Choose Your Battles

February 20, 2015

I've found that for whatever reason(s), my pain tends to be worse starting in the early evening. Despite trying my best to feel okay or normal around my wife Kelly and the kids, I just felt the need to lay down. So, I went to bed around 9 PM and never heard the rest of the crew come to bed.

Warning: This blog post may get philosophical, and maybe a little comical!

I awoke at 4 AM with my mind racing. It was like thoughts, ideas, emotions, etc. flying through my brain at the speed of light. The next thing I know, tears begin dripping out of my eyes, like the kitchen faucet when one of the kids doesn't quite turn the water off the whole way in the sink. So, out of fear of flooding my wife out of bed, I decided to just get up. I'm kidding...I wasn't a sobbing fool, the vision in my mind as I typed that sentence was a comical scene of water literally flooding her out of bed onto the floor, as she looks up and asks, "what the hell happened?!" Sorry hunny...I tried to pile the covers up to stop it...but here, I think this pillow floats in case you need it! LOL. What's a blog about cancer without a little humor, right?

This brings me to the actual topic or title of this blog post, "Choose Your Battles." I've learned as a parent of 3 children that sometimes it's wise to choose your battles. Some things are considerably smaller of a deal than you initially assess them to be and not worth the stress, while there are definite issues in which you need to step into battle based upon morals, principles, and just plain old right from wrong. If you're a parent, I'm sure you can relate.

This brings me back to waking at 4 AM. Battling cancer, or any other battle you may face in life, is much like being a parent, from the standpoint that you have to learn to choose your battles, but from a slightly different perspective. Let me explain. I've come to believe that when life confronts you with an obstacle or challenge, you're faced with a choice. We all react to these challenging confrontations, but it's how you react that determines the outcome.

For example, I woke up at 4 AM, mind racing and beginning to break down emotionally. Don't get me wrong, crying can be a healthy way of releasing unpleasant feelings, but I think even healthier is crying it out and letting it go. "Let it go, let it go...let the music take control!" I may have completely messed that up...my wife always complains that I make up my own words to replace the originals to songs!

Anyway, my point is that obstacles and challenges in life, like cancer, are similar to a war, in that there are many battles along the journey to overcoming, winning, or achieving your desired outcome. You have to hold yourself accountable to the reality of the situation and understand that each morning and throughout each and every day, you are faced with choices and the decisions you make and how you react with respect to these choices either align with your reality of the situation or it doesn't. If it doesn't you're doing a poor job of understanding reality and you're certainly not holding yourself accountable. This is when or where possibly an accountability partner can be of benefit.

Okay, so I realize that maybe you're thinking I'm getting off point here, but I needed to create the above reality so you could understand my concept of choosing your battles. This morning, I was faced with a choice...a decision. I was allowing my emotions to negatively impact my desired outcome in regards to beating cancer. As I mentioned, crying can be healthy to a degree, but I decided to hold myself accountable to the reality of the situation and realign my mind, thoughts, feelings, and emotions to my desired outcome, which is beating cancer.

I was faced with the decision to lay in bed and allow my thoughts to steamroll into sorrow and pity, or I could choose to get up, get back in touch with reality, and be accountable by redirecting my thoughts and focus towards my desired outcome. You too are faced with choices each morning, whether it's related to cancer or some other challenge in life. To win the war, you have to be ready and willing to go to battle...in fact many battles. Just as in parenting, there are certain battles you just have to be willing to choose to take head on if you're going to achieve your desired outcome.

Choosing to get out of bed, is just one tiny battle that you can win. You can own it, and it's one step closer to winning whatever war you're fighting. Of course, there may be days where you're body, physically, mentally, and emotionally needs the extra rest to recharge. Remember, choose your battles, but be accountable by making your decision or reaction align with your desired outcome!

So, what did I do this morning, after getting up at 4 AM that redirected my thoughts and focus? Well, for starters, I brewed a pot of coffee! While it was brewing, I drank a small glass of juiced carrots, spinach, kale, ginger, tumeric, and apple; and I jumped on my laptop to check out something that was introduced to me several months ago, called Teespring. Teespring is company and service that allows you to design custom apparel with zero upfront cost, sell it for a profit, and they ship directly to your buyers. This was actually introduced to me as a business opportunity, as a I mentioned several months ago. I remember thinking it was pretty cool, but didn't know if the custom apparel design and sales business was something I was interested in at the time.

It just so happened that while I was getting the coffee ready to brew, it popped into my head and I thought, hey...what if I designed some apparel around Rize 2 Battle, in support of my battle to beat colon cancer, and used the profits to offset my accumulating medical expenses? So, I went for it and within 4 or 5 hours of posting my apparel link on Facebook, I had sold 29 units! Thank you to all of you who have ordered...you're all awesome!

If you would like to check out my design and order something for yourself, that both supports my battle to beat cancer and financially contributes to my medical expenses, just click the link below. You're generosity and support means the world to me and my family!

http://teespring.com/mike-bauman-rize2battle

Oh, one more thing I did, when finished with Teespring, was DDPYoga. I mentioned this in my previous blog post. I absolutely love it. DDPYoga was designed and developed by former pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page (DDP). This is a home workout system on dvd that builds strength and flexibility, while incorporating dynamic resistance for a fat burning cardio workout all at the same time with little to no joint impact. Anyone can do it, from beginner to extremely advanced. But be warned, as DDP says, "It ain't your mama's yoga!" I'll also state that it's a great way to learn how to breathe, release stress, and get your mind mentally clear and sharp!

I've been fortunate enough to have developed somewhat of a relationship with Dallas through his closed group Facebook page and we've exchanged communication with each other. I have an open invitation to workout with him in Atlanta, which maybe when I get myself healthy, I will be able to do.

Anyway, I'm waiting to hear back from his business people to see if I can promote, market, and sell DDPYoga to my followers and make a profit to also offset medical expenses. But, in the meantime, you can check it out by simple going to http://ddpyoga.com/.

#Rize2Battle