FEBRUARY 2022

The Man in the Arena.

I didn't expect my life to get so entangled with professional MMA fighters, but my job at NightRider Jewelry is full of surprises.

NightRider had designed a ring based on Roman Gladiators and the principles found within Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech "The Man in the Arena". I took a week to visit every grand and photogenic MMA gym in the Phoenix looking for a place to shoot some photos.

But something happened when I walked into the smallest and least photogenic gym of the week.

Enter Dan Huber, a professional MMA fighter and coach that speaks with great care.

When I first met Dan, I shook his hand (That featured some knuckles that had clearly been broken more than once) and gave my pitch asking if he might be interested in doing some MMA based media to launch our new ring.

Me: "Have you heard of the Man in the Arena by Teddy Roosevelt?"

Dan, turning around and revealing a GIGANTIC laminated poster of the speech hung on the wall of his gym: "The Man in the Arena?! I live and die by the words of that speech!"

The start of a great couple weeks working with some positive and talented gentlemen.

Watch the mini-doc I created on Dan and his star pupil Terry Lyles here:

I have repeatedly gotten in over my head in this kitchen remodel. But the words of Dan Huber have ricocheted around in my head every time I suck at building something. It's not the critic who counts, all glory goes to The Man in the Arena.

Change is Rest.

As a small side note -- The number one proverb I have taken from this man (Besides the mindset of The Man in the Arena in its entirety) is the following statement.

Change is rest.

Every day is full of moments where your brain doesn't want to move forward. A continuance of hard work is required for me now, but when I come to a halt with one task -- I can switch to something else difficult to rest my brain.

It appears that from here on out -- there is no such thing as free time in my life. So I'm clawing my way towards efficiency. Not to mention the attempt to pull back just before the line of overworking and forcing myself to commit to proper rest. That balance is crucial for continued positive work without destroying my brain.