2025 New Year’s Resolution: Become the Ocean

I won’t be making a typical New Year’s resolution this year, such as improving my eating, starting to exercise, and what not. But why not?

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Rationale for 2024 Resolution

Well, for 2024 I vowed to begin exercising—performing body weight exercises and lifting my one little dumbbell—because my mid-section really expanded a lot (yes, like a balloon at the county fair – ha ha). I essentially developed a Dad Bod, without being a dad! What really happened to me was that I quit doing any type of exercise after 2019, but kept eating like I was still exercising. Although I never really lifted weights in any meaningful or consistent manner since my early 20s (more about this later), I did jog and ride a bicycle consistently from the early 1990’s until 2019, even in the bitterly cold (NE Ohio at times) or hellishly hot (Texas summers) weather wherever I lived.

Lack of Exercise: 2019-2023

Anyway, my waist expanded from about 32.0” in 2018/2019¹ to 37.0” by early 2024! For me, assuming no muscle gain or loss, one inch around the waist is equivalent to five pounds of weight gain or loss. But, I didn’t just gain fat during this period, I also lost muscle mass by not exercising and simply getting older.

It’s been said that once a guy passes the 50-year mark, muscle mass is continually lost, without intervention. Some say 1-3% of muscle mass per year is lost after 50, or whatever age range is considered “middle age.” So, it’s important for me to lift weights or perform body weight exercises and eat enough protein to help slow the muscle loss. For now, I’ll still be able to add muscle mass, just not as much as I would if I were a teen or twenty-something, all else being equal.

2024 Resolution Update

So, for a brief update, not only did I maintain my 2024 New Year’s resolution,² but I also added more activities to my exercise regimen: (1) In late May, I began running a couple of days per week and (2) by the second week of November, I got my old weight bench and some of the weights I used as a teen and began lifting weights with a barbell. So far, I’ve just been focused on performing a few compound exercises such as bench press and squats with relatively light weights, at least relative to how much weight I’d use at 21-22 years old.

Muscle Strength: Youth vs Middle Age

In my early twenties, I could perform 8-10 reps of 300 pounds for one set on the bench press – using a proper technique of controlled motion, no bouncing off the chest, and no lifting buttocks off of the bench. I didn’t use a spotter either, so I made sure the weight used wasn’t too difficult for me to lift by myself. Also, I didn’t do any “heavy” lifting such as maxing-out or performing reps until muscle exhaustion, but my theoretical max was about 400 pounds on the bench press. My body weight fluctuated around 185-ish pounds. Nevertheless, I quit lifting weights after 22 years old and instead started jogging for my sole exercise until I got a bicycle several years later.

In contrast, at the moment, with a body weight of about 175 pounds, I only work-out with 185 pounds on the bench press using the same proper technique and no spotter, and perform just 2 sets of 5-6 reps (excluding warm-up). I probably could perform 7-8 reps total for just one set, which would put my one-rep max at about 225 pounds. So, as a 56 year old, I’ve lost about 40-45% of the muscle strength I had when I was an in-shape 22 year old. In high school, by the way, I weighed 170 pounds as a 17/18 year old senior, but only maxed out on the bench press with 310 pounds, essentially the amount I easily worked out with at 21/22 years old.

Lastly, I do want to mention two more points:

I have never used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) or steroids. I just have a natural above average baseline strength, or at least I used to in my youth, particularly when assessed on a pound-for-pound basis. So, I’m not only a pureblood,³ but also a “natty.”⁴
Given I don’t use a spotter, I also don’t use bar collars/clamps to keep the weight plates on the bar. The reason is that if I fail at lifting the weight and can’t roll the bar off of my body, the possible saving grace is that the bar tilts and the plates slide off of one side of the bar, saving me from strangulation.⁵

Current Waist Size

As for my waist, it did shrink to about 34.5” so far.

Moreover, the slight aches in my lower back and knee joints almost disappeared already. So, I’ll maintain this re-newed lifestyle of exercising and eating more mindfully for 2025 and onward.

Given this, what, then, will be my 2025 New Year’s resolution besides maintaining 2024’s eating and exercising practices?

Inspiration for a Resolution

Well, this inspirational post by Classic Literature appeared on my Facebook feed a few days ago, and it resonated with me. It’s a poem titled Fear by Khalil Gibran (1883-1931),⁶ a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and philosopher.

A Poem: Fear by Kahlil Gibran

Fear
by Kahlil Gibran

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that's where the river will know
it's not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.

A brief interpretation of the poem by Poemotopia is as follows :

The poem can be divided into two parts; the first part is where the speaker talks about the fear that human beings feel, the urge to relive their past lives, and “to go back” that is “impossible in existence.” The second part focuses on their fears. Through this section, the speaker advises them to acknowledge there is no other way. Thus, they are required to take risks and have faith in themselves.
Poemotopia: Interpretation of “Fear” by Kahlil Gibran

I believe the second part of the poem also relates to anxiety related to fearing possible failure and such. Furthermore, it’s helpful to be reminded by wise ones and sages that anxiety or excess worry about the future generally doesn’t help a situation:

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Matthew 6:27 (English Standard Version)

2025 New Year’s Resolution

Since I ultimately want to improve three aspects of myself—mind, body, and spirit—and I’m already doing well addressing the body, it makes sense to focus on mind or spirit.

And, regarding the latter (spirit), I’ll be starting the year off on the right path, by kneeling and praying to Touchdown Jesus, asking for guidance and strength for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame to “Play Like a Champion Today” against the Bulldogs of Georgia in the second round of the College Football Playoffs (they play tomorrow, New Year’s Day, at 8:45 pm ET), and may the best team on that day win the game.

So, with all this stated, my 2025 New Year’s resolution will relate to my business/work adventures, but from a mental perspective: I will plan to take the necessary risks, have faith in myself and a higher power, and Become the Ocean.

Footnotes

1
I had this written on a medical update that also included my blood pressure.
2
Actually, my 2024 Resolution was for Lent.
3
This term is also a Harry Potter book reference.
4
Although there are medical purposes for taking low-dose growth- and/or masculine-enhancing (i.e., anabolic-androgenic) steroids and the equivalent Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) that’s prescribed in low dosages by doctors, doing so to primarily enhance one’s strength, appearance, or athletic performance—which requires much higher dosages—can be dangerous, with irreversible side effects, especially for adolescents. For example, damage to the liver and kidneys, high blood pressure, male pattern baldness, breast development in males, or unusual facial hair growth and deepening voices in females, infertility, aggressive behavior (“roid rage”), psychosis, and more (withdrawal effects from the addiction).
5
If I find the video clip, then I’ll update this post with a link to it, which shows a guy barely escaping death by having the bar come down on his neck.
6
In English, his first name is spelled “Kahlil” whereas the native spelling is “Khalil.” I display both in this post.