You have to look at the silver lining in things. My broken ankle has been a blessing of sorts. It gave me some much needed time for reflection.

Rich Zaydel’s Broken Ankle

What a week or so I have had….crazy how life works and how so many things can hit all at the same time.  What do they say, bad things come in threes?  So, in between teaching private lessons and helping at Cota’s martial arts, I roll with one of my best friends, TC,  who has a couple years of mat time on me and 40 pounds.  I have been doing jiu jitsu since 1993 on and off and steady since 2005.  I have never had a broken bone other than a finger in my life. But, during one of our regular rolls last week with TC, I broke my ankle.  It was loud like a crack of the whip.

Our cat of 13 plus years has not been home in a week.  She is old, loyal and almost toothless.  She has been extra lovey-dovey lately and feel she walked off into the sunset or has been eaten by a coyote which happens frequently where I live.

I have or had a boss who is a bully.  I was taught to be humble through martial arts.  Some people mistake that for weakness.  I took some abuse because I wanted to learn so bad.  But when I stood up to him because I expected him to keep his word or show me an ounce of respect, he was taken back.  Bullies don’t like when they can’t intimidate you.  Since then, he has been playing passive aggressive games.  Admittedly I was doing horrible at the job.  Part of it was the bully’s lack of support.  He helped me just enough to be able to say he helped, but not enough to be effective.  But,  part of it was my fault.  Most things I pick up pretty fast. But maybe this wasn’t for me.  Maybe I found something I would never be good at and was wasting valuable time being stubborn.  I had been there a year and was not generating an income.  Sitting with my broken ankle, I had to admit I failed at this position.

At the end of the day, I put the blame on myself for my poor judgement. If you fail in life, it is nobody’s fault but your own. I think most of us are honest people, most of us, but I think sometimes its hard for us to be honest with ourselves and own our mistakes and learn from them. Good judgement is the result of experience and experience is the result of poor judgement.

Live and learn and never stop.