. The first one is just a damn fine move. Mr. T in Rocky III, mwah — “C’mon, Balboa! I got sum more.” The 5th one was a clusterfuck, but 6 and the Creed movies are pretty good.)

I digress.

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 28th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “throw in the towel.” Use the phrase “throw in the towel” somewhere in your post. Enjoy!

From the Linda G. Hill prompt for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday

At the end of the month, many folks have probably already thrown in the towel on their resolutions for 2023. That’s sad.

Why do so many of us start the New Year with bright visions of a future me and then a few weeks later are like, “Meh, fuckit. This is good enough.”?

Me. This year, I’m still chugging along. Not perfectly, but I’m picking up momentum and starting to see some positive changes in myself.

I think many of us, and this has been a lifelong challenge/issue/problem/clusterfuck for me, focus on the destination. In the future I will be or I will have or I will do or I will go or I will whatever. The focus is on the whatever.

That’s not where it should be.

Athletes talk about the process. The focus on getting better and preparing each day. You don’t hti the homerun or run for the touchdown just because you blinked and zombied your way through the prep work and process. The intense focus to improve daily. Learn a little more about the opponent. Make a slight tweak to hand placement on a pass rush. Each little thing builds on the next until you win a game, a championship, have a Hall of Fame career.

Everyone has talent and ability. That’s not enough. The world is littered with talented failures.

As for me, I’m doing my best to focus on the daily steps that will make me great and not looking ahead to where I want to be. I’ve been reading a fair bit to help me along the way, in no particular order Tiny Habits, The Power of Habit, First Things First, a few books about procrastination.

I’m reading and doing my best to make small changes that, over time, will lead to big results.

In the past, I’ve gotten frustrated and thrown in the towel on these efforts — ordering the pizza or having that one more beer or doing whatever other stupid thing to sabotage my efforts.

Refocusing from destination to journey — the daily process of trying to get 1% better (some days, maybe even .001% better) — is slowly beginning to change the way I’m thinking about life and myself.

Not quite sure yet where this goes, but for the first time in . . . ever, I feel like I’m putting in a framework to channel whatever talents I have into “better/good/great” instead of winging it and ending up with good enough.

While I don’t necessarily physically look like I should or want after 2 and a half years in the gym (see pizza/beer comment above), 4 days a week almost every week, I feel much better — better than I did from my late 20s to now. I was doing sets of deadlifts the other day with a weight I wouldn’t have even thought about trying 2 years ago. I scrolled back through the year of results. One of the first times I did the exercise, I think I had maybe 125 pounds and struggled to hold onto that weight for longer than 4 or 5 reps at a time. Today, I warm up with 135 pounds and it’s easy.

When I did that review — maybe a month or two ago — the penny just kinda dropped for me. Let’s take this steady building approach and apply it elsewhere in my life. Wasn’t a huge or unique epiphany, but it was mine.

I’m working on patience for the results I want instead of OHMYGODWHYISNTEVERYTHINGBETTERANDEXACTLYLIKEIWANTITNOWWWWWW.

Yeah, I channeled my inner Veruca Salt a little too often before. And then went back to doing exactly the opposite of what I needed to do to be where I want to be (which, still working on that, but that’s OK too) because I didn’t get my Oompa Loompa or Golden Goose.

So this year, my towel is staying on the shelf — well, except to wipe off the sweat from all the hard work!

Whoa! No music today. Forgot to yell at Alexa before I started writing.

OHSHITWAIT! How could I have nearly forgotten the great James Brown, the hardest working man in show business, and Living in America!?!?! Ah, yes, for all your late 80s jollies, here you go: