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# Blood & Ink: Day 1
- URL: https://www.zenmedicine.co/71/
- Published: 2025-01-01T15:57:19.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-09T15:58:15.000Z
- Description: judo founder's deathbed wish / new year energy / blood & ink updates
- Author: Eric Brown
- Tags: Blood x Ink

## **It’s always Day 1…**

We are BACK – Happy New Year everyone! ✨

Writing from the winter wonderland of New Hampshire, US—probably with a case of mild Covid 😅—gearing up to head back to the cloud forests of Costa Rica in a few days.

The New Year energy is in full force. Celebrations. Hangovers. Maybe a bit of reflection. Time with family. Lots, and lots, of food.

*“It’s always Day 1”* is a line I’ve come to love.

I use it at every core meeting in our 100-Day challenges with Phoenix Culture. I say it to people on plant medicine retreats. It’s my guiding principle.

There’s always that surge of energy, optimism, focus, and discipline that comes on the first days of a new commitment. The vibe is high and the adventure is underway.

After a week, a month, maybe even a few days, ‘reality’ sets in and the initial shine fades. Motivation sags, optimism fades, and the first string of ‘misses’ or ‘mistakes’ takes root.

*It doesn’t have to be this way…*

**Every day is Day 1 of the rest of your life.**

Take a deep breath. Reorient. Reconnect. Recommit.

Every day is Day 1.

### It’s like the deathbed request of Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo. He asked to be buried in a white belt instead of his black belt. He wanted to be remembered as a learner, not a master.

---

I’ve got some new developments coming through this year. I will merge my publications ([Serious Play](https://seriousplay.substack.com/) & [Blood x Ink](https://bloodxink.substack.com/)). I’m going to evolve them in a new direction, I think you’re going to love it. I do.

Continual refinement. [Courting the muse.](https://www.zenmedicine.co/58/)

The decision to split them was necessary to build this momentum. But it’s now a burdensome split of my lists and attention.

More to come.

It’s Day One, let’s go get it.  
EB