Masters can forget they were once students.

I lost and maintained my weight loss of one hundred and twenty pounds for almost three years now. That would make me a go-to guy for fitness information, you’d think. But bodyshrinking is not the same as bodybuilding. I was able to teach myself a lot about nutrition and basic activities by experimentation. If I thought walking and adding more fruit to my diet would make me healthier, I did it, and examined the outcome. Results showed me what worked and didn’t, and the experiment continued. So I thought the same logic would apply wo muscle gain.

It’s a bit different.

Not that I can’t learn from experiments again, but I haven’t been the best student. I’ve bounced around different methodologies, tried to piece my own routine together, and made something that wasn’t quite Frankenstein, but not quite an Olympian. Truth is I had so much success at weight loss I started barreling through muscle gain. I wasn’t taking the time to really study bodybuilding and see the rich history that’s there.

So it’s time for me to be a humble student again. I have some bodyweight centered ebooks on my Kindle Fire. It’s time to commit myself to working one cover to cover, examine my results, then decide if I’ll work and learn from another.

I hope you’ve taken the time to become a student. Revel in every moment of learning. Celebrate your successes, and redouble your efforts after a failure. Learn to love the process. Master your subject, then become a student, again and again. Don’t be an unhappy master, bored with nothing left to do. There is always a joy to be learned.

You are in control.

You can choose. Look at a situation and figure out what you want to do. Choose to be nice. Choose to forgive. Choose to give. Choose to listen. Choose health. Choose to teach. Choose laughter and happiness. Choose to go beyond. Choose to let go of those things that hold you back. Choose to go outside and greet the sun. Choose healing over destruction. Choose to lead, not follow. Choose to stare down fear. Decide to stay in control. Decide to be in the moment, every time. Decide to find out your limits, then decide how you’ll surpass them.

Decide to act, and not get stuck in your thoughts. There’s a huge world outside that won’t wait for you to decide. Meet it. Face it on your terms.

Choose to live.

I see more. This thought process can go beyond fitness. Too many of us have dreams that are unrelated to who we are. We dream of wealth while we suffer through dead-end jobs, so we get involved in multi level marketing schemes. We dream of health while we watch yet another hour of television, so we try the latest seven-day diet. We make grand leaps into the unknown, but never stop to see where we are without hating ourselves.

But seeing where we are is the first and most important step for success.

If you start in Kansas, USA and head south you won’t hit Canada anytime soon, no matter how much you want to. Starting an extreme health program while you’re out of breath eating cookies is a sure means towards hospitalization. Knowing where you are will inform you to where you need to look for direction.

Just because you didn’t graduate head of your class doesn’t mean you can’t achieve great things. It just might mean you need to learn a different way of doing it. Just because your parents were out of shape doesn’t mean you have to be as well. You just have to adopt a better nutrition system, and stop eating so much of your mom’s cooking. Just because you failed in the past doesn’t mean you have to fail in the future. You just need to learn from your mistakes.

Don’t like who you see in the mirror? Wish you could be someone else? Look again. There’s someone looking back at you that’s worth working on.

Did your parents pass on some faulty genes to you? Are you not as tall or strong or as fat-free as you need to be? Or were they not able to financially support your desires?

Did you not have teachers who dedicated their every working hour to making sure you understood the material?

Did your college buddies offer you too many parties instead of study groups?

Did your first job give you a bad position instead of a clear path to the top? Was there a poor mentoring program, if at all?

Does your spouse expect you to fulfill the marital duties you agreed to at your wedding day, even though that was years ago?

Are your kids selfish? Do they expect you to provide for their needs with your time?

Are your friends comfortable in their existence? Don’t they constantly remind you to change what makes you unhappy?

Is there an addiction that won’t let you go?

Were you given a set of values that no longer lead to happiness, but you’ve had them for so long you don’t know how to let go of them?

Have I got the major reasons for your failures? Did I miss any?

It couldn’t be you, right? You’re not the one in charge of your life, are you?

Are you?

When was the last time you climbed a hill? Not because there was something you wanted at the top, but because the hill needed to be climbed, in your honest opinion.

When was the last time you helped someone? Not for reward, but because you wanted to.

When was the last time you played with a child? Not with a video game or toy, but with the tools between your ears.

When was the last time you swam in the sea? Not at a doctors’ recommendation, but because you felt connected to something much larger than yourself.

When was the last time you chose humanity over technology? Not because you were guilted into it, but because you missed that person.

When was the last time you rolled around in a field? Not because your clothes were on fire, but because you wanted to make yourself laugh as fast as possible.

When was the last time you chose to listen to nothing? Not because your cell reception was out, but because silence sounded so good right then.

I just came back from a walk.

Felt good.