Going Dark

Dear readers,

This might be my last post, at least for a long time.  There have been a lot of events lately that have really wore me down.  The emails and messages asking how I was doing were greatly appreciated, and I answered as many of you as I could.

Normally I would end my entry as usual “Until next time dear readers” but that may not be appropriate now.


Thank you dear readers, it has been my pleasure to interact and entertain you, I wish all of you the best.

For the Giving of Thanks

At this time of year, we are encouraged to be thankful for everything in our lives.  I really have no problems with that, with the one exception that I wish people would do this all year long.  As I’m no exception, I thought I would share some of my things I’m thankful for.

1. My Family
2. My Job
3. My Gym Family
4. My Health
5. My Faith
6. My Lessons Learned This Year

There are many more things I am thankful for, but these are the most important. I would also like to take the time to thank all those who have served our country - past, present, and future.  Your personal sacrifices allow us to live our lives freely.  I also want to thank those who help others with no expectation of a return, that’s the sign of a truely humble person.

My dream of being a sponsored athlete is slowly becoming true, and as such, I am building my brand up more, so here are some new shirts being made available soon.

Addressing the Questions

After posting my last entry about taking a break I got a lot of questions via email.  Instead of waiting for me to fully return to my blog to answer them, I thought I should go ahead and do it.

1. I am taking a break, not quitting.
2. I will still respond to emails, as time allows. 
3. Yes, there is more currently going on than me writing my book, but lately I’ve been juggling more than usual, but really, who honestly isn’t dealing with 101 problems everyday? Just me? No?
4. Are you working on that science fiction romance novel about the two cyborgs who fall in love? No. Saving that one for later. 
5. Can I be in your book? Probably not. If you are it’s either a really good thing or a really bad thing. Law of extremes.
6. Finally, yes, I was serious about the book, and I address super serious topics. 

Once again, I will be back, just a brief break. 

Until next time, dear readers...

A Short Break

I know it's been a bit since my last entry, I apologize.  I have been working on my book, and it's been taking most of my writing time.  I do appreciate the letters you have sent asking how I'm doing, I'm actually doing quite well, and I've did my best to respond to each one of you personally.

Some of you might be wondering what book I'm talking about, so I'll tell you.  I've been working on for some time my autobiography.  It's about 30% done at the moment and I'm already doing rewrites on some chapters.  I've got two interested publishers, so this time I won't be self publishing.  I will be sending out free ebook versions to some of my readers, but I'll announce more about that in the future.  Again, thanks for your patience right now, I will be back soon!

Until next time, dear readers...

New Beginnings

There is a lot going on in my life right now. A lot.  There is a lot of stress, anxiety and excitement.  I’m not complaining, the changes in my life have been 100% for the better.  I am happy.  I mean I am really happy.  Sure I don’t drive a Ferrari, or live in a castle (yet), but I am happy. Isn’t that all that matters?

There is a sad side to this story though.  Although I am happy, and others can obviously tell that, there are those neigh sayers. They will ignore anything positive and attach to the negative.  It gets tiring, especially if it’s someone you love.  Expect the best but plan for the worst.  I have been living by that motto for a while now, and so far lately, I’ve mostly gotten the best.  It’s a nice change.

I haven’t talked about exercise in a while, so I’ll update you.  I am still helping people with meal and exercise plans, and results have been great.  I myself am steadily continuing on my body change journey.  My weight is fluctuating. That’s ok.  I have been having more cheat days lately, and I’m working on stopping that.  Meal planning is not easy, but meal prepping is much harder.  Honestly a good meal prep day takes up a really good chunk of the day.  I am working on a meal prep video for my Riggs Fitness site\brand.

Remember, anywhere you go, there you are.

Until next time, dear readers...

If You’re Happy and you Know It

They say being happy is a state of mind.  I agree.  I am right, now, probably happier than I have ever been.  That’s not to say everything is going the way I want it to, or that everything is sunshine and roses.  Everything isn’t. There are still things I’m working on, still projects to complete, still stuff to be done.  With all that is pending, I’m still happy.  I’m happy with the progress in my life at this point.  Everything is looking up.

I’ve read that everyone needs to take responsibility for everything in their life.  That doesn’t mean you have to accept blame for everything because that isn’t healthy.  What that means is that you need to accept the responsibility for how you react to everything in your life.  It falls in line with that taking lemons and making lemonade bit.

Bobby McFerrin was an genius.  His song, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a philosophical high point in our existence.  Seriously.  Things aren't always going to be great, but that doesn't mean you have to just sit down and wallow in your sorrow.  That was an unintentional rhyme, so I hope that made you smile a little bit.

About smiling.  Do it.  Fake it till you make it works in some cases.  Your smile is infectious.  There is a certain lady in my life, that whenever she smiles, I can't help but feel really, really good.  Every. Single. Time.  Smiling leads to laughing, laughing leads to forgetting about the problems currently surrounding you, and ultimately leads to you being happy.  Be the one that makes everyone happy, no one likes Debbie Downer.

I'm making this entry fairly short because I am about to start filming for a new web series that I'm working on, more on that later, but please guys, be the light that others like to turn to.  Simple.

Until next time, dear readers...

Life is a Puzzle

At least I didn’t say it was like a box of chocolates.  Seriously though, life is exactly like a puzzle.  Sometimes we think we see the image and we try to make the pieces fit that we think should complete the image, but they just will not fit.  Now, on the reverse side of that, sometimes you find, just by trying, by accident, that a piece fits.  Then the next piece then also, just fits. After a while, you stop trying to make the image what you think it should be, and allow it to become what it is supposed to be.

Too deep? Ok, well, to sum all that up is easy.  When you stop trying to make things happen, things fall into place.  To use another cliche, sometimes things have to fall apart to come together.  I have given a lot of thought into my life lessons, and really, every post on this blog.  I have a lot of readers, who have amazing hearts.  I haven’t updated in a while, because, well, it’s been a combination of things.

I’ve been busy.  Now, this doesn’t mean that I have been avoiding updating and that’s my excuse, it means I’ve genuinely been busy.  I’ve been spending my visitation time with my girls on a series of adventures.  I usually update you while we are staying at Beaver’s Bend, but this year, I forgot my laptop.  There will be pictures soon, some are already on my Facebook page, some soon to be on my Instagram. There, as always, are those who ask me how my personal life is doing, and I generally like to avoid that topic.  Something has changed that though...

Through a combination of luck and timing, I did meet someone.  When I say that, the statement carries a certain gravitas, I suppose.  I’m not the type to just put out information at random, well, not personal information, well, not this personal.  I was looking for someone, that much you know.

We started by just simply talking, or texting mostly.  In the process of getting to know each other, we discovered we had both had similar life experiences. Further on, we discovered that we had a very similar sense of humor, which is saying something, but honestly, that’s been difficult.  She is extremely intelligent, and gets my weird pop culture references.  Well, she might not get all of them, but I’m pretty sure that no one gets some of them.  Not even me.  Moving on.  We slowly (or not so slowly depending on who you talk to) realized that we really enjoyed each other’s company and conversation. We are both very happy, and I don’t see that changing anytime.

I figured I wouldn’t make this entry just a big love letter to Cassie.  I'm a happy man now, beyond what I ever expected, and all of a sudden all of those dopey love songs make sense.  I's a very, very good feeling.

Until next time, dear readers...