The story

Hey Little Mac

Happy Sunday, hope you’re punching up.

Every week, I do something that brings me some anxiety.

I wake up feeling a bit afraid and push my mind and body through intense stress for about an hour. Some days I don’t want to go and feel like giving up, but every week I still go and keep chasing that feeling.

Why?

I wanted to improve my health, specifically my stamina, but I don’t like running.

Many a runner has said it takes 21 days and then I’ll enjoy it, but I’ve never come close.

I admire people like Justin DaRosa, who ran with a group from Toronto to Montreal, or my wife, who has been a runner before we were dating.

Back then, she tried to get me into running and suggested we do it together. but our couple’s run became a solitary run as she grew weary of waiting for me and left me in the dust.

Fast forward several years, and the dust ball was dustier. Despite her efforts to blaze the trail. It wasn’t my path.

To get cardio and improve my stamina, I signed up for personal boxing lessons. Maybe being a punching bag would suit better.

Well, if you think running’s hard, try running while someone is trying to hit you.

That’s boxing — stressful, anxiety-inducing and painful. I get a little scared every time I enter the ring.

To add insult to injury, my training and sparring partner is a marathon runner. Are people born with more endurance? Each punch serves as a reminder of my failure as a runner.

That’s when I realized boxing isn’t just a workout, it’s a set of rules for surviving hard things.

3 boxing rules for life (and why)

There are a lot of common English sayings that we get from boxing, but here are 3 of my favourites and why:

• Roll with the punches -

  • You can’t block or duck every punch. In boxing, they teach you to absorb blows to the body with breathwork and to roll your body as the punch comes to lessen impact. Such is life. We cannot avoid every negative situation, but there are usually ways to lessen the blow.

• Throw in the towel

  • If you didn’t know, the boxer doesn’t throw in the towel; it’s their trainer who’s tending to them between rounds, cheering them on, and in their corner. A reminder that even in an individual sport like boxing, having a team that has your back and looks out for your well-being is important.

• Go the distance

  • In direct contrast to throwing in the towel, ‘going the distance’ is what brought me to boxing in the first place. We do 30 minutes of intense cardio and core before stepping in the ring. We’re exhausted, beat up, and defeated even before the bell rings. For the final 30 minutes, we do 3-minute rounds and when there are 30 seconds left in the round a warning alarm goes off. Those are the longest 30 seconds of the round by far. I want to stop, but Kobe, our trainer, is telling us to go harder. He’s not throwing in the towel. Those last 30 seconds are when you win.

Stamina still challenges me and remains my main focus.

No more isolating runs; it’s about rolling with the punches, supported by a great coach and sparring partner in my corner.

I still feel nervous before boxing, but afterward, I feel capable of facing anything.

I don’t go because I’m scared; I go because of the reward.

The feeling of pushing and surprising myself with what I can do. The relief.

The sense of achievement, strength, and confidence. The euphoria.

It’s like a runner’s high, but in a different form.

So why do I do this each week? Why volunteer to go through these negative feelings? I do it because the feeling beforehand is nothing compared to the feeling afterward. The anxiety, fear, and stress are just part of the process that makes me feel happier.

The Pebble
Boxing is a metaphor for life

There’s a Mike Tyson clip I keep coming back to.

Not because he’s violent. But because he’s honest.

Tyson grew up as a fighter. He became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

He was feared, then humbled, then broken, then thoughtful.

He went from beast to philosopher.

In this clip, he discusses life just as he does boxing: not as something you control, but as something you respond to.

Boxing is a metaphor for life:

• Rounds = phases of life

• Opponent = fear, problems, time

• Trainer = mentors

• Corner = family and friends

• Ref = reality

• Bell = deadlines

• Knockdowns = failures

You don’t win by avoiding punches. You win by staying on your feet.

That’s what boxing taught me: Happiness doesn’t come from comfort.

It comes from learning you can take a hit and keep moving.

The challenge
Stop avoiding the thing you’re bad at

Running wasn’t my path. Avoiding stamina was my problem.

Boxing didn’t make things easier; it just made them honest.

Boxing gave me: stress with structure, fear with a finish line, pain with meaning

And that changed how I think about happiness. Not as something I chase.

It’s not something you chase, but something I built — as a piece of dirty coal turns into a brilliant diamond under pressure.

What’s the thing you’ve been “bad at” for years?

Cardio? Conflict? Writing? Money? Sleep? Boundaries? Saying no? Starting?

Now stop trying to fix it the way you always have.

Instead:

• Change the format

• Change the environment

• Change the rules

I hated running, so I chose boxing.

I gave it X days to decide whether it worked.

Not one workout. Not one bad session. A real trial.

Here’s your challenge:

• Pick one weakness.

• Choose a new way to face it.

• Give it a set number of days.

• Expect it to feel uncomfortable.

• Do it anyway.

You will get metaphorically punched in the face.

That’s part of it.

But on the other side of that fear is something better than motivation: proof.

Proof that you can stay in the fight.