LAME-ASS ROCKY MONTAGE

I was made redundant a few weeks ago.

I have to admit I've been strugling to balance this film, my training and my work life all at the same time (I think I might have even written a blog post about it)..but for me this was all part of my challenge. I wasn't anyone special in any way and in order to take on this challenge I knew that I had to juggle real life along the way.
To be honest I was beginning to enjoy it.
Then the rug was pulled out from under me with a random and pretty much unexpected meeting...ending in me being jobless.

Redundancy is weird. I know I was good at my job. I'd go so far as to say I was pretty damn amazing at it... I'd done nothing bad, I wasn't fired, my work was still top-notch...but there just wasn't a job there any more.
Those of you who know me out and about in the real world know that I threw my heart and soul into my work. I never worked less than an 11 hour day (often 6 days a week) all for the sheer love of it.
Without it I was kind of lost.

My first instinct was to throw myself headlong into training, to crank up the pace and use my new "free time" to completely bury myself in this challenge.
It was starting to dawn on me that the clock was ticking and I only had 11-12 weeks left to prepare for the Cold Steel Challenge..I went training crazy. 3 times a day, running in the rain, swinging sticks till my hands bled, the whole ridiculous stereotype..I tried to live like a Rocky montage...but Stallone I ain't...

It didn't end well.

I found my concentration was shot to pieces, I became frustrated with myself, I stopped sleeping (regularly staring at the ceiling all night, worrying myself silly and getting less than 4 hours kip a night), shouted at my coaches, sulked like a little kid and on more than one occaision had a complete meltdown.
My health suffered. I was training hard but I wasn't training well. I kept piling on the injuries and getting more and more obnoxious till I eventually had to have a word with myself...

I had a few long chats with a few good friends. Spent time with my awesome girlfriend, slowed down the training, took a deep breath and started again.
A couple of meetings about work boosted my confidence again, a few good training sessions got me back into the swing of things and an email from Lynn finally set me back in the right direction.

I've slowly picked up the pace, training sensibly but tough. I'm training 2-3 times a day, job hunting and pulling things back together between sessions.
It's tough, but I think I'm finally getting sorted...last night I slept for 6 hours..It was heaven.

And I keep thinking..if nothing else..the last few weeks - from mood swings to lame-ass Rocky montage training sessions - will look awesome on camera.

Cheers

Andy