Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Why Do You Train?


The law of nature is, do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.      

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson




Two girls asked me why I train.  I answered rather quickly but calmly, “It’s what I do, I love it.”  They said it would be awesome to have this job.  And I said you could.  I chose it because I don’t want to work.  I’m lazy like that.  I love doing what I enjoy and have chosen my love as my work.  

After training, I took a shower.  You know the feeling of ideas all the sudden coming to you when you’re driving or showering?  Ideas came rushing in and thoughts as well.  The question reappeared and asked, “Why do you train.”  

My gut said, because it makes everything else easier.  It also allows me to push the limits and experience failures.  Overcoming adversity is the difference between good and great.  Now, knowing that is half the battle.  But why wait to have adversity hit you on a Tuesday afternoon?  Manufacture it through training.  Push yourself.  Test your limits.  Experience failure.  Enjoy success.  But realize it’s all a process.  As Elliott Hulse says in his videos, it’s not about what you get in your pursuit of becoming the strongest version of yourself, it’s who you become along the way. 

And when life hits you with a freight train like your brother dying, a break up with the one you love or a financial burden like student loans or freak accident use your perspective to realize you’ve done this before.  The courage muscle has been flexed over and over in training and you can overcome this obstacle as well.  Life is partly about overcoming challenges.  Because if you are unable or unwilling to overcome and persevere through life’s challenges, you do not deserve to live your wildest dreams.  

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