Troy Stephens (@kulak76)

I've been focused inward for the past 3 months — working to massively improve my health & fitness, and bootstrap the business that's key to my independence. More to do still to get the enterprise self-sustaining, but getting back in peak condition has already transformed my life. Something got into me. I just became determined to build resilience and endurance, to tear everything down and run lean and strong — partly to resume active TaeKwonDo training, but also for its own sake — and have succeeded by working at it daily. Life is a battle, seemingly more than ever these days. I want to face it head-on — strong, prepared, and costly to defeat. This world may want me destroyed or diminished. I say, "Bring it. Let's do this." I'm at war with weakness, most especially my own. I set the goal of getting back to the fitness level and weight I had on earning my 1st and 2nd Dan, in 2018 and 2021. Before I knew it, I had exceeded that goal. A month from 52, I have never felt so energized and fit. I'm eating well, putting the best fuel in, feeling amazing, and determined to keep this going and defy assumed limits. I'm back to TaeKwonDo training, getting ready to return to tournament competition and loving every minute of the challenge. Almost no rest days; just relentless, consistent daily workouts I can sustain without needing them. A couple weekends ago, I had a blast running my first 8 mile race, and I've signed up to run my first half-marathon in October. Can't stop. Won't stop. Determined to relentlessly take this to higher levels. Expecting a couple more months of being pretty deeply immersed & focused. Not sure whether I'll be back online much during that, but if there's any concern among old friends I'm doing better than fine, and grateful for every bit of it.