Lean into the controllables

 

It comes in waves. Life serves us up some hard shit to swallow. Sooooo many different compartments of our lives that can be affected with simple changes, unexpected situations, relationship navigation, illness, fatigue, challenges. Take a moment to reflect on your typical response when shit goes a little side-ways or maybe gets flipped the f*ck over. Things that are out of your control. How do you respond?  

From my perspective, I watch many retreat from perhaps the thing that will make them feel the best and most IN CONTROL. We take a break from the best medicine on the planet. Exercise. Proven in study after study to have so many profound positive impacts on us physically, mentally, and emotionally... and yet it is often the first thing dropped when shit gets hard.  

Perhaps this sounds easy for me to write because fitness is my job... I have to show up every day. But there have been times that I have been struck down by life and had no motivation to do a workout or move. I have wanted to stay in bed all day and hope whatever it was at the time would pass. I have had stretches in this career where I have showed up, coached classes all day, and never got my workout in because I was struggling with something else. And you know what... it never helped me feel better.  

What makes us feel better is investing in ourselves. Discipline makes us feel better. It makes us feel more confident, more accomplished, more in control. Not only do the magical-feel-good hormones get released, but we prove to ourselves that we are capable of so much. Sure, very few people care or know about how heavy we can lift or how fast we can row, but WE know that we can do hard things, even when things are hard. AND THIS is our superhuman power.  This is what gets us through the hard times.  

So the next time shit gets hard, complicated, stressful, downright ugly... show up. Let us/exercise distract you for an hour AND make you feel better. Let us be a factor in your life that you have 100% control over just by showing up. Even if life throws you a curve ball physically we will get something accomplished. Movement is life!  

Be that person in your community (family, friends, co-workers) that exercise is a non-negotiable. It will set a positive example for so many more people than you think... and yes, it will feel bad-ass to be that person those people look up to!  

*This is written with the intention of reflection. There are times when your body needs rest. It just doesn't need as long as we give it. Take the required time... then get back at it.