Let’s not pretend we’re not afraid – fear walks among us all. I see the fear in my opponents eyes, it is a reflection of my own. They do not see me. I am a shadow. It is far easier to feel fear than understand who I am.
I see the real me, the heart and soul my old man handed down to me. The blood , sweat and tears that have made me who I am. I am a man striving for more. I sometimes wonder if I can shoulder the crushing burden of my own expectations. I too feel fear, it is mingled with doubt, but behind these two imposters burns a fire white hot with determination. This fire will burn, I won’t let it die. I may be unsure of what the future holds, but that will not turn me away.
Round after round my fury grows intense and keeps my fear locked away. Distractions stay outside, I stay inside this place as my will commands my body. Confidence is my shadow that keeps the Spectre of defeat at bay. Performance is my ally, power and skill are my tools, and victory is my task.
As I spend my life time’s worth of toil, I have become what I am meant to be. The man that tries to take this from me will fail and bleed in misery.
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1 comment:
amazing post!
Continuing the fear theme:
Story of Cus D'Amato and fear
Adapted from
THE BLACK LIGHTS: Inside the World of Professional Boxing by Thomas Hauser
'One of boxing's foremost authorities on the subject of fear was Cus D'Amato, the legendary trainer of Jose Torres and Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson... Fighters are the most exposed athletes in the world. During a fight, the crowd observes every twitch and movement. Still, spectators rarely see fear in a quality fighter. "That," said D'Amato, "is because the fighter has mastered his emotions to
the extent that he can conceal and control them." But whatever a fighter says, the fear is there. It never goes away. He just learns to live with it. "And the truth is," D'Amato continues, "fear is an aspect to a fighter. It makes him move faster, be quicker and more alert. Heroes and cowards feel exactly the same fear. Heroes just react to it differently. On the morning of a fight, a boxer wakes up and says, 'How can I fight? I didn't sleep at all last night.' What he has to realize is, the other guy didn't sleep either. Later, as the fighter walks toward the ring, his feet want to walk in the opposite direction. He's asking himself how he got into this mess. He climbs the stairs into the ring, and it's like going to the guillotine. Maybe he looks at the other fighter, and sees by the way he's loosening up that his opponent is experienced, strong, very confident. Then when the opponent takes off his robe, he's got big bulging muscles. What the fighter has to realize," concluded D'Amato, "is that he's got exactly the same effect on his opponent, only he doesn't know it. And when the bell rings, instead of facing a monster built up by the imagination, he's simply up against another fighter."'
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