The Milestone

The Milestone

It's been a while since I last wrote in my blog. Marriage, business, Torah learning, friends and family have occupied me to full & productive days.

I got married January 19th in Jerusalem. The wife and I moved in together and it's been an amazing experience.

I remember being sick this one time and my wife brought me food in bed, constantly checked up on me, and pampered me like a king until the moment I was better.

There is nothing like being married. The joy and fulfillment you get from building a home is like no other. 

Everything we do is for team Ezekiel. When we buy something it's for our home, when we go out to eat it's to make another memory, when we laugh together its from love. 

We are one. 

Marriage with the right person and right life tools is the best thing you can do and I highly recommend it to people who want the best out of life. 

After over a year of hard work, dedication, ups and downs, building a business, home and marriage I am now sitting in a hospital chair as my wife is being treated by nurses and doctors to assess her pregnancy (I'm not allowed in just yet, hence I'm writing this). She's a few days short of completing 9 months of making a human being! 

I can't believe I'm going to be a dad! 

What will be my first words to the baby?

How will I react when I see it?

This is so exciting! I hope I don't faint when it gets to game time! 

Thank you all for being a part of my life at one point or another. You reading this now once shared at least a moment with me, if not more. 

Thanks for being involved in shaping the person I've become.

It's time to become a dad! 

Nightmare to Dreams Coming True

340 days
3 Doctors
2 Orthopedists
1 MRI
1 Ultrasound
1 Electromyography (EMG)
3 Physiotherapists
Chinese Acupuncture
Japanese Acupuncture
Countless painkillers
& One desire to overcome no matter what the cost.

I got injured back in March 2011 in my shoulder and shoulder blade region.
It has been almost a year. I lost over 20 pounds of weight from this injury, mostly muscle.

I've gone through a roller coaster of emotions.

Everyday I woke up in pain. Every night I would go to sleep with a constant ache hoping everyday that this would somehow just go away.

But that's life right. You can't choose your problems, you can only choose to do whatever it takes to overcome them. 

I never gave up, though came close, I kept fighting.

I changed my direction. Instead of trying to build my upper body strong, I focused on cardio, abs, and legs at the gym.

I kept my focus.

I got a job at a gym and learned as much as possible about how to run a company.

I soaked up knowledge, gained new insights, and progressed.

Today I did my first set of push ups on the ground without having any pain during or after.

Motivation is everything.

~

Now marriage.

First of all, I must say that the wedding was the best day of my life.
I got all my close family members and best men to take of major responsibilities so I could really focus on the specialness of the day.

I had my friends answer my cell phone, book my accommodations for after the wedding, decorate my car and hotel room, and more. 

I really got into the day.
The wedding itself was so special, and I'm so grateful I married the right woman.

Being married feels complete.
You have a day, fill it with challenges and solutions, work, hobbies, and learning and at the end of the day you have someone to share it with.
It's brilliant.

Don't get me wrong, marriage has challenges.
The greatest challenge is learning to speak to a woman the way a woman wants to be spoken to. 

Here's an example when a guy speaks to a guy:
Hey bro, it was nice spending the last few hours with you, now I gotta hit the books hard. See you later.

If you said the same thing to a girl, she would take it so different, as if you don't want to spend time with her, and that she was a burden.

So you learn to say it like this:
Hey honey, it was so nice spending the day with you.
I enjoyed __________, _________, ________.
You're amazing.
I have some studying to do, would it be ok if I could prepare myself.


Thats marriage. 

Communication is everything. Learning to communicate properly takes hard work, but the rewards are priceless and a happy home.

A happy wife is a happy life.



LO
VE


Adam Ezekiel

A New Beginning

Imagine you lived your whole life searching...

Searching for something, searching for someone.

Someone to complete your soul.
Someone that ignites passion in your heart.
Someone you believe in.
Someone that just by being with them motivates you to be better.
Someone you think about all day.
Someone that when you stare it, you feel a powerful energy between the two of you emitting so strongly that everyone around feels it too.

We all want true love.

This is my story...

The journey all began 3 and half years ago.
It was then, I decided to sacrifice the high life for a deeper, more meaningful way to live.
I came to Israel to develop the spiritual side of me.
In that time, I felt I needed to restore the innocence and pure outlook I once had about women for the reason that in western society man is praised for his way with the ladies. Without getting into too much detail, this way of life only desensitizes the incredible, immense beauty of a woman.
So long story short, I took upon myself 2 things.
1. Minimize myself touching girls.
2. I decided to not have sex until I get married.

