Hard Days

There are always going to be rough days. I thought the get in shape girl was bomb.com the day she posted on facebook something to this affect...

"Proof that I'm human, I really don't want to go work legs and drive through the snow to the gym. Proof that I am dedicated? I am going anyway."

So true. Jen over at Recipes for Gals in Fitness and Bodybuilding today commented that if you are just starting out and you don't crave your gym time yet, to keep on trudging along, because at some point-- you just wake up and realize, "I can't waite to get to the gym to train." It happens over night and then you are hooked.

Have I told you lately things keep breaking at my house? I told my husband that people say the 7th year of marriage is the hardest, not because of eachother... but because crap just breaks all the time and it starts to rain on any parade you might feel like having.

Case in point: The lock on my car door (my 2008 car) stopped working a few weeks back. Had to be fixed. Husband lost the remote to his stereo in his truck. (That one is on the back burner). The dishwasher broke, (had to be replaced) the furnace stopped working, (had to be fixed, thank Heavens for a kind neighbor who hooked us up with a huge discount or that would have been 300 dollars!!!)

My four year old woke up throwing up everywhere in the middle of the night, (The first night my two year old has slept through the night in forever and a day) ironic. Poor ol girl was sick all day. My husband was working, so there was no completing the grocery store run I had planned on, and training at the gym had to be pushed back til 6 when he could get home. Then 6:30 when he actually got home. My son fell and bit through his lip for honestly, the like 6th time total. That child is going to have some major scar tissue build up on his lips.

I did not want to work out at 7 pm tonight. I wanted to stay home and eat muffins. Carbs, lots and lots of carbs...

Doing what is required when you "don't feel like it" is the beginning of building a champion of spirit - of reliable character - the short-term result of discipline- applied - when the going is tougher - has tremendous long-term pay offs - in that you end up with fewer and fewer moments or circumstances where "I don;t feel like it" even enter your mind - and you not only "do" what is required - but you do so with a crushing mastery and authority over the task at hand.




And, as I thought about how decadent those muffins could possibly be-- I remembered something Scott Abel posted on facebook today. (See above) And I was burning with the desire to get to the gym and pick up heavy crap and put it back down. Picking up heavy stuff and sweating is a part of who I am, a very big part. It helps define me. I am a health nut, gym rat who likes to push her body to the limits and LOVES taking anyone along on the ride who will hop on.

Life is not easy, circumstances arrise and sometimes we just want to throw the freaking towel in. But, when we make a conscious choice to "do what we are supposed to" anyway, I think the payoff is big and the reward is bigger.

I am on a journey to become the best self I can become. And part of that best self is training in the gym very intensely right now. Part of that is eating very strictly right now, and on the days where I don't feel like it... I have commited to push through because that is what is required to achieve excellence.

I wonder how many times those football players yesterday have thought about skipping the gym or a practice. Probably a lot, but the reality is that champions or championship teams are not built or maintained on skipping out on the blood, sweat or tears.

Greatness, Champions, and Mastery are built on blood, sweat and tears alone.

If you have fallen down, get back up-- dust yourself off and commit to the next 3 weeks to give your all. To do what you are supposed to even when the whole world feels like it is stacking against you-- push hard and push through anyway, and see how sweet the satisfaction can feel.