A year after I sold my Seattle boxing gym of twenty years and moved to a small Northwest seaport community to get my story mapping guide stripes and return to my writing, the pandemic hit. For those who haven’t converted coach mindset to guide mindset might not immediately grasp the enormity of the gap. And, on top of that, I took on allowing my writer’s voice to emerge. Story Mapping Guides are side by side learners instead of top-down coaches, and writers hone their Speak Up versus cover-up tools.
When the pandemic became the rule I was tossed into a maelstrom of comfort VS discomfort. I pushed myself into the discomfort of completing the transition from coach mindset to guide mindset, from telling others what to do, from fixing, saving, or changing them to walking side by side, actively listening and learning about me as I progressed. Then, I wrote about it, not through memoir or as an inspirational guru, but as someone who steps from the marginal shadows into the limelight of everyday life. Yes, anxiety, depression, and other trauma-informed habits are real. Yes, many of us have been raised in a self-help culture, have been trained to think we have moved on beyond negative and painful feelings, but now it’s time for those of us who have the strength to honor our feelings as held onto by our bodies to give back.
I decided to form a Live a Boxer’s Lifestyle Club. Part of me doesn’t want to return to my boxing background, but I have extensive expertise in that field, and, honestly, living a boxer’s lifestyle is important to American stability. Boxers have always greatly contributed to American History. Boxers face their fears in the ring and boxers who live a boxer’s lifestyle also face their fears in everyday life. In a pandemic time, we need heroes who are willing to take on everyday matches and stand as heroes, not as separate stars but as side by side learners.
I appreciate the COVID Pandemic as a call to reason. It is time for those of us who have a history in facing personal fears to pass on what we have learned. Boxers train to step in the ring and face personal fears as embodied by an opponent, and those who live a boxer's lifestyle also take their training to everyday life. They take on matches with anxiety, depression, overthinking, and daring to succeed.
Sure, I want to pretend I’m unimportant, that what I know isn’t real, yet the COVID Pandemic pushes me to stand tall, to speak up and reach out to those who are prepared to Live A Boxer’s Lifestyle and declare their matches with their own emerging authentic voice.