It was the hardest thing I ever did. No doubt.


Ultimately throughout the journey I truly felt I the sensitivity returned. That feeling of butterfly's, and heart pounding when with a girl.

That was step one.

Step two was going girl hunting, but not like any other time before.
I didn't want just any girl, I wanted to find a wife.

So I didn't go looking in bars and clubs. I wanted to get a girl with great morals, similar values, has not been a slut, someone that will make a great wife and mother, and many more important traits. So I went searching through religious Jewish events, institutions, teachers, and friends.
I went on dates with many girls. Most were very wonderful, however there was always something missing.

Then in July of 2011, the week of my birthday. I got a phone call from a good friend of mine. He told me that he has an amazing girl for me. That she is his wife's best friend! That she's everything I'm looking for.

He told me he'd set the whole thing up and I would just have to show up!

WOW!

What an interesting concept.
I said, I'd give it a shot.

The day came and I was giving it a second thought. In fact I was thinking about buying a car that day.
My dad asked me what my plans were and I said I have a date, but I might cancel because there's a great deal on a car and the seller wants to meet me today. My dad said "what about the girl? What if' she's the one?" So I said, "they're usually not"... so he responded with "what if this time it is? You should go. I'll check the car out for you, besides I know more about cars then you anyway (before my dad became a director of an airline, he started off as an aircraft engineer...but anyway...).

So I decided to go.

I took a 1.5 hour bus ride to Jerusalem.
I get to this classy coffee shop and outside there are 2 benches both with a girl at each. The girls had similar features..so I didn't know which one to approach. The main difference between the girls was one looked decent and one looked like the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
I had to make a choice...

I figured, just go for the gold.

So I walked up to the gorgeous girl, and to my surpirse, she said "Adam?"

I was soooooooooo excited!

We sat down, and the date really took flight. We had amazing chemistry and time flew by to the point I had to run to catch the last bus of the night home. What's amazing and funny is that she escorted me to my bus stop and rather than I escorting her to hers.
I realized right there and then, that we had something special.

The next date with just as amazing. Only this time I brought with me a beautiful sunflower. I figured, if she is the one, I might as well take the extra effort and do something sweet for her, she'll remember it forever.

Like Steve Jobs once said, if this was the last day of my life would I make this decision.

Hell yeah.

On that date, I remember losing track of space and time. Just totally getting in zone with this girl on a deep level of conversation all in Hebrew!! Two years in a new country and having a smooth conversation with a "should be model." If that's not success, I'm not sure what is!

More dates came, and with them our relationship got deeper, stronger, & more passionate.

I made a list of everything I look for in a girl a year and half ago and after a few dates decided to compare this sweet girl named Rivki to it. I was amazed, everything I wanted in a girl she had. 14 things were on this list. She hit all 14 things without missing a thing!

3 months passed and I eventually felt that Rivki would make the most amazing wife and mother ever!
I realized that a girl like isn't one in a million, but rather one in a lifetime.

So I decided to do some very serious thinking and write down to myself if Rivki would truly make a great wife for me and if our differences could harmonize life's voyage.

It felt right in my heart, and intellectually seemed right too.

So I went to a jewelry story and bought a ring and asked to get it fitted.

The Jeweler asked when I wanted it complete, a week?

I told him tonight!

He was shocked, so was I! What was I doing!!

He said he would call me when it's done.
I then went home and went on with my day.
Rivki called me and told me she'd be on her way soon.

I talked to my advisers. My two really cool and young rabbi's about how to propose to a woman.
I got some priceless advice.
Bottom line, I learned that I had to make this extremely special! Because this is going to be a story I tell my kids and everyone!

I started to think of some kind of a plan... and then got a phone call from the Jeweler the the ring was ready and that he was going to leave it in my brothers office (yes I have a brother...if you didn't know).
 
I got in my car and called Rivki hoping she'd be at least 30 min away so I could get the ring in time and meet her. But she said she'd be 5-10 min. I didn't want my queen to wait any longer after a 2 hour bus ride, so I decided to pull over near the bus stop and wait for her.

