Moments — Love in my heart

I have five days to bench press 200 pounds; it was a goal I set myself back in January when I noticed I could lift 170 pounds with little difficulty — shortly after, while playing outdoor shinny, I fell and jammed my shoulder… which then took six months to recover to a point that my goal seemed achievable again.

As I started to progress and feel the momentum building, I aggravated my other shoulder and tricep. That took six weeks to work through this injury, and as I looked at the calendar, my runway was getting short — and yes, it does scream “metaphor for life” but that’s for another time.

Today I wanted to see how my shoulders were holding up and how close I was to my target — I felt good and slowly progressed as I incrementally added weight to the bar. There comes a point, particularly when you are reaching your limit, when you need a spotter. A spotter is someone who watches over your lift to ensure you don’t crush yourself. In this case, I asked someone I didn’t know to watch and keep my ego from causing undue harm. He was more than happy to help and offered encouragement as I started my lift. I lifted 190 pounds with some help and made a new gym friend. I told him about my target and what I was trying to accomplish, and as he went back to his workout he said, “It’s good to have goals”.

My shoulders felt good and I was optimistic — just 10 more pounds… just 5% more. I only have five days left and as I said before, I’m working with a short runway — very short if truth be told. I will keep it up until the end and we will see.

As I started a light exercise, I caught the eye of another gym dude who smiled, dropped one side of his headphones, came over to bump fists, and said, “Hey”. In our conversation, I asked him if he was ready for 2026 and he looked at me strangely and said that, He only worries about the day he’s in and maybe the day after. “ He then put his hand to his chest and continued, “I live with love in my heart”.

He smiled, bumped my fist again, then went off to continue his workout.

So, with five days left in 2025, today I was reminded that perseverance brings progress, that the world is full of people willing to help and offer encouragement as you make your way, and love is a great energy to carry with you — whatever you happen to be doing.

iamgpe

*14 more

A simple story to motivate...

This story was told to me after being told to a friend by a very proud grandson, and it happened a long time ago — with family nepotism and the fuzziness of time not withstanding, it’s a great story. Before I begin, if you do not know what Panettone is, I would describe it as a sweet bread shaped like a dome; it can be found in both the America’s and most of Europe. They say Panettone was first baked in Milan, and if you know any Italians, you know it’s a national treasure.

Back in the day, there was a baker on every corner of every street in Italy, and along with other fine baked goods, they all arguably made the best Panettone in the country — and argue they did. There was one such baker who kept his thoughts to himself and just went about his business making a very fine sweet bread. But no matter how fine his Panettone was, with all the competition and the arguing, it was impossible for him to break into the coveted top ten.

One day, after many nights of discussion around the dinner table, the baker and his wife decided to move the family and the bakery to Brazil — he had heard there was a growing love for Panettone and most likely less arguing; a person can breathe out there, in the wide, open air.**

So they packed everything they had; children, pets, recipes, ovens, baking pans, family heirlooms and whatever else you would need to start up a fine bakery in a strange land. Once everything was packed, and with tickets in hand, they boarded a ship and were off. It was a smooth voyage until it wasn’t, and a huge storm sank the ship; the baker and his family barely survived with only the clothes on their backs. With little other option, they made their way back to Italy to start over.

And start over they did, until again the baker who still kept his thoughts to himself had built up another bakery making a very fine sweet bread. Again, the coveted top ten was hard to break into. And again, they sat around the table and decided to go to Brazil where the love for Panettone was still growing. And again, they boarded the ship with all of their belongings and set sail.

They made it to Brazil this time and the baker set up his bakery and went about making a very fine sweet bread. The family flourished and the bakery is now the second largest manufacturer of Panettone in the world.

After hearing the story, I had many questions regarding timing and logistics and ship sinking details but they were never mentioned in the original telling of the story. I had to take the story at face value — a simple story of perseverance, determination and the will to keep making very fine sweet bread.

And in the end, isn’t that all you really need in a fine motivational story.

iamgpe

PS — thanks for the story Anthony.

** from one of my all time favourite books by Dr Seuss — Oh, The Places You’ll Go!