Today, highly disgraced, twice-impeached former president D*n*ld Tr*mp appeared in court after his recent indictment regarding the mishandling of classified documents. There are 37 federal charges in total, which is no doubt a mountain of federal offenses … but it’s especially egregious when you take into consideration he only needed one offense to qualify as the first former American president to be charged with crimes at the federal level.

Outside of this, he’s facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, an issue that relates to hush money paid to a porn star with whom he had an extramarital affair. There will potentially be charges if he’s found liable in trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and there could conceivably be charges related to his influence on the 2021 attack on the Capitol. Additionally, there’s a laundry list of pending lawsuits against Tr*mp himself, his family and his organization. This all on the tail end of the Tr*mp Organization being found guilty on 17 counts of tax fraud back in December and the E. Jean Carroll rape and defamation case that he recently lost.

Yet, despite all these things, 45 still has an unfathomable following. His cult of personality not only grew to become a political and social monster wearing an obnoxious red hat, it also helped create a warped sense of reality among its followers. It’s a mangled perception that encourages its believers to disregard facts, dates and other forms of irrefutable evidence as fake news or a political witch hunt if it runs counter to the narrative spoken by the Cheeto God. They are simply unwavering and incredibly vocal about it, regardless of how much destruction their train wreck continues to cause.

What I really dislike about modern American politics and social issues is that social media sites and blogs like the one you’re reading now give everyone with an opinion a platform from which they may be heard. Having that freedom is great, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve found that the majority of Americans lack the ability to step outside of their cable TV news bubble long enough to actually conceive a formidable thought of their own. When you watch Tr*mp supporters on the news (or speak to them at family get-togethers), all you’re going to hear is a rambling, dare I say raging, list of conservative talking points that are often contradictory and frequently cite the Bible even though a good majority of them are inherently anti-Christ. The same thing goes for your friendly neighborhood die-hard liberal (even though there aren’t many of them around here): nail-spitting fury and zealous passion that supports nothing more than elemental, high-level rallying cries. Give these people a platform to speak and you’ve basically created a megaphone designed to broadcast misleading or outright false information.

As a student of sound philosophy, I think if a person says they believe in something – be it a simple concept, a religious dogma, a political view or anything else – they need to know why they believe it. “Tradition” is a bullshit copout. “My pastor said,” is a bullshit copout. “Tucker Carleson says,” is a MEGA bullshit copout. Not only this, they should also be willing to have their beliefs challenged and be willing to have their mind changed if they’re presented with enough valid, irrefutable facts to warrant it. In my experience, most people who have a political opinion or hold tight to a spiritual creed can only respond to questioning with an array of logical fallacies. This then qualifies as poor philosophy.

And beliefs built on poor philosophies are intrinsically anemic, regardless of how many people you threaten with your rhetoric or how much saliva blasts from your enraged lips when you shout about it.

I recently got a newsletter from Born Fitness founder Adam Bornstein that echoes a similar sentiment before revealing 22 fitness-related topics he’s changed his mind about. It inspired me to write a blog in which I use a fairly heavy topic to set up a horribly inconsequential list of my own.

I have a lot of strong beliefs but I’m not afraid of having them challenged and I am certainly not opposed to having my mind changed. Below are 22 of those instances with varying amounts of elaboration.

Topic / My current understanding

On Personal Life and Philosophy

1. Cat Ownership / I’ve talked about it in many blogs before so I won’t add much here. Just know that Wednesday is a perfect angel baby and I would do anything in the world for her, no matter how fat she gets. I was absolutely wrong when I said we didn’t need another animal. I NEED this cat.
   
2. Spirituality / In the last decade I have dabbled in Christianity, Buddhism, Agnosticism, Atheism, Norse Paganism and a few things in between. Stoic philosophy says it’s important that we recognize the truth anywhere it presents itself. And the reality of spirituality is there’s no such thing as an entity with a monopoly on truth. Anything that claims otherwise is inherently evil. What I have found in my years – decades – of religious study is that Jesus was right but Christianity isn’t a full stop. Same with the Buddha. Even with Anton Lavey. I may not fall in line with one creed and likely never will, but I now believe that if you can put your god into a single book or into a single philosophy, then she isn’t much of a deity and you have a very limited opinion of god. I do believe in the Creator and that it presents itself in various forms to different people – the red words of Jesus, a U2 song, a story about Thor from the Havamal, even those feelings of comfort you get from staring at a flame or watching a bird fly overhead. We are simply not qualified to say otherwise.
   