She got out of the bus, we had a heart warming hello, and then drove off. I asked her where she wanted to go. She said she didn't know. I still had no clue myself where and how I was going to do this, and if it would even be tonight. Then the idea of going to Caesarea arose in my head. It's a gorgeous place built by King Herod 13 BCE.

 

Rivki said she'd love to go!

I said I just had to stop off at my brothers office to get something.
So we drove to my brothers office, Rivki waited in the car while I ran to the office. My brother was in a meeting. So I had to wait 10 minutes until he finished up. Then he handed me the ring. It was in this big box and I was wearing slim fitted Armani pants. What was I to do? So I stuffed it into my pocket and tried to cover the bulge with my shirt!
I got back to the car and put it in my trunk.

Then we drove to the ancient city of Caesarea. Parked and I quickly grabbed the ring and stuff the box back in my pocket. Then we began walking. All of a sudden I hear this loud clanking!! I started to panic, Rivki could probably hear this noise! So in an urge of desperation I quickly said TELL ME A STORY!! She was bewildered and responded with what story, I don't know what to say on the spot! You tell me a story!

haha

So I said ok! I began a story in hopes my voice would block out the sound of the ring bouncing around.

Then we found a cafe on the waterfront.
We sat, conversed, and enjoyed life.

Then I excused myself from the table and said I was going to use the washroom.
I found a quite place and called her father and out of respect I asked for his permission to marry his daughter.

He gave me his blessing.

I returned, motivated.

We finished up at the cafe and took a walk with the moonlight high above us.
I knew a very romantic spot to potentially ask her.
We got near the spot, but the gate to get there was locked!

So I figured I would just save the question for another day.

We continued walking. Then suddenly the phone rang and it was an old lady that Rivki volunteers with. The old lady cannot live without a volunteer injecting her with specific medication every 2 hours. She kindly asked if she could take the call, because Rivki never answers the phone when we're on a date (a decision she made herself). I said of course she could take the call.

That led me to walking around, which led to a parking lot. Then I saw this gorgeous scenery. It was blocked off by a fence and security guards.

Rivki finished her call, and I said I want to take her somewhere fascinating. I said we would have to hop the fence and not be seen by security.

She was in.

When the security guys looked away, we hopped over! We got to this beautiful scene in front of the sea, with rocks resting in water, ancient architecture all around us, the moonlight shining and the stars sparkling above us.

We agreed that this was just beautiful.  

I took out a piece of paper. On it I had drawn the infinity sign.

I asked Rivki if she knew what this was. She said a number 8.
I said she was right, but when flipped to it's side it's the sign for infinity.

I asked her if she knew what's forever. She said "what?" I said "G-d."
In his name in Hebrew, you can spell out is, was, and will be from it's letters.

Then I said "Do you know what else is forever?" She said "what?"

I said "Love." 

Then I got on my knee. My heart began pounding so hard.
I was so nervous. 
Then I asked her the greatest question of a lifetime.

Will you marry me?

She said of course!

I put the ring on her finger. I shined a light on the ring and you could see the symbol of infinity built into the ring. She was stunned!

All I can say is that we cherished the moment.

We walked back to my car in a different parking lot and out of nowhere. I seriously have no clue where this came from. We heard on a loud speaker with a great voice in brilliant song a blessing that you would here at a Jewish wedding for a bride and groom and at the same time a random car had romantic classical music playing. Right away I got goosebumps and knew that was a sign, a "high five" from G-d giving me the go ahead that this is the right decision.

As we began our drive home, Rivki said, when you got out of the car to go to your brothers office. I called my friend and said, I can't explain it, but he's going to ask me to marry him tonight!

The rest is history.

That's my story to a new beginning.

My 2nd Year Anniversary

I've been here for 732 days, that's 17 579 hours.

How life has changed for me.
This was a year of big ups and big downs.

Here's what happened.

I served in the army. I made a lot of friends, had a meaningful experience, & got into the best shape of my life. On the other hand the army wasn't a walk in the park, my freedom was limited with orders, time and location restrictions and on top of that I got injured in my shoulder.
I tore something in my shoulder by trying to help a friend get a product off the ground, so I figured I'd give him a hand. The product caused me to insufficiently breathe while lifting heavy weight. Bad idea!
It's been about 5 months that the pain has been in my rotator cuff.

I can't do a push up and lost 15 pounds (7kg) of muscle mass in 5 months!

Life's what happens while you're busy planning for it. - John Lennon.

