What is one thing you do differently today because life taught you that the old way wasn’t working anymore? Maybe it’s how you exercise. Maybe it’s how you work. How you handle stress. How you communicate with your family. How you spend your time. Or maybe life changed something for you and you had no choice but to adapt. At 65, I’m learning more and more that adapting doesn’t mean giving up. There was a time when I thought strength meant pushing through. Work harder. Keep going. Don’t give in. I still believe in perseverance, but I’ve also learned that sometimes adapting is stronger than forcing. 🥋 Martial arts has taught me that through my own body. I don’t move exactly the way I did at 25, 35, or even 55. I’ve had to change how I train and how I approach certain things. I could spend my energy fighting against those changes, or I can pay attention, adapt, and keep moving. Life works that way too. Our bodies change. Families change. Work changes. Relationships change. Circumstances change. Sometimes life changes the plan without asking our permission. 💪 So here’s today’s Living Strong practice. Think about one area of your life where you’ve had to adapt, or maybe one where you know it’s time to adapt. 👇 Share yours in the comments. It can be as simple as: “I used to __________. Now I __________.” Your answer might be exactly what someone else in this community needs to hear today. 🌱 Evolution, not comeback.

Going through some old things recently, I pulled out this copy of BUDO Karate magazine from May 1999, and it brought back a pretty special memory. I remember thinking at the time that they were going to do a small article about me. Instead, it became a full feature—and somehow this kid from the South Bronx who had found his way to Bochum, Germany, and Starlight Express ended up on the cover. 😂 They called me “Rocky” Liciaga. Looking at these pages again at 65, though, what I think about most isn't being on the cover. I think about how I got there and the people who helped put me in that position. Many of you here in our Living Strong community are also Starlight Express alumni, so you'll understand how one experience can put people into your life who end up influencing you long after the show is over. Two of those people for me were Dwight Toppin and @Arndt Mallepree. When I returned to Starlight in Bochum, Dwight connected me with a gym and introduced me to Arndt. Arndt and I began training together, often for hours in the mornings, and eventually I became his first Black Belt in the system he was developing. But one of his greatest lessons to me had nothing to do with earning a Black Belt. I was still very much Peter from the South Bronx when we trained. Aggressive. Throat. Groin. Knee. If we're going to fight, we're going to fight. One day Arndt stopped me. “Peter, you're not in the Bronx anymore. You're in Bochum, Germany. You're not in a gang. Relax. Let's learn the art.” 😂 I understood the words then. It took me many more years to understand the lesson. He wasn't asking me to forget the Bronx. He was teaching me that I didn't have to spend the rest of my life proving how tough the Bronx had made me. I could put the street down. I could relax. I could learn. I could grow. And here's what I understand today. Had there been no Starlight Express, perhaps there would have been no Dwight in my life. Without Dwight, perhaps no Arndt. Without Arndt, perhaps no lesson that I would still be writing about decades later.

This is my Grandpa John and me. He was 92 years old when this photo was taken, and I believe this was the last time I saw him. He was still driving, still traveling, still living his life. I remember listening to him talk about people who were in their 80s almost as though they were kids. 😂 At the time, I thought that was funny. Now I’m 65, and I understand it a little differently. When you’re younger, 65 can sound old. When you’re 65, you realize there are people in their 80s and 90s who have already traveled roads you haven’t even reached yet. That changes my perspective. I’ve got 65 years behind me now. Some beautiful years and some very difficult ones. Victories, losses, plenty of mistakes, and a whole lot of lessons. But I don’t look at those years as years that are simply gone. I bring them with me. Everything I’ve learned, the people I’ve known, the places I’ve been, the things I’ve gotten right and the things I’ve gotten terribly wrong—all of that comes with me. So do the times I’ve had to start over and the times life surprised me and I had to figure out what came next. And there is still road ahead. I don’t know how much. None of us do. Maybe that’s part of the lesson my grandfather was giving me without ever sitting me down and calling it a lesson. At 92, Grandpa John wasn’t sitting around thinking about how old he was. He was living. I like that. ❤️ Stories like this one about my Grandpa John are part of why I wrote my new book, Living Strong Through Martial Arts. Although martial arts is the thread that runs through the book, it really is about life—the people we meet, the lessons we carry with us, and how we continue moving forward through whatever season of life we’re in. So at 65, I’m not interested in spending too much time looking backward wishing I could get the years back. I want to take what those years taught me and bring it into whatever road is still ahead.