Wednesday, September 25, 2013

On Strength


We all have our thoughts of what strength is and means.  In reality, it is many things. The most common definition, from Webster is, “the quality or state of being strong: capacity for exertion or endurance”.  In CrossFit, strength may be the physical type, the ability to lift heavy things.  It may also be the mental type, the ability to push through a particularly difficult WOD.  It may also be the emotional type, the ability to emotionally cope with another athlete beating you in a competition. I have felt these kinds strength.  I have lifted very heavy things, I have pushed through difficult WODS, and I have felt competitive loss.  Managing the emotions that come from these things requires strength. 

I have been praying each day for strength in body, mind and spirit.  But what exactly does this mean? It is similar, but also different from the strength required and developed through CrossFit.   It contains the mental and physical elements, to push through, to drive forward; to live each day to it’s fullest under my current circumstances, and to work on getting physically and mentally stronger each day.  It is the emotional element, however, that is slightly different.
 
Emotional strength is also the ability to be able to accept my mind and body for where they are right now.  It is to be forgiving to myself when I look a little soft in the mirror, when my clothes don’t fit the way they use to, when my brain training scores decline, when I stumble, when I can’t remember what I went into the kitchen for, or when I need to ask for help. It is also to be able to be satisfied with scaling my WODs, or getting my first DNF, or knowing that, in CrossFit I may never be where I was. 
 
Strength in spirit is being able to put my faith and trust in God, and through prayer and worship I will receive what I need, maybe not what I want, but what I need, in all other areas.
 
As I have been exploring strength, I have also discovered that strength is also having the ability to say no even though you really want to say yes or on the contrary, saying yes