Hollywood would have us believe that courage is something that only comes out when the hero is faced with a life or death situation. I think there are a lot more incidents of courage that don’t involve gunfire, aliens or psychopaths. The courage of an individual who will go their own way no matter how unpopular. It is being willing to stand up and state your beliefs. It is having the inner strength to face a challenge that pushes you far past your limits.

Last week it was demonstrated in such a profound way to me that I was humbled by it. I have a love/hate relationship with Fran. It is a workout that kicks my ass but still leaves that hope that maybe I’ve gotten just a little bit stronger and can possibly see some small measure of progress. I was doing a Team Fran workout with my fellow Taranis competitors and we were in the middle round of 15 reps. I watched the amazing Firecracker work through her set and then on the last rep she slipped off the pullup bar.       Time seemed to slow to a halt and I saw her crash to the ground. As we rushed to her aid she remained on the ground, feeling the impact and assessing what had just happened. Fortunately she got back up and we were all relieved but it was what happened next that impressed me so much. She looked at the bar, readied herself and then jumped up to do the last rep so the team could continue. All I could do was hug her. It was incredible. It was courageous.

            In one single pullup Sharon demonstrated a level of courage that far exceeds the normal perceptions of that word. She faced the challenge and proved she was above it. Courage is when you want to quit but won’t, when you are afraid but you do it anyway, it is being brave every day. She showed what she was made of and I wish I could share in that magic every day. 

Changes

            Life is always changing. We make choices every moment that lead to changes, some are good and some not so good. The challenge is to always be improving the percentage so you are making more good choices than bad ones.

            The New Year brings out the desire to make changes in most people, often catapulted forwarded by resolutions. The dictionary defines a resolution as ‘a firm decision to do or not to do something’, but I prefer the later definition that says ‘the quality of being determined or resolute’. Resolutions are really about making commitments, promises to yourself that you will follow a certain course of action.

            Personally I have never been good a making resolutions as they always seemed like making a promise that I will ultimately feel guilty about. However, I do like the sense of a new beginning that comes with a new year. So this January my goals can simply summed up in two words, ‘be better’. Those two words can be applied to pretty much every aspect of my life with positive results. I want to be a better person. I want to be a better artist, I want to be a better husband. I want to be a better father. I want to be a better athlete. I want to be a better coach. The list will go on and on. With two words I can distill all resolutions down to their essence and hopefully be able to stay true to the concept.

            I hope that I can keep this simple but challenging goal in front of me for the whole year and longer, for improvement is a never ending road.

Quitters. We’ve all known some, maybe even been one yourself at some point in your life. That person who is always able to find the reason not to do something because it is too difficult, takes too much effort, is painful, or is something that they’re not good at.

            The problem with quitting is it becomes a lifestyle. You quit a friendship because it was a challenge, in the process lose a connection to someone who could have become a good friend. You quit a diet since you didn’t buy the right food then starting eating the wrong food simply because that was what was in the fridge. You quit an exercise program because the class times were inconvenient. Quitting brings on more quitting.

            Not quitting is another thing entirely. When I don’t quit I reach goals I’ve set. I gain knowledge, strength and a better outlook. Never quitting means never having to face myself in the mirror with disappointment. Not quitting is no guarantee of success though, because success comes from effort. But there are still successes even when you don’t reach goals you’ve set. Eventually you realize that it is the effort, the trying to reach the goal, the struggle that is truly the success. A faster time up the Grouse Grind is great but what matters is the commitment and effort it took to improve that time.

            Crossfit embraces the effort. Every class is an opportunity to face a new challenge or improve upon an old one. We all walk into the gym with burden of our own physical limitations. You may feel at a disadvantage because you’re too short to excel at rowing, or you’re too heavy to be good at pullups, or you are just too slow at running. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you do show up, you give everything you have to the workout in front of you, you don’t quit.

            When you watch Kristin still doing amazing work at 7 months pregnant it takes away all thought of giving up on a Wod. See Juice steadily improving through dogged determination because he consistently shows up and works as hard as he can and realize age is not a factor. See Sassy come through the door with a big smile on her face and accept the challenge of each workout, proud that she is making a change in her life as the pounds drop away and she gets better and better. Every member of our community faces some fitness challenge and no matter how well or how poorly they might do at a given workout, the rest of the class celebrates their effort.

            Last week we thought my 91-year-old father was not going to survive the pneumonia he’d contracted. He surprised us. He didn’t quit. He fought back and got stronger. If he can find the inner strength at 91 to face down his own frailties, then so can I. When faced with an obstacle I have a reminder tattooed onto my arm. It says Keep Going. Simple. To the Point. No matter what is in the way, don’t quit, don’t give up, just keep going. You will be amazed at what you can achieve.

I’d thought about starting a blog for some time. It was the conversation today with my daughter about the blog she had just started that finally made me commit to trying. January 1st seemed like the perfect day to begin something new. So I am going to put my thoughts down in digital form to send out into the internet. I do find a certain clarity comes from writing things down so if nothing else this process will certainly help me define my thoughts and feelings on a range of topics. I’ll also post some older material that I’ve written. So lets begin.

Terry