Ain't So Bad

Remember the Rocky movies?  All five or six of them.  Heck I think they are even making a new one...as we speak.

But anyway, such memorable characters...

Apollo Creed

Clubber Lang
Mick the trainer
The Russian Dude

Adrian....YO ADRIAN    Paulie.

And of course, the man himself, Rocky Balboa.  The Italian Stallion.

And wow, such incredible life lessons.  Do me a favor, heck do YOUR SELF a favor, and take a few minutes to watch some of the clips on youtube, or maybe you have them in your movie collection, but anyway really take the time to listen to the dialog, and immerse yourself in the story line...and sure it's just movies, just made up characters and events...but it's soo true to life just the same.

All these movies, especially the first four, and double especially, the first one...are simply amazing to me.  Classic cinematic depictions of what it means to persevere when you seemingly have zero chance.  It's my 'go to' motivational material.

Quotes, and dialog, and songs, from the movies are a staple of countless self help books and locker room pump up talks.  You would have to have lived under a pretty big rock the past 30 years not to have at least heard some of these gems a time or two.

Eye of the Tiger!  Yo Adrian, I did it!!  Cut me, Mick.  The list goes on and on...

Hopefully it's not too hard to understand why I identify a lot these days with Rocky Balboa.

The other day I was honestly feeling kind of down and pissed off about this whole situation.  I barely slept the night before, my legs hurt, and I was sick to my stomach, yet I was hungry but too tired and weak to get up and make anything remotely healthy.  And I was just tired of it...all this heart stuff, the doctors visits, the waiting rooms, the surgeries, the list, the medications....all of it...it just gets kinda old after nearly 45 years.  And while I am pretty positive most of the time, I am human, and every once in a great while, I wonder if it's all worth it.  The desire to throw in the towel is pretty strong sometime. I think it's that way for a lot of us on the list.

So as I was sitting here on the couch, feeling all sorry for myself...a scene from one of these movies popped into my head.  The scene from Rocky III when he's just starting to fight Clubber Lang, and Clubber is just pounding the crap out of Rocky...giving him everything he's got.  But Rocky just keeps takin the punches.  Just. Keeps. Taking. Punches.

And I was thinking...each new day on the list seems like a body blow to my spirit.  Each week on the list...a right hook to the jaw.

And that wasn't a very good place to be...those were NOT happy thoughts.

..

But then I remembered just when things looked really, REALLY bad for Rocky, something amazing happens. He says to Clubber...

Aint so bad.
Aint so bad.
                  You aint so bad.

                                         You ain't nothing.

And this just enrages clubber even more, and he redoubles the force of his punches, and Rocky takes the beatin of his life.

But Rocky never stops believing in himself...

So long story, short, just when all seems lost, Rocky starts fighting back...and quickly turns the tables on ol Mr. Lang...and gives him a taste of his old medicine.

Anyway, sitting there on the couch, and thinking about this scene, and those words, something sparked in my head, and in my soul, and I knew I wanted to adopt that mantra from here on out.

I've never been in a boxing ring, let alone much beyond a shoving match on the grade school play ground.

But make no mistake, this heart disease has me in the fight of my life.  In a fight FOR my life.

Like Clubber Lang, and before him Apollo Creed, and then the Russian dude, heart disease has every intention of pounding my head in, of bringing me to my knees
...of wanting me to throw in the towel
                                    ...of wanting to give up.

But I am not gonna do that.

To this dreaded heart disease I say, You ain't so bad...you ain't nothing.

I've never been a quitter when it comes to this heart disease, and I ain't gonna start now.

To the Surgeons, I say...cut me Mick,  Let me get back out there.  I can win this fight.

And to my symptoms, when its really hard to distinguish one from the other, I guess if there are three, I'll aim for the one in the middle.

Cause I ain't gonna stop swingin...with everything I've got.  All my strength.  All my power.  All my love.

Let me leave you with is today...one of the best inpsirational quotes of all time in my opinion.  It's from one of the later movies...but wow, does this hit home for me   Here's hoping you find your own motivation to stay in the fight..

Have a GREAT day everyone!

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you.