3. Pacifism / I spent the majority of my life firmly believing that pacifism was the only way to settle disagreements; War is the tool of the enemy, violence toward another of your own kind proves nothing and is a tool of those who lack an adequate vocabulary. However, my time as a Pagan opened my eyes to the human’s animalistic tendencies: protection, survival. I do still believe that war is simply a tool world leaders use to exercise their greed at the expense of innocent lives and their lost families; I do still believe that many types of firearms are unnecessary in the hands of civilians (and the police), but I also believe that sometimes animals still have to act like animals regardless of how sophisticated they have become. Fortunately my martial arts training has instilled in me the value that humans possess naturally dangerous weapons that should only be used as a last resort, only when we have exhausted every other imaginable approach. Cause no harm, but take no shit.
   
4. Truck and/or Motorcycle Ownership / These were both things that my dad had and I swore I’d never have either because of it. Motorcycles are an unnecessary expense and are incredibly dangerous, after all. And I often associate many trucks with men compensating for their tiny penises, erectile dysfunction or short stature. But I now own a Harley Forty-Eight and it’s sexy as shit and so much fun to ride … and I’ll give up my Chevy Silverado only when I’m able to trade in for a Ford F-150 Raptor. Who would’ve thought?
   
5. Paying Someone to Mow My Yard / I had a mowing business as a teenager and I learned everything from how to manage finances and how to properly tend a yard, to developing the necessary work ethic required to make a living and the importance of taking lunch breaks. But then I bought a house on an acre of land and could only afford a self-propelled push mower. It used to take me four hours to mow and trim my yard and it was hell. I’d get sunburned every week and I’d waste two evenings on the job. When Katie suggested we start paying someone to do it, I was incredulous. My Paps would roll over in his grave! But then I gave in and now our yard is mowed/trimmed in 20 minutes and always looks amazing. It’s one of the most valuable weekly expenses we have.
   
6. Opening My Own Gym / Most of you know the saga of how a poor excuse for a man drove me away from one of the greatest passions of my life. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to live through because that boxing gym was my lifeblood and I’ll go to my grave believing I had more passion for it than either of the now-former owners. But I only took a week off before I was back on it, creating content, stealing clients and making more money as a trainer than I ever had while working at a fantastic gym. I wanted so badly to be able to open my own gym but what I quickly learned is that starting up an independently owned gym in this town is a fool’s errand. Not saying it can’t be done because there are many wonderful locally owned gyms in town that do well for themselves, but they are the minority. Rent in Knoxville is damn-near impossible for a startup and the hours involved would crush me. My friend Wade, owner of Exclusive Fitness – the gym that so graciously took me in to work among world-renowned trainers and champion bodybuilders (not McDojo “fighters”) – used to talk about how he went to bed around 7pm so he could be up and at the gym by around 3am. You could find him catching a power nap in his office between clients. I love Wade and have all the respect in the world for him but I had to face the fact that in order to run a gym that’s successful like Exclusive, I’d have to work like Wade when I’m Wade’s age … and I just don’t want to do that. So I didn’t really give up on this dream, I just realized it wasn’t the dream I thought it was, so I let it go.
   
7. Starting a Family / This has probably been the single biggest turnaround for me. For years my family ragged on me about having kids because they knew I didn’t like them. I’m confident they were foaming at the mouth for me to hold my niece when she was a baby because they thought it would awaken some fatherly instinct in me that would make me want one of my own – it didn’t. Katie and I often talk about how we never wanted a kid until we got together and we think it was never considered before because we were never with the right person. With Katie, nothing seems impossible – in fact, the idea of parenting with her sounds like a fun and exciting challenge to take on together (emphasis on challenge). Recently my mom talked to me about it and said “I thought you didn’t like kids?” to which I replied “Oh, I don’t!” The good news is I know many parents who feel the same way and they’re doing a great job.
   
