Over the past year I’ve been a member of Title Boxing in Clarksville, TN.  It’s been great.  I’ve lost a bunch of weight, made new friends, and improved my confidence.  Just last month, a couple of the trainers told me I was one of the three hardest punchers in the club.  Not bad considering I’m the oldest of the three!

This got me thinking.  Maybe I could start participating in the Friday night sparring at the SSF club where some of the trainers at Title train actual fighters.  If I do ok, maybe, just maybe I could actually take a real fight.  I know I’m in my 50s, but hell Bernard Hopkins fought for a title in his 50s.  Why not?  I started thinking about what song to use for my ring walk music.  Probably Feel Invincible by Skillet or A Warrior’s Call by Volbeat.  It seemed like a great idea.

All this was running through my mind as I chained up a dead oak tree to the back of my Honda Rancher ATV.  I needed to pull it out of the ground to prevent a nearby tree from falling onto my driveway under its weight.  As I gunned the engine, the front end of the ATV popped straight up, throwing me off like a bull-riding cowboy.  For a split second, the ATV teetered in the air right over me.  Mercifully, it dropped back down onto its four wheels instead of landing on top of me.  My arms were skinned up and my ribs and thighs bruised.  I had a hard time standing back up.  I was sore for days. Reality had set in.  This 50+ year old overweight bald man with two hip replacements had no business getting into a boxing ring.

All of us have a tendency to see things in optimistic, glorified eyes.  We all have dreams and aspirations, goals and visions.  We often overlook reality in hopes that all of our dreams can happen.  Here are some of the ones I hear:

• A retiring military officer tells his friends that he’s going to work a couple of years and then RETIRE retire at age 45.

• Someone decides to start a business, financed by credit cards and a cashed-in 401K because it’s a sure thing.

• A person decides to marry someone who has a drug and gambling problem because they know that “love conquers all.”

• A middle-aged man thinks it’s a great idea to start fighting at the local boxing club.

It’s healthy to a point.  It’s unhealthy when reality finds us.  Maybe it’s a good idea to find some reality checks.

• That military officer hasn’t factored in how much of his retirement pay is taxed and how those tax-free allowances have gone away. And oh, by the way he doesn’t have any real skills to offer an employer except things he’s been told like “leadership, multi-tasking, calm-under-pressure” etc.  Not to mention he hasn’t put a dime away in savings and has no life insurance.
• That business idea is great. Unfortunately, the entrepreneur hasn’t done a market survey to see if it’s even viable in that area and has no clue how to market it.  Which means there is no way to bring in enough money to break even.

• That love-struck person hasn’t taken the time to speak to counselors to get the full scoop on how powerful and expensive some addictions can be. Love won’t be enough.

• That old guy can barely move after falling off an ATV. What makes him think he could absorb the punches of a man 30 years younger than him.

Reality checks that we induce prevent the more painful reality checks that life brings us.  Rather than go into something blindly, maybe it makes sense to put ourselves through a reality check.

It’s not negative or pessimistic.  It’s just a smart thing to do.