On October 25, 2024, I'm obsessed with tennis. In the last 24 hours, I've spent a few hours playing. I've just recently started learning how to play tennis again, although I never really learned how to play much before. I've been playing consistently, on average once or twice a week, and I'm currently around the 3.5 level or so. I know I have so much more potential, but I have to put in the work to realize it.
Grateful to be doing this instead of playing video games
Last night at the men's tennis clinic, I was having so much fun. When I first started doing these tennis clinics at the Racquet Club with the guys there every week, with two coaches from 6 to 7 p.m., I remember being so grateful that I was done playing video games and doing this instead.
The clinic last night was a bit more challenging, because I was focusing on how many shots I was missing and starting to have higher expectations for how good I was going to be at the racquet. I didn't know how good I should play when I really haven't merited the work yet, but I did have fun, and I'm amazed at how great my shots are sometimes. I love how good it feels and how active I am playing tennis.
Losing to men born at least 20 years before me
Then today, I played with the men this morning, and the men out there were, on average, born at least 20 years before this body was. The other three guys I played with in doubles were all born at least 20 years before me, and I lost both sets. Whoever's team I was on lost, and there was one guy whose team always won. We lost the last set 6–0, and the first set something like 6–4.
My serve is something I'm going to get some coaching on, because I've got power, but it's not accurate.
Counting only the shots I make, not the ones I miss
What I did start doing today is counting how many balls I actually get in the lines — in the doubles lines if I'm playing doubles, in the singles lines if I'm playing singles. I started doing this because of what I noticed when I was playing basketball a week or two ago. I noticed that when I focused on how many three-point shots I made, the amount I made went up dramatically — it almost doubled, almost instantly. I made 78 three-point shots within an hour of practicing, which is the most I think I've ever made in my entire life.
So today, I counted over 70 shots that I hit in while we were playing. The idea is to get my mind to focus just on the shots you make, and do that more and more. Don't even worry about the shots you miss. Don't even sweat it. It's fine. Focus on when you hit the target. Focus on that. Count it. Tally it up.
Why I'm so excited about these daily life entries
I've also got so much excitement for doing these daily life entries. There have been people for a decade who have suggested I just do a vlog like this. And now I see how to do it: put the video on YouTube and a video on X or Twitter, then take the audio from these and put them out as albums on Spotify, and have a nice playlist where everybody can listen to them. I'm so pumped and excited about this. I've been having all these days flash back through my mind, all day yesterday and today. If you want to follow along with these, you can watch the newest ones in my Life playlist.
An AA meeting and a plan to try hypnotherapy
I went to an AA meeting this morning as well and heard some people share, and there's a guy there who plays tennis, so I'm going to play with him too, which is great.
I'm also planning to try some hypnotherapy to see if I can dig up some of those ordinary days a decade, two, or three decades ago, and then very accurately recall them. It's pretty easy to tell you what's happened in the last 24 hours, but can I do that for an ordinary day 10, 20, or 30 years ago? I'm really excited to try that with hypnotherapy.
Telling my wife she hurt my feelings
Something my wife said hurt my feelings a little bit yesterday, and my brain actually blocked out whatever it was she said. Today I just finally admitted it. I said, you hurt my feelings a little bit with something you said yesterday. She was a bit defensive at first, and then she gave me a hug. And I feel better. Sometimes that's all I need to move forward.
Instead of being all aggressive and nasty and saying she disrespected me and all this stuff I used to do in the past, I'm glad now I can just say, hey, you hurt my feelings — my brain is blacking out, I don't even remember what exactly it was. It's such a funny protective mechanism the brain has. When something hurts you, sometimes the brain will immediately try to hide it so it doesn't hurt you again. But ironically, if those deep hurts happen — like the ones for me in childhood — I'm glad I got those back out and experienced them, so that they could be let go.
I'm committed to keeping these journal entries short, so I can compress as much of my life as possible into the shortest amount of time possible. If you enjoy this kind of entry, here's another day in my life with yoga, tennis, ICP, and family.