Welcome back! Hopefully everyone’s had a great week. I ended up taking another week off of writing just to make sure I wasn’t rushing this edition. This is my first entry as a 34-year-old and I’m definitely feeling at least one percent wiser. With age comes wisdom right? Let’s start with our wins and wobbles.
Weekly Wins
Spending time with my friends and family last Friday (9/26) was the win of 2025. After not being able to be my social self for the first 8 months, it was a much needed return to the friendly spotlight. I was fortunate to have 30 of my closest friends in one of my favorite places. Shoutout to my amazing friends on the Bodega staff who handled our party!
My dad’s been in town for the last three weeks just hanging out. Call it “the perks of retirement.” It’s definitely a blessing to be able to spend time with your parents as adults. The more you see them as fellow adults, the more you realize they raised you the best they could with what they had. Fortunately, my dad still conjures up the “grown man strength” every now and then to help us move furniture. This time I was moving so his supernatural strength was appreciated.
After he moved something 10x his weight.
My mom’s birthday is three days after mine. We decided to share the “party weekend” since she was off work. I celebrated Friday and Saturday. She celebrated on Sunday and Monday. One thing I noticed for both of our birthdays was the fact that we don’t require much to make us happy. Call it getting older, call it getting wiser. The theme of the weekend was, “It’s not what you do, but who you’re with.”
Weekly Wobbles
My long-awaited knee surgery has been pushed to early 2026. Just a scheduling conflict with my surgeon because he’s the real deal and Kaiser’s most important asset (in my opinion). At first, I was bummed. However, after “taking my 24”, I felt better. It will allow me to have a normal holiday season with family and friends… which I could definitely use this time around.
I had a 4.5 month follow up for my nerve transfer and there’s still no return just yet. The good news? I still have another 4.5 months until we know it just didn’t work. The bad news? In 4.5 months, I’ll have to consider a tendon transfer if I want to restore dorsiflexion to my foot. BUT, I’m honestly still optimistic about this procedure working. I’m just doing what I can and will let the chips fall where they may.
This week’s focus is a simple mantra that I’ve been living lately.
"Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.”
Now this may seem like common sense, but the thing is… common sense ain’t so common sometimes. Especially with the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life in a divided, volatile 2025. But, that’s why I want to take a chance to create something that serves as a reminder for us all.
I’ve come face-to-face with two examples of this over the last few weeks. Both were in completely different areas of my life, as well. Yet, the common theme was two feet away, yelling the mantra into my ears… with a megaphone. Kinda hard to miss.
Scenario 1: Street Racer
As I’ve shared before, your boy is back driving. “With great power, comes great electricity” or whatever Uncle Ben (Franklin) said. For whatever reason, I’ve been getting non-verbally challenged by sports cars in my EV as of late. I’m not sure what about my family-friendly, cost-effective EV SUV says, “Race me bröh!!!”… but apparently “el silenciador” (my car’s name) gives off the street racer vibes.
Now, for anyone who knows vehicles knows an electric vehicle will beat most gas vehicles in a straight-line 1 block race every time. Yet, I’m getting challenged by the ones that don’t stand a chance. Ford Crown Victorias, Mini Cooper Countrymans, and an odd number of Honda Accords. Anyways, they pull up, give me an off-brand Vin Diesel nod or gesture, and then jet off as soon as the light turns green.
I’ve lost. Every time. Why? Because I have common sense and nothing to prove to people looking for a quick dopamine boost. See the parallel to regular life? I hope so.
Don’t let people coerce you into doing something that isn’t you. This can be said about business, relationships, or even in the gym. Play the game at your pace and just know that just because you could beat that person in that thing, doesn’t mean you should assume the risk of the playing the game.
Hanging out with “El Silenciador”
Scenario 2: The Bumperless Lane
This will be one of the last times you will hear me talk about my injury… unless you’re in one of my future workshops. I want to turn the page and not be defined by something that happened over a year ago. With that being said, we still have a long way to go in terms of recovery.
A major culprit of the remaining journey is the fact that I’m pretty much still missing all the structural support on the outside of my knee. Essentially, I have no protection on the outside lane of my leg because there isn’t a hamstring, LCL, or PCL holding things in place. Most of those will be repaired in time, but my PTs have mentioned that my leg is strong enough that I could potentially jog in a straight line and be fine.
My podiatrist agreed, but followed it up with, “If you cut or step on an uneven sidewalk, you’d be in trouble.” Yowzers. However, the athlete in me heard “potentially jog” and my synapses lit up like fireworks on the Hudson River on the 4th of July. We had come to a fork in the road…
My mind says “potentially” and my body says “don’t you even think about it.”
So while supporting my friend Dom’s Cinnamon Roll yesterday morning, the temptation was there. The internal monologue was something like:
Mental Chris: You could just do a “lil joggy jog” and celebrate with a cinnamon roll!
Physical Chris: Try that “lil joggy jog” and your knee will become a cinnamon roll.
Safe to say I didn’t run yesterday. The temptation to do so was strong! I did take this pic to show you how close I was to the store and delicious mini-cinna bites, though.
So close, yet so far.
Simple moral of the story this week. You could do that thing, but should you? Odds are you’ve got a destination to reach. Will this action get you a step or two closer to that? Then definitely do it. However, if it’s just a side-quest for a quick dopamine boost, you probably shouldn’t because it’s merely a distraction.
Have a great week, yall! 🏁
PS: Spots are filling up for my NYC event on 10/30! RSVP for free if you’ll be in town.
PPS: Spots for my Venice workshop next month (11/13) are also still available!