8. Homophobia / I won’t say I was raised to be a homophobe necessarily, but I did grow up in the American South with certain ideals of masculinity forced upon me through family, friends and society in general. As a child I was too young and dumb to think otherwise. I didn’t really even know what “gay” was, I just knew I didn’t want anything to do with it because of how it was talked about. As I got a little older, though, I quickly realized that not only is being homophobic ignorant and backward, it runs counter to the teaching of the Jesus character the guilty parties pledge allegiance to and it’s also just incredibly hurtful. Being hateful is so much work, y’all! I am a very loud, very proud straight ally. If you want to be a hateful bigot, that’s on you and I’m sorry for your heart … but if I catch you physically or verbally assaulting someone in the name of homophobia, I will not stand down and you will not care much for how it ends.
   
9. Under Armour / I spent years of my life downing Under Armour because it’s a clothing line designed for athletes but the majority of people who wear it are obese sloths who just want to brag that they can spend $90 on a hoodie. Anytime I would go to the mall or Dick’s Sporting Goods or Academy Sports I would look around and cynically comment about all the “elite athletes” walking around the store. And then I got that first pair of UA sweatpants. They made my legs look athletic, they were super comfortable and they just looked rad. Granted, I didn’t pay full price for them (I used an employee’s discount on pants that were already on clearance) but still … I was an owner of Under Armour apparel. I’d later add the flip flops from a previous post that I’ve worn holes in and I kinda went hog wild on The Rock’s UA line at the Asheville outlet recently. I don’t even care anymore. I still won’t pay full price, but I’m an Under Armour fanboy.
   
10. Tank Tops / Again, this was something my dad did. He wore tank tops EVERYWHERE. He was a construction worker and was thin but was never particularly muscular that I remember. But since I knew he was a tank-top guy, I swore I’d never be. Then I came across the American flag tank top at Target … Most people know that I am not patriotic and likely never will be. I have a small collection of “these colors don’t run” type t-shirts that I’ve cut the sleeves out of but the tongue is wedged firmly in the cheek with these wardrobe items. I bought the American flag tank as a joke but then quickly saw how cool my shoulder tattoos looked in it. And that was before I started working out! Reduce the fat, add some muscle and a little more color on my arms and suddenly I had a problem. My tank top/muscle shirt drawer is so full it’s hard to open and close sometimes.
    
11. My Career Aspirations in College / I started my college career at Northeast State Community College where I got my Associate’s Degree with a “general” concentration. That just means I knocked out what would be considered core requirements for more-specific majors. I then transferred to East Tennessee State University where I got my BS and graduated from the Honors Program. I didn’t know what I wanted my major to be but I had been taking some web design classes at Northeast and decided I wanted to do something like that. And while I should have gone the IT route, I chose Digital Media because they had an interactive web design program (Interaction concentration). My girlfriend at the time also chose Digital Media because she wanted to be an animator (Animation concentration) so choosing the same major just made scheduling easier as well. What I quickly learned is that interactive web design was all Flash-based and I hated Flash with a fiery passion. Fortunately, I took my first video class (Motion Tools I) and fell in love with the filmmaking process. I took as many video-related classes as I could while pulling passing grades in my major’s concentration. I ended up graduating (with honors) from the Digital Media program as an interactive web developer but I never touched Flash again after graduation. Instead, Flash died with the invention of iOS and I started my career in the entertainment industry where I have been employed at some capacity for the last 15 years.
    
12. My Career as a Trainer / This ties in with the previous entry about owning a gym. Being a personal trainer was more than a side gig for me. It gave my life purpose. I was able to inspire people and change their lives in the same way that other trainers had done for me. I realized I had a passion for it and was somehow really good at it. At the end of the day, though, making a decent living as a personal trainer is HARD. I had more-or-less accepted that my side gig as a personal trainer was something I maintained just for the sense of purpose it gave me, not as a potentially new career, which was a hard thing to do. Fortunately for me, I was offered a great promotion at my full-time job that made it a little easier to pull that plug. I still have a single boxing client twice a week before sunrise and the joy it brings her to box in the park is enough to fill my heart. I miss it, but my life is way less stressful these days without it.
    
