In 2025 I had a life challenging experience – confined to a hospital for 70 days with Refractory Inflammatory Colitis, during which, I lost a total of 35 pounds. At one of my lowest points, I actually used the term “euthanasia” in a consultation with my Spiritual advisor. He listened but wasn’t enthusiastic about discussing it!
Nine months later I’m feeling much better (!), but I’m still working on “conditioning”. At age 83, that’s getting harder!
[Being retired, of course, I can slack off a bit, and I take ample occupational “Resets” – translated “Naps”!]
But I’m finding it doesn’t REALLY take a great deal of “push” to do a few “extra” small things before “crashing” into my recliner … things that can help “clear the deck” and make the rest of life more manageable. [I’m actually writing this blog instead of taking my morning “reset” this morning.]
NOTE: Last weekend, as a high priority on the “Honey Do” list [“or else … “], I completely reconditioned a flower bed next to our screened-in porch … removing mulch plus a layer of top soil, putting down ground cloth and adding 10 gallons of river rock to keep dirt from “splashing” onto the porch when it rains.
It seems that we have much more reserve than we utilize on a regular basis, although some of us are, admittedly, “running on fumes” much more than is “good” for us.
But I’m reminded of the “Force of Life” examples I have been collecting for many years now, including the one heading this blog. Where there is LIFE there is FORCE to exist.
As I was writing this, Scott Clary posted the following:
In the 1970s, a psychologist named Donald Meichenbaum developed something called stress inoculation training. The idea is borrowed from immunology: just as a vaccine exposes the body to a small amount of a virus so it can build antibodies, controlled exposure to manageable stress helps the mind develop resilience against larger stress later. The military uses it. So do therapists and emergency responders.
But athletes get it for free.
Every practice, every game, every set that goes past what your body wants to do, you’re building what Meichenbaum described: a library of experiences where you were uncomfortable and continued anyway. Where the signal said stop and you overrode it, felt like you couldn’t, and then your body stored the outcome alongside the pain.
Research backs this up. Studies have found that former athletes tend to show greater resilience, lower anxiety, and better emotional regulation than non-athletes facing comparable stressors. The reasons go beyond psychology. Your body has a record of surviving discomfort. It remembers the burning in your lungs at mile three and how it didn’t kill you. The fourth quarter when you were down twelve and exhausted and something emerged that you didn’t know you had. Your body filed all of that under “survivable,” and it pulls from that file when you need it.
That record is a resource. And it transfers to everything…
Scott Clary: scottdclary.substack.com , 03/23/2026
In the book Top Dog, Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman summarize a plethora of studies demonstrating the importance of having a reasonable, “fighting chance” of winning in order to function at peak performance levels. Being in the “right league” – with well-matched cohorts and legitimately achievable goals – and having a support team cheering you on help immensely – and measurably.*
A “fighting chance” is all one can ask in any circumstance:
Joshua was only 3 months old and failing to thrive when he and his brother were removed from untenable living conditions and transferred to foster care. Within two weeks, he developed labored breathing to a point that the foster parents had to take him to the emergency room. Despite the best care a tertiary medical center could offer, Joshua’s condition worsened and they had to put him in the pediatric ICU – basically in an “iron lung” with high pressure oxygen and tubes everywhere for feeding, medication, testing and monitoring purposes. During this process, Joshua’s “real” parents were notified of the crisis and visited the ICU but had to be removed after a few minutes. Both were heavy smokers and Joshua’s condition had notably worsened in their presence. As hours wore into days, Joshua’s condition waxed and waned without rhyme or reason. Speculative diagnoses could not be confirmed by definitive testing. Yet here was a fighter, fighting with every ounce of energy he could muster. Of course, he had no choice. Or did he? In fact, under heavy medication he could simply have “laid down arms” and placed himself at the mercy of the docs and nurses. But it was not in him not to take as much charge of his own welfare as was IN him. All the parents and foster parents could do was hope and pray he could have a “fighting chance”.
What would YOU do with a “fighting chance”?
How much of a “fighter” are you? What is “IN” you? What is NOT “in” you? In whose “charge” are you placing your own welfare? And how sustainable is that?
Sometimes folks don’t awaken from a stupefying cloud of unfounded assumptions, unrealistic expectations, contrived entitlements and gross misrepresentations until faced with dire circumstances. Adlai Stevenson observed:
“Man is a curious creature: He can’t read the handwriting on the wall until his back is up against it.”
Then we try to bargain with the Almighty, pledging to straighten up and fly right just as soon as the dire circumstances disappear.
More than a few cancer patients claim that they never “really started living and taking life seriously – and making commendable strides” – until AFTER they got a diagnosis of cancer
What if we just went ahead and straightened up and flew right from the beginning – on our own account – for our own welfare – well before our backs are up against a wall? Isn’t that what we’re expected to do? Only what we are CAPABLE of doing – nothing more, but every bit of what we’re capable of doing. What if we gave ourselves a decent “fighting chance” to become all that we could be?
“There is only so much you can do, but you have to do that much.” Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion
The really toughest part about life – especially when we’re not in crisis – is deciding where to draw the line between knocking ourselves out – including sacrificing a lot of indulgences – and merely muddling through … taking whatever Fate throws at us. The spoils of victory go to those who “knock themselves out” with every “fighting chance” they’ve got. The rest of us have to live with our sorry selves and our sorry circumstances for the duration.
*Unfortunately, some would-be competitors crumble at the first inkling of competition, even with a level-playing-field and substantial support. However, the really topmost performers are different. They seem to be able to respond to the most stringent circumstances in the biggest leagues, facing the biggest challenges with a consistent, all-out effort without goading or gilding. Some in this group are ingrained with the idea that failure is not an option. A fragment of this cohort considers each challenge a life-or-death matter; they cease to exist – at least in the manner to which they already have or would like to become accustomed – if they don’t “make it”. Most are inspired, have Purpose, Mission and Passion guiding and goading them.
Life-or-death circumstances – whether real or contrived – are extremely effective at drawing out peak performance – extracting the last full measure of whatever is “in” us. Making it through with all that’s in you is a life and death matter. Live as if you really meant to. And, wherever Destiny beckons, die trying! Quartermaster
