It ain't about how hard you hit

The visualization of the catfish is starting to feel far too passive for what I'm dealing with.  It is relaxing and meditative for sure, but it is starting to feel like I'm fighting a battle with the wrong weapon.  Wrong for me anyway.  I feel like I'm in a bit of a slump.  Not that I feel like I'm getting more sick, just that it feels like I'm settling into a rut of sorts, becoming complacent.  There is no time for complacency.  I feel like I need to be on my guard, and doing something to push back.  I've got an infinite amount of reasons to fight this thing, and I feel like I owe all of those reasons an earnest effort.

I decided today that I needed to watch some clips of Muhammad Ali.  Arguably the best boxer to ever live, he was also supremely confident in everything he did.  He didn't just beat his opponents in the ring, he started the fight before the boxing match even started.  He got in their heads.  He let them know just how great he was, and just how much he would punish them when the match did start.  That's what I need, I realized today.  I need to not only make this a physical fight, I need to make this a mental one too.  It's one thing to be optimistic, it's another entirely different thing to be confident.  I need to not only be fast, tough, and strong physically, I need to be that mentally, too.  I need to have the confidence, and beat this disease with my mind, not just my body.

I stumbled upon this (admittedly very cheesy) video while watching Muhammad Ali annihilate his opponents.  It's a video clip from the movie Snatch, set to some speeches that Muhammad Ali gave, as well as some quotes from one or some of the Rocky movies.  Some of my favorite lines from Muhammad Ali are:
    
    -"Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick, I'm so mean I make  medicine sick"
    -"Let me tell you something you already know, the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows, its a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.  You, me, or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life; but it ain't about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward.  Thats how winning is done."


Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqpQzT1Kbuk&feature=player_embedded

Edit: I added the link to the video because the embedded video wasn't working on my iPod.