Blood and sweat.

Today, I decided to push myself a little bit harder with the weights and the elliptical, especially since I have blood work on Tuesday morning. I know I'll be in pain tomorrow, but it's worth it. It shows I'm alive, right? Sometimes, there's nothing like hearing your heart pound in your ears while cataracts of sweat cascade down your face. I love knowing I'm doing something to make me that much healthier.

To those who might read this blog, let me tell you something: once you're in your 40's, you have to work harder than you used to at 20 to stay fit and healthy. I know I'm worth every ounce of sweat that pours from me, letting me know that I am in charge, no one else.

In the words of William Ernest Henley in "Invictus":

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I recently shared this with someone important to me: you and only you are in charge of yourself. Although, as Seneca said, "The Fates lead him who will; him who won't, they drag." So, while you make your own life choices, there's a reason and purpose for them.