I have some big dreams and plans to do in the fitness world. 
But that's life. Life is full of challenges, there is no such thing as perfect.

Despite my challenges I've maintained happy.

Everything will be ok, at least the pain has sufficiently decreased.
The doctor's say it's nothing permanent and so that helps me mentally.

Something that keeps my head up is thinking about the greats.
Michael Jordan didn't make his highschool basketball team. 
At the age of 13 a girl gave birth to a daughter, this daughter grew up poor and abused. By the age of 13 she was in juvenile hall and she herself gave birth to a still born. Who is she? Oprah Winfrey.

Falling/failing is essential to growth. Without it, we'd never appreciate how far we've come and the sweetness of success. 

Look at a baby.
It wants to walk. So one day it stands, then falls flat on it's face.
It gets up, tries again. Then falls.
The baby does this hundreds of times.
It finally takes one step forward, then falls again.
A thousand times this happens.
Does anybody laugh?
No.

After 1000 failure's this baby finally learns to walk.

That's life.

I fell.
Ill be up before I know it.

May we all learn from this lesson.

The other challenge I faced is living in my neighborhood.
I live with my parents in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, but their aren't any young people around.
So I've made it a serious goal to find a nice community that has the things I'm looking for: young people, a market for personal training, and spirituality.  

The beginning's to everything are hard.
I've found some pretty awesome neighborhood's and so the next step is to move...

All in time.

Until then I drive to my clients and friends all over the country.

Everything's for the best. At least I'm learning the roads and where amazing places are in Israel!!

Here's some other good news.

I bought a car about a month ago!! It's a 2006 Chevrolet Aveo. I got a wicked price for it and it's awesome on gas, that's why I bought it.

In addition, I've been training at some big name gyms in Israel. Holmes Place and Great Shape.
I might be smaller (due to my injury), but still smarter then the average!
I work with these companies to learn as much as I can about the trade so that I can start up my own thing and have it up to par with the competition. In my opinion the worst thing is to open a company, do a bad job, and have you're reputation and finances fall apart. So I figured I'd learn from the best. So far I've learned a lot about customer service, sales, and how gym's run efficiently.
This week I'm hoping to start working for another training company that sends trainers out all over the country. Im doing it also as a learning experience.
I guess this phase of life I could call: Internship.

On top of that, when I least expected it, I met the most amazing girl of my life.
That's all I'm going to say about that!!

All in all, life is amazing.
I'm blessed with custom made challanges that I know I will overcome.
I have a lovely family.
Incredible friends.
In gorgeous weather.
Have good health. 

And am living my dreams.

2 years...pshh...bring on the next!

Purpose in a Poem

Hey! I got a facebook message tonight by someone asking me to be a motivational speaker. I got inspired  to write this.

First thing's first. Before you start reading, it goes better with a beat. So click this link/or copy and paste it in your web browser then begin reading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUFyqFpgqVI


Purpose in a Poem

You lookin' for you self?

Well maybe I could help.

We go searchin' in clubs for love, but tell our self's it’s just for leisure.

Wake up in our 30’s with a seizure.

No spouse, no house, payin' rent.

But at least you got out your moms’ basement.

Time passes while we workin’ the 9 to 5,

But you’re still alive.

So what’s the purpose?

Maybe you heard this.

Smoking weed and drinkin' are only distractions.

Sure, everything in fractions.

Daily doses detract from your essence.

Infinite potential being alive in this presence.

We don’t utilize the gift.

I want you to realize the shift.

We mistakenly ate the blue pill.

No, you chill.

Relax and I’ll explain...

We live our lives entertained by television, facebook, media, buyin clothes, goin on trips to who knows, hookin up with “ho’s” who are really daughters, sister’s, and soul’s, packin up them bowls, smoking our lungs holes, it’s getting late and "what happened to my goals?"

There’s another way more balanced.

You still integrate with the world, but on a higher standing.

Where your mind keeps expanding.

It’s been debated, the world was created.

By a big bang or G-d.

I believe there one in the same.

G-d said "let their be light" and then we were game.

Make a relationship with G-d, to elevate the mundane.

That’s the purpose of life.  

He gives us direction,

The opportunity for connection,

The tools to find true love and affection,

But maybe I am wrong and you have an objection.

So I’m sorry, this is just my spiritual convection. 

Anyway, I followed G-d’s direction.

