A Sunny February Day...In My Boston Office

I’m feeling good today. Very good today. It’s yet another gray, chilly, melancholic afternoon in Beantown, but I’m in particularly good spirits. I don’t know which of these I should attribute my pleasant disposition to:

- Life being short (and the Royals looking to field their best team since ’03), so why not be happy?

- My increased metabolism and longer, more frequent workouts resulting in some (welcomed) residual endorphins prancing around in my brain

- Synchronizing my biological clock with well-timed caffeine consumption

- Settling into the groove of my life being “complete”

I know, that fourth bullet seems a wee bit quixotic. But as indicated in my first post on here [My (Sorta) Big Debut], boxing is my passion. It encompasses everything that I enjoy in life (athletics, dedication, accountability, camaraderie, competition…blood…strange, stale odors…) and is the sport in which my ultimate goals lie. I’m not ashamed (but am admittedly a bit weirded out) to say that the resonating pump-pump-PUMP! PUMP! PUMP-PUMP! of colliding worn leather in a gritty concrete gym echoes in my head throughout the workday. I love my job, but I love boxing more, and this is creating a somewhat odd dynamic for me during the week – I don’t spend my week (let alone a somewhat slow Tuesday like today) looking forward to the weekend, but to 7pm each night when I step off the bus and lace up my boxing shoes.

Which is exactly why I love to see articles like this ESPN.com article beginning to pop up again. Boxing is in such a sorry state right now (I’m sure I’ll hit on this more in later posts, but to quickly make my point, name another major American sport that will make your friends, family and co-workers say “you’re a competitive what?!” And quick: name the recognized middleweight champion. It didn’t used to be like that 10 years ago) that it truly excites me to see glimmers of hope like that article – not just for the sport, but for the kids involved, too. I’m incredibly blessed that my dilemma is convincing people that “yes I can” achieve my boxing goals while simultaneously progressing my “8-to-5” career, and not “yes I can” overcome the challenges of a poor, urban childhood in modern America and "escape" on the coattails of the American dream.

Like everyone out there, I’m just trying to “make it all work.” My job, my friends and family, my passion. Boxing. My life.

By no means do I have it rough in the meanwhile, but hell, it’s not going to be easy. At all. But I’m going to keep on keepin’ on until I’ve made it work. Yes I can. And I will.

And some people might find my goals ridiculous. Some might think this is all comical, a waste of time, a hobby-turned-obsession. A rare few might find this all inspiring, I don’t know.

But one thing I’ve already found out though, is that the simple pursuit of it all is enough to make me happy.