Exertion.
Create your art.
I used to shit on Crossfit (and a lot of other forms of fitness that were different than my own). I don’t know why, probably a combination of ignorant youth and a surplus of ego, but none the less, I did it, and I was wrong.
Fast forward to the present, I have evolved,
My wife is an extremely high level CrossFit athlete. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to observe her train every day and be a part of her journey. I’ve witnessed her evolution as an athlete and this past weekend, I was able to experience her world again, watching her compete in the extremely high level Battle in the Barracks.
I took a lot away from the weekend…insights I think that can be applicable to a lot of the modern fitness culture (and life).
The first and most obvious to me, was….fuck you if you think your path to finding your highest form is superior to someone else's. What an ego drenched headspace it is to believe your stupid monkey brain has figured out “the way” better than anyone else. Even worse, how blind to reality must one be to look at others who are bettering themselves and mutter “not good enough” or “not as good as me”.
As I stood next to the competition floor waiting for her heat to start, I looked around at the other participants and the other fans in the crowd. I saw a 16 year old girl competing with (and beating) grown women, a former Olympian struggling to keep up with the lower tier men, masters athletes finishing dead last in every event with the biggest smile in the room on their faces. Elite athletes performing in a variety of ways that most single sport athletes could only dream about. I saw arguably the fittest group of spectators I’ve ever seen at a sporting event, many clearly there fresh off of their own training session.
I saw people coming together, from an array of backgrounds and ability levels, with a variety of goals and objectives, but all on one shared path: To be.
It was clear every single person in that room understood, appreciated and partook in some way, shape or form, the act of betterment. Of seeking what it means to be more than your current state. And it was in large part, because of a shared participation in a singular activity: CrossFit. How could anything so unifying and growth inducing be a negative?
So what if you choose to do something different?
I am better than nobody, and nobody is better than me.
What you do and what I do and what everyone in that room does, makes none of us better than, it just makes us better.
This is applicable to all areas of life. Your way and my way are only better than those who choose no way. And even then I suppose, they have chosen their path, so who am I to say it is not the way.
Any path that leads someone to a better self, in fitness, in work, in love and in life, is worth walking down. And anyone who tells you your paths are wrong, are worth punching directly in the face.
I don’t care if you do it in silence, I don’t care if you blast it on social media, I don’t care if you do it for clicks and likes or for your mental health or to look better naked or to climb a mountain or to tell your grandma about. I just care that you do it, whatever it is.
Every person in that room, had their “it”, and they were better for it.
The second main take away I left with was that regardless of how big and bad you think you are, you will absolutely suck at most things that aren’t directly in your tiny little niche of a skillset.
I am a professional athlete. I’ve been a professional athlete in multiple disciplines. I have spent over 30 years as a high level athlete. I have coached athletes in all realms of fitness for 20 years….
And I’d have finished dead last in the lowest, most regressed tier, both in the mens and womens division, at this competition. Dead fucking last. And thats exactly where I should finish. Because I have not invested in the abilities needed to have any other outcome. I have not put the blood, sweat and tears into the sport. I have not walked down that path. The puzzle pieces of what I do as an athlete may look similar to the pieces that make up what a CrossFit athlete does, but when you put them together, they fit differently as a cohesive unit.
Do not confuse the extent of your abilities in life. You are far less multifaceted than you believe yourself to be, and thats not a negative. It is a reality, one that should never allow you to speak with ego about your proficiency in arenas that you have not prepared for, experienced first hand and been tested in repeatidly.
Additionally, within your path, look in the mirror often and make sure you’re looking yourself in the eyes and not only at what’s ahead. Far too many jump too quickly to be a thing in their thing without fully doing the thing. You are what you are, nothing more, nothing less, so until/unless you put in the work required to honor a new endeavor or reach the desired outcome in what you do, do not disrespect those who are willing, able and already more deeply invested than you, by assuming that you can walk their path or jump to the front of the line. The answer is always long, slow, hard earned growth and a constant honoring of what it means to exist in your current state with a desire for more.
Humility is a verb and it needs to be exercised regularly. You have not arrived, you never will and you’ll probably never even get close. So spend less time with your gaze on the trails others are blazing and tend to your own.
Finally, I walked away with a personally long held belief reinforced.
The single greatest differentiator in humans is simple: There are those who do and those who do not.
The ones who do are the ones who toe the line. In the gym, in competition, in work, in their relationships, in their development through all aspects of life. They follow through, they act, they fail, they learn, they test and repeat until they succeed. It was in every single set of eyes I looked into at the competition, everyone there, in their own unique capacity, did.
The ones who do not, do not only lack action. They often speak, endlessly, about what they’ve done and what they will do, but spend the majority of life frozen in between the two, buried in sedation. I don’t care about what you did 5 years ago, hell I don’t care about what you did 5 days ago. And I sure as shit don’t care about what you say you’ll do in the future, because you’ve only shown me you more often than not that you don’t show up for future plans. Just do. Show me, show yourself, show everyone around you, that you can do, and prove that for years and years and years until it defines you. It will take time, as it should, to become a doer.
I have people I care about deeply who are not doers. They speak often and rarely act. My connection with these people will never be the same as those with those who do. I am in a constant state of analysis of the world around me. If the words I hear have been connected to a pattern of inaction, I will feel less. Those who have established rapport, who show up in the ways they say, who will act when they say they will act and who will do when they say they will do, will always feel different to me. And when I look strangers in the eyes, in a setting that they could only inhabit if they have done, I will feel a greater connection with them, then those familiar to me, who do not.
On a final, more personal note. I am endlessly grateful for the woman I call my partner in life. Life is unbelievably beautiful being at your side.
Onward, Always.