It's Always Good To Have Goals

I've always been a very goal-oriented person. This may strike some of you as a massive understatement, which is probably true. For me, life has been all about goals. 

In the second grade, I watched Coach K and his Duke team win a National Championship, and my first goal was clear: to go to Duke for college. In the seventh grade, I finalized my career goals: to be a lawyer and, eventually, to be a politician. As long as I can remember, I've had goals that I worked hard to achieve, and I'm happiest when I know I'm progressing toward that desired achievement. 

Last week, I had a consult with my personal trainer, Wayne, and we developed my next fitness goal. We all know that my previous goal, as far as my body was concerned, was to gain back all the weight I lost in the hospital by eating healthy food (and eating a lot of it). That meant fighting a raging metabolism that burned thousands of calories post-surgery and stretching out a stomach that had gotten pretty tiny after "eating" nothing but IV fluids for 2 full weeks. 

I crushed that goal. Gained all 8 pounds lost and 2 more just to show that cancer who's boss. 

What's the new goal, you ask? To gain all the muscle I've lost from my peak physical shape in May of this year. Thankfully, that's only 6.5 pounds. Your gal here was able to keep over 100 pounds of muscle on her frame despite these recent physical struggles, and has lost less than an inch on her biceps and quads. Not bad for someone with Stage IV foolishness, right?

So yes, I've got a new goal - time to bulk up with some sweet lean muscle. Time to get bigger, stronger, and fitter, so that when I go under the knife again in February, I'll be at peak physical condition -- a beast, if you will.

I'm pretty sure that gaining 6.5 pounds of muscle in about 6 weeks will scare the hell out of cancer, and that's exactly what I'm good at.