Forged in Adversity

Most people have their hobbies.  Some golf, hunt and fish. Others bowl, frolf and build. Then you have the ones who seem to care about little more than eating and drinking.  There are lots of different hobbies out there.  In my line of business we seem to have a lot of golfers and hunters; neither of which I know anything about.  Colleagues ask me, "Since you don't golf or hunt, what do you do?" I say, "Well, not much. I crossfit and hang with the fam." That really is about it.  Fitness related activities have always been great opportunities for me to test what I'm made of from both a mental and physical standpoint; with more emphasis on the latter until lately.  Between working out and the fam, I really don't do much of anything else.


Outside of my own sin, nowhere do I find more evidence of raw affliction and weakness than in my journey to be highly fit.  That's why I appreciate it so much.  The principles and lessons represented in "adversity-by-fitness" translates into all aspects of my life. My basic theory: "the more I push the limits of my current state of comfort and weakness, the more I will learn to never quit in any aspect of life."


Nowhere is this theory more truly realized than in the ultimate training grounds; Crossfit. Since I started 7 months ago, I have never been in more situations where I wanted to quit while at the same time compete, push myself beyond self-imposed limits and grow stronger both physically and mentally.


This leads me to the main point of this post. I don't think we can put a value on activities that teach us critically important lessons about life such as perseverence, character, community, strength, discipline, endurance and attitude; to name a few. While I believe there are hobbies that can also address some of these things, I can't think of anything more holistic than elite fitness activities. This could include many different sports, but for me in this moment of my life it happens to be Crossfit.


I think it would be a complete waste of time and energy if we didn't seek to make a purposeful connection between 1) pushing the physical and mental limits of our comforts and 2) daily living including but not limited to: marriage, friendships, raising kids, employment, sickness, health, sin, righteousness, freedom, loss, grief, joy, persecution, faithlessness, belief, loneliness, legacy, temptation, leadership, giving...the list goes on. The average American has very little understanding of discomfort; myself included. So I find it is that much more important to put ourselves in situations that will help us grow stronger for when the discomfort does come; forged in adversity. Because we can be assured, adversity will come.


Crossfit has given me the daily opportunity to push myself beyond what I though possible for myself. But it hasn't been until lately that I've really begun to make a conscious effort that every time I step into that gym, I will work to push well beyond "comfort" therefore reaching deep into the untapped portion of my potential; a place currently being occupied by my roommates: weakness and affliction.


For years I have pushed myself pretty hard but never made that purposeful connection to literally use every workout as an opportunity to prepare for the adversities of life. Only by a generic default had I received any "beneficial crossover" from hard work to life. I was so short sighted that I primarily focused on the superficial things like looks, competition, winning, losing, and the like; things that can only push you to limited depths. When you start saying, "I'm not letting go of this bar", or "I refuse to stop running" for the purpose of linking this current state of mental and physical adversity to preperation for life...get ready for growth!  I'm finding this purposeful connection is very difficult to maintain and honestly, difficult to practice. When I hit the gym, in order for this principle to work, I have to make a conscious choice going into that workout that I will not give up for this very explicit purpose; I will not quit because doing so is literally making me weaker for life.


Our default is to ride the grind, pushing just enough to think we gave it our all. Don't ride the grind, create more grind and dig into it.  We're preparing for things that are unknown.

Oh, sickness and injury make the journey even more impactful.  Something I am currently learning.

To close, one of my favorites: "Pain is nothong more than weakness leaving the body."  Go get some!