13. Tattoos Below the Elbow / I got my first tattoo in 2008. My parents HAD to know I was going to get into tattoos once I was old enough and could afford it since I idolized so many rock stars as a kid. We’re living in a pretty cool time now where tattoos are way more socially acceptable than ever before, but in those days there was still some uncertainty as to whether or not having tattoos would prevent me from ever attaining gainful employment. With this in mind, I vowed to keep my tattoos above my elbows so they would be covered up if they ever needed to be. And then I got that angry fish tattoo on my right arm. Rob made the stencil too big and when I checked out the placement in the mirror I KNEW it was too big (the tail comes down past my elbow) … but it just looked SO COOL that size, so I held my breath and said “let’s do it.” After that I figured if having tattoos ever mattered in a situation, I would have to wear long sleeves anyway at that point, so I added two wrist tattoos, a portrait of Amy Winehouse, a portrait of Wednesday Addams, a hop flower, the word EAT in giant Impact font, two swallows flying together to represent my Gran and Paps, a doodle of myself a friend scribbled out, fajitas ingredients and, most recently, an Office reference (Little Stitious). There’s no going back – the only option is to move forward with confidence regardless of what anybody thinks of me, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

On Fitness and Nutrition

14. Fitness / This is another big one. It wasn’t that long ago that I sat on my high horse (a very strong high horse because it had to support my weight) and made fun of fitness enthusiasts. I judged them as arrogant and conceited; I thought they cared way too much about the opinion of others, something I’ve always detested. I even got my EAT tattoo to look like the temporary tattoos that say RAD that are handed out at the Color Me Rad races because I thought it was stupid to get a fake tattoo and go for a “fun” run. Why do that when I could get a real tattoo and just continue eating whatever I wanted? It was a no-brainer really. Fast forward a few years and I have run more 5Ks than I can count, a single 10K, a mud run and two half-marathons. Additionally, I work out in some capacity six days a week most weeks and am irritable if I have to skip or I miss. Funny how life works sometimes.
    
15. Grilling with Charcoal / The first grill I ever got was a cheapy gas grill. It did what it needed to do, though, and taught me a lot about grilling. I went with gas because I didn’t want to bother with buying charcoal, starting the fire, controlling the temperature, etc. But then that fateful night happened when I ran out of propane mid-chicken grill. My grill was pretty busted at that point anyway so I decided instead of trading in my propane tank, I would buy a charcoal grill so I’d never have to worry about running out of propane again. Turns out all the fire-starting, charcoal buying, smoke-making and temperature babysitting are all things I really enjoy about grilling. I’ll have a charcoal grill as part of my culinary arsenal for the rest of my life.
    
16. Pineapple / I’ll never forget being on my first cruise when I was 15 with my parents. I sat in the dining room looking down at my plate and salivating at the sweet-and-sour chicken dish they had brought me. Little did I know, however, that under the thick, syrupy sweet-and-sour sauce resided not only deep-fried chicken but also pineapple chunks. The glaze made it difficult to tell which piece was which and when I bit into that chunk of pineapple, I gagged. I HATED pineapple and had food-trust issues for the remainder of the cruise. These days, however, pineapple is my favorite fruit. It’s no secret that the palate changes over the years – it happened for me with hummus, sour beer, red wine and apparently pineapple. Most recently: iced tea.
    
17. Bulletproof Coffee / Make no mistake – I am not following a Keto diet. I hate what Keto stands for, I hate how it makes people feel like they’ve discovered some magic secret for weight loss (it’s not) and I hate how pretentious followers of the eating philosophy are. I am, however, prioritizing animal protein and fat in my current nutrition plan but also packing in a good amount of leafy greens and high-fiber carbs. It’s more Mediterranean based but I hate slapping labels on stuff like that. Regardless, after reading about the benefits of healthy fats, I pushed the froth attachment onto our immersion blender and whipped up a bulletproof coffee a few weeks ago and it’s wonderful. The added calories keep me satiated in the mornings and I’m usually satisfied without breakfast proper until around 10am. We now just leave the immersion blender plugged in and on the counter right beside our softened butter. Sue me, but don’t call me Keto.
    
18. Periodized Training / Periodized training refers to workout plans that are designed to be followed on a set schedule with planned progressions on regular intervals. When I make programs for myself, they’re periodized. And in my early days as a trainer, I also only designed periodized programs for my clients because that’s what I was taught through my certification board, NASM. The OPT Model takes clients through a series of phases that build on the previous one and is designed to run in a linear fashion. And if it’s done correctly, it works really well. The sad truth, though, is that life isn’t exactly linear. Clients have lives, families, jobs and other stressors that make it difficult to make a fitness program a priority. And if you aren’t available to run the program as designed, the benefits of periodization are null. It’s way more effective for these people to follow a program they can do at their own pace, that doesn’t require building on the previous session, at least until they make fitness a daily routine. Heck, even then it isn’t necessary to periodize! So while I still follow periodized programs, I haven’t designed a periodized program for a client in about two years.

