I want you to think of a time that you have absolutely hated something you were doing or even a season of life that you were in that seemed awful that you eventually overcame. Think of all the frustration, the pain, the discouragement, and the disappointment you felt in those moments or that season of life.
Do you have it?
I’m curious of what you are thinking of. Maybe it was the last time you tried to attempt something in the gym that you knew you had been unsuccessful at 100 times before. Possibly, you are thinking of the time you had a heart to heart with yourself on why you jumped off the wagon of healthy eating for the umpteenth time. For others, it may be something completely unrelated to your eating habits or your exercise.
Whatever it is, I want you to remember what it felt like in the moment that you felt knocked down.
Now, fast forward a week, a month, or even a year. You’ve overcome whatever it was. You’ve figured out how to do it. Whether you mastered a new habit, lifted a heavier weight, walked right by the chocolate donuts in the break room or learned to communicate more effectively in your workplace. Whatever it is, I want you to now think of the way you felt looking back on where you were when you started that journey of overcoming. What did it feel like? Did you have a moment of realization that the previous thought wasn’t even a concern anymore?
I know we write about pain and how you should not work through pain, in the physical sense, in the gym. If you are in pain, your body yells at you to stop. But I want you to think of pain in a little bit different way for a moment.
Growing pains.
Simply put, they sound obvious. When I think of “growing pains” I think of a growth spurt that the awkward junior high guy on the basketball team feels when he is physically growing (Whether that’s your son or your younger you, you decide.) In the midst of growing pains, they consume the present. They seem overwhelming and perhaps even a little uncomfortable.
We get it. They aren’t easy.
It is our desire for you to grow. When you decided to commit to a new journey, whether it be nutrition, fitness, sleep, smoking, drinking, your family life, or your career, whether you realized it or not, you signed up for a few growing pains. Whatever motive you have behind your reason for walking into the gym every day, our goal is to challenge you to become an even better version of you.
It’s rare that any healthy growth comes with-in the confines of your comfort zone. Being uncomfortable for a moment or a season of your life is something that creates the most incredible stories and products.
I have had 100s of conversations with each of you regarding growth that you have made in the last even 6 months. You’ve told me you have mastered a traditional burpee when you started with a modified version, you no longer stress out about what you should eat at a restaurant when your family asks you to go out with them, you jumped on a 12 or 24 inch box for the first time in your life after jumping on 2 plates for the longest time. I would like to assume, correct me if I am wrong, that that was a bit scary, uncomfortable, and even mentally or physically painful in a sense.
Think back to the beginning. You were uncomfortable. You were growing. It didn’t feel incredibly pleasant but look at where you are now. I’m not saying there isn’t room to continue to grow and push toward some bigger goals that you have for yourselves but it’s time you start recognizing that you are no longer where you used to be and that your willingness to work through the pain and discomfort of being uncomfortable is what is going to grow you into an even better human than you already are.
My challenge to you is to embrace the pain of growth. It will be worth it. When you were on your way to the outcome you thought of in the beginning of this, you recall that it didn’t feel very good. Growing pains don’t typically feel good. Be encouraged, they will heed incredible outcomes.
Here are a few things you can think about while you are in the midst of an incredibly uncomfortable or even painful
- What are you learning in this process?
- How is what you are enduring going to help someone else that may be gearing up to encounter the exact same thing or something similar?
- What are some ways you can continue to learn into your season or situation that you are presented with?
- The end game. Don’t lose sight of what started you on this journey in the first place. The best journeys don’t get happen in one day, one week or even a year sometimes.
Bruce Lee says it when he explains, “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits, there are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
Do it to it. You know it will be worth it. You’re worth it!
By: Joy Leick