I got more money, deeper friendships, great joy, balance, and meaning.

I developed an understanding of G-d intervening with my day.

In a good a way. 

Now I could feel his entity,

it entered me. 

I upgraded my identity.

Life is what you make it, take it how come.

Maximize your life, that’s the rule of thumb.

Have a great week, cuz now I think I’m done.  

I wish you all the best in your search for yourself.

Good luck and good health. 

LO

VE

Adam Ezekiel

Determined

I climbed a valuable stepping stone this month, I completed a task of importance to me, my country, my people, and to G-d.
I consummated the army.

I learned what it is to be a soldier, I invested my time and energy into this valuable cause, and for it I feel that I gained an abundance.

I learned how to use a gun and gas mask.
I learned how to be a better team player.
I learned to balance out Judaism and religiousness with the modern world.
I enhanced my speaking, reading, writing, & typing in Hebrew.
I realized how important freedom is, and how time is priceless because in the army you really don't have a lot of free time and when you finally get some, you just want to relax.
I got a better understanding of how the country works and it's mentality.
I saw that the army cares about it's soldiers and tries to accommodate for each and every one of them.

It was an honor serving in the IDF.
The truth is, I'm not completely finished.
I am now enrolled in reserve duty. Every year of my life until I reach my 40's I will spend anywhere from a week to a month serving the army.

I'll do it with pride.


Now that the army is behind me. I have one month left in my personal training course. Once that's done it's time for me to get a job, start a business, figure out where I want live (with my parents or on my own), and take the next steps into success.

This is by far the most exciting time of my life, deciding what to do with it.

The momentum has built up. Picture a wind up toy car that's been pulled back and ready to rip, I'm at that point in my life.

Determined to achieve great things.

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
- Mark Twain

LO
VE

Adam Ezekiel

My Epiphany

It was a bright sunny day on my army base, located on the shores of Netanya beach, Israel.
My day had been running smooth, when suddenly I heard a commotion coming from outside the dining hall I was currently eating lunch at.

I saw soldiers, officers, commanders and the like sprinting.

It was then, I noticed that the direction people were running was towards a large fire that broke out.

My instant reaction was stop what I am doing and run to see whats going on.

I started to run, I got closer and closer to the source and saw a barracks ablaze.

People were filling up buckets and dumping them on the fire.
Others were spraying hoses of water in the room caught on fire.

I of course got involved in the help efforts. Minutes later I saw a few young girls with green army uniforms approach the fire, these girls are maybe 20,21 years old and are commanders. As they got closer to the fire, I watched them realize that the room on fire was theirs.

Each one broke down in tears.

Some lost a lot, others lost a little, however all girls witnessed their room go down in flames with things sentimental to them.

It was hard to watch.

It was then that something clicked in my head.

Something I'm ashamed of.

My original reason for running toward the fire was to watch it.

Whereas I got the impression that the Israeli's ran toward the fire to help put it out, and help anyone in trouble.

I asked myself, why did I not first think of helping?

Perhaps I may never know the answer. But I tried to narrow it down anyway, I started to think back to my life in Canada.

I remember when I was 8 years old I was walking home with my mom. As we approached my neighborhood I noticed that my residents of my neighborhood were standing outside there doors. News crews, firefighters, paramedics, and police were on the streets, and caution tape was everywhere. I saw some friends of mine signal me over. The asked me if I had seen what had happened to Jeremy's house. I said no. So they took me on the neighborhood walking path located behind our homes. When we got to the paths end, we turned the corner. What I saw, Ill never forget.
An 18 wheeler truck was inside my friends home.
The truck had lost it's breaks, it exited the highway and went straight into my friends home, killing my friends mom doing laundry in the basement.

~

I remember in high school the fist fights that went down in the school lobby.
Masses would come watch, including myself.

The only people that would stop them were the teachers.

~

It's so cold in Canada for most of the year that looking back a lot of time was spent on leisure activities like watching action movies, fights on TV, and other indoor spectacles.

Maybe I became desensitized to all the violence and action.


However what is life all about?
Growing.
Changing.
Becoming a better person.
Being the best one can be.
& learning from every situation, good and bad.

I learned a great lesson that day.

Helping my fellow man comes first.
Life is not a movie to be watched, life is real, I must care more about others and take greater action when danger is spotted.

~

Building the path to greatness one lesson at a time.


LO
VE



Adam Ezekiel