On Music and Culture

19. Insane Clown Posse and Bon Jovi / I got into ICP in high school when my friend Matt brought me Carnival of Carnage. It’s vile, it’s violent, it’s low-brow and it’s embarrassing to enjoy. Yet I secretly kept it in my headphones along with followup records Ringmaster, Riddlebox and the Great Milenko. I didn’t pursue any further records and once I realized just how embarrassing ICP was, I avoided them (though I kept the CDs). About three years ago, I was listening to a podcast that was trying to find something good to say about ICP and the general consensus was if you take them for what they are, they’re actually pretty enjoyable and quite funny. They don’t do the same thing as Wu-Tang so it’s unfair to compare the two. With that in mind, I now openly and freely enjoy the occasional Insane Clown Posse song. I did the same thing with Bon Jovi – I was a huge fan of his as a child but around the time I got in college, he was doing the weird soft rock/country thing and was unquestionably Dad Rock personified. I was really into black and death metal at the time so I no longer had the time nor the tolerance for Bon Jovi. In the last decade, however, I rediscovered Slippery When Wet, New Jersey and These Days … and realized I don’t have to like everything Bon Jovi puts out. I LOVE those records and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. He is my dad, after all.
    
20. The Bands Skeletonwitch, Ghost, Cannibal Corpse and Goatwhore / My first exposure to Ghost was seeing a Ghost B.C. (the name they initially had to take in the United States) sticker on a shelf at Disc Exchange in South Knoxville. At this point they had only released Opus Eponymous and I occasionally saw photos of lead singer Papa Emeritus dressed as a Catholic bishop. I knew that their lyrical content was cheesy-satanic in nature so I thought the Catholic imagery was low-hanging fruit and easy. I had no respect for them … and then I listened to the music and fell in love. I was SO wrong about that band! I’d later go see them in concert for the first time at the Bijou as they toured in support of sophomore effort Infestissumam with support from Ohio metal band Skeletonwitch. I gagged at their name – “ooh, let’s make our band name a compound word made from two scary words! We’re so edgy!” By the end of the night, I was a big fan of Skeletonwitch and owned a raglan with their logo on it. I have similar stories involving Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, Goatwhore and a few others with similarly putrid names who actually ended up being kind of badass bands.
    
21. The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings / I started by watching The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King in the early 2000s. Fantasy is not something I’m really into and I thought the movies were a total snoozefest. Fast forward to 2012 when the first Hobbit movie was released, I had been instructed to read the book before seeing any of the movies so that each could be discussed properly and I obliged. As far as I’m concerned, the Hobbit is one of the greatest stories ever told and the book is so incredibly well written. I loved all three movies even though it was unnecessary to create a trilogy. In the meantime, I decided to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and watch each film again after I finished each book – the same thing happened. I’m now a huge fan of all the events that occurred in Middle Earth.
    
22. The Beatles / It’s hard to admit but I was not a fan of the Beatles for a very, very long time. The bubblegum that filled Please Please Me, With the Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night was just not my cup of tea. I appreciated them for what they did for music but their sound just wasn’t for me. Then in college, I made some friends who were huge Beatles fans that introduced me to the REAL Beatles – Revolver and beyond Beatles; post-meeting-Bob-Dylan Beatles; post-drugs Beatles. The White Album is a masterpiece and there’s a reason Abbey Road is so iconic. It made me go back and appreciate their earlier work a lot more and I’ve been a huge Beatles fan ever since.

Much like my man Bornstein, this is simply 22 of hundreds … thousands … millions? Of things I’ve changed my mind on over the years. And I’m in no way saying I won’t change my mind about some of them again and maybe even again after that. We have to be able to do that — we have to be able to have our belief structure shaken, otherwise how will we know if it’s structurally sound? If we shut down every time our presidential candidate of choice is mocked or every time someone makes light of our religion, are we really that confident in our own decisions?

Ever onward, heathens.