Where do you want to be in 10 years?

  Where do you see yourself in 10 year?  All of us who have go through high school, college and most job interviews had heard this question a million times.  I never really thought about where I am 10 years after high school until I recently got my high school reunion invitation a few days before I left for Phuket.

  Today I really started thinking about the last decade and wondering about the decisions that got me where I am.  When I graduated high school my big plan was to finish college asap and move to Louisville, KY to start training to be a pro-wrestler at Ohio Valley Wrestling.  By now I had hoped to be a multiple time WWE champion.  Damn, I'm glad that fell by the wayside.  I discoved MMA the way a lot of people did, an old video tape back in the late 90's of UFC 5 I think Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock super fight.  I just knew I saw Ken Shamrock on the WWF and it looked cool.  I was enthralled but didn't really understand the sport and had no where to train.

  Fast forward to the first season of the ultimate fighter and I was reminded of the UFC and got witness first hand how the sport had evolved, at that moment I was detimined to fight, pro-wrestling went right out the window.  I started searching for a gym to train me,  I finally stumbled on the original location of Gladiator's Academy, it happened to open across the street from my great-aunt's house.  I took a few classes and decided that even though I have never had my ass beat that bad I was addicted.

  Gas prices and time constraints forced me to move to a gym in Hammond but I eventually made it back to Gladiators in Baton Rouge.  In December of 2008 Liz and I had a discussion, we were at a crossroads in our life, my weight was out of control, we were going nowhere in school and the stress was destroying our relationship, we sat and talked for what seemed like days about what we really wanted to do with our lives.  When I told her I wanted to fight MMA I expected a flat out NO, but instead she came up with the best condition ever, you have to train with Tim every day.  I knew that was impossible in our current location so the decision was made to move to Lafayette.

  Never in my life had I been beat up that much, but when I came home every day from training Liz would be there to help me put my confidence together again for one more day.  Now after 2 years in the gym I feel slightly competent at jiu-jitsu, judo, boxing, and muay thai.  I still have the same goal fight an MMA and maybe that will happen soon.

  Ten years after my high school graduation I am writing from Phuket, Thailand, and not wondering about the next 10 years because of all the things I learned in the last 2 the most important thing is this, The only moment to worry about is the one you are in right now.