What is important?

[SFGiants]

The weight I bare of the responsibility life has given me has to be hands down the 1st and always has been.

Myself and my kids come second because my kids nor I can stand in the way of that responsibility.

I'm a single father 2 girls have been since 1997 and know they are 15 and 17.

Anything else in life really doesn't have an order because this 2 are major and the rest is secondary.

I love training and will end up returning to my Bowling career in time also but again these things if needed like Bowling has been for years now can and will be put on hold and rest on a shelf for a later time if that responsibility calls for it to do so.

Don't ask what that responsibility is I'll tell all once it's completed but until then that is all it is a responsibility.

You know I misspelled responsibility every time in this post, the God for spellchecker!

 

[sityslicker1]

wow.. i have been having similar life thoughts!..

my show is very important to me.. its 6 weeks away, i wanna do it to prove to myself that NOTHING can hod me back.. then i wanna take a year and put energy back into resetablishing my life

i lost everyting this year and make lifting my number one priiority.. i need to rediscover health, and happiness..

Oh and ill be a Grandma soon!! so making some time for my new grandchild is gonna be awesome

Grandma?!...Get out! That must be a photoshopped avatar or a stolen pic of your daughter haha.

I'm so impressed with all the females on this board. It just goes to show how much this lifestyle really does make you look as young as you feel.

 

[sassy69]

- In my life -- I would give a lot for better balance in my personal life right now. I've got a great job, but would love to be in a place where I'd be comfortable dropping roots & buying a house & staying a while. I live in the Bay Area and it is stupid expensive here. The last house I owned in Atlanta took me a year to unload in 2007. The last thing I'm going to do is got tied to a house that I have to work to support and probably can't unload without taking a loss, if it could even be done. I would like to meet people in my area that I can hang out w/ and develop better friendships with. I have several friends but they are all in past places I've lived & or know thru the BB industry and really only see them at events & keep in touch w/ via the internet.

-- in BB - I'd like to figure out how to find the same passion, challenge & satisfaction I get from lifting heavy shit, but in lifting light shit .. or something that my tendonitis actually allows me to do. My category in the sport is being threatened (FBB), so between that & pain I have in doing any sort of aggressive lifting pretty much means I wont' be competing in FBB anymore. The only real option I have is to downsize and compete in the new women's Physique category. I like the challenge of trying something new & seeing how it works, but the more fundamental problem I"M having is 1) how to diet to LOSE muscle, 2) how to train to LOSE muscle while still getting all the needs I am able to meet from heavy lifting. Very challenging. Very, very challengingmng & frustrating as hell.

Next thing I'm trying is bikram yoga.

 

[shan]

Such good posts, makes me feel like I cannot do this topic justice, but I will try anyway.
1-family: my children and grandson, my man (not married and unlikely to get married as we are both 2x divorcees), my aging parents. Just keeping my sanity when having to co-parent in a situation where my 9yr old chose to live with dad (who moved 100 miles away) and my 5yr old living with us.
2-my career: I was dislocated from my career almost a year ago, and have been teaching part time to make ends meet-no benefits, no hope of advancement, so not ideal. I am waiting to hear back about a real "career" position which would offer all the benefits and retirement I need to be working on (had to drain my 401k after I lost my job-and only 20 yrs or so to try to recoup for retirement).
3-my training: when my life seemed to fall apart, I focused more on what I could have an impact on-me, transforming my body into what I wanted..more muscular and fit. The ability to affect change has kept me sane when everything else seems to be trying to drive me bonkers.

 

[Pearl]

I want to spoil her-that woman cooks, cleans, takes care of me, and even pours me bourbon and then hands it to me on nights I want it.

You are definitely a Proverbs 18:22 man. He who finds a good wife, finds a good thing.
I'm so impressed with the males on this board who have their priorities straight, take fatherhood seriously and appreciate the women in their lives.

~ Makers Mark Ambassador "KY B 4 Me!"

 

[Pearl]

The ability to affect change has kept me sane.

Powerful! I feel that. Even the smallest of changes in our lives can promote truly remarkable domino effects of good.

 

[MAYO]

This is a nice thread....made me think.
Faith and Family would take first hands down. I group them together for a couple reasons. I'm still young in my faith; there is much that I don't grasp or understand. I know that there is a God, I know that he wants the best for me and I know that he has endowed me with a clear sense of right and wrong. My strugle with faith is constant, 24hrs a day. Small thoughts small prayers all day long. The needs of my family are also constant though. I need to work diligently, spend responsibly and act honorably in order to support them. I have a 13 month old son and he is a huge blessing in my life. If I'm not at work and he is awake, I want to be hanging out with him and my wife. Time is fleeting...I want to be as involved as I can in my family.

Work is a necessary evil. I don't particularly like my job, but I am blessed to have work and to possess marketable skills so it is my responsiblity to utilize both and provide as a husband and father.

I love the gym. Some know, some don't but I found sobriety in the gym. I believe that God put the gym and my gym pals in my life in order to break me from a drug addiction. I still find solace there. I go at night after the family has gone to bed. Even though it finds itself last on my list, the gym is still of great importance to me. However, if the time came where I had to leave it for the good of my family I would....I hope it never comes to that.

 

[IronInsanity]

^^^ Great post Mayo.

 

[AllTheWay]

^^^ Great post Mayo.

X2 MAYO! very touching words!

 

[Latin_Nuyorker]

great question but a very hard one. First I would like to be happy. Second I hope that as I evolve and change it is for the best. My earlier life was a nightmare, didn't know if I was going to be alive in the next 2 seconds. Of course it didn't bother me that much becoz I always thought if that happened it wouldn't matter since I would be the last to know. What shortsightedness as well as stupidity. Fourtunately for me I had an Ephiphanythat restored me back onto the path of righteousness where I now know that everyday is not promiosed and we need to pay attention to the greater picture. lastly what I did learn from my precious wife is that love conquers all since it surely conquered meon most days

 

[FitnessBender]

I want to attain and maintain a level of fitness that keeps me healthy throughout my life. In my field (Occupational Therapy) I see people who are sick and injured all the time. I also see the HUGE difference in two people with the same exact injury or illness that starts purely with thier level of fitness before they got sick. Being healthy gives you an advantage that really can't be measured. I want to grow old running in races and working out. So I guess that's what's most important to me, and what's motivating to me.

 

[SJA]

Relationships.

this is what I think is important to me and what I reflect back on in my past life when I am considering what to do with my future life and/or what is important to me. Then looking ahead to what I would be reflecting on when I'm on my death bed, it all comes down to relationships for me. There have been many accomplishments in my past. I've raised my kids as a single parent, have a Grandson, have had success in business, developed leading technology for a large company, and the list goes on. But nothing has given me reward more than forging great relationships and helping people to achieve (in some cases more than myself) goals in their lives. Being a part of helping others grow takes a forward position to my own growth. I feel a sense of accomplishment and reward beyond anything else in life when I seize this opportunity.

Lifting has provided another vehicle to help people. Becoming well versed in nutrition and training gives all of us the opportunity to pay it forward. Being instrumental in bringing value to someone Else's life gives me a rush that words cannot explain. so when I'm crapping in my diaper on my death bed, this is what I will be looking back on and I hope that I do a good job in the present at making a positive impact on others. Otherwise I would be disappointed in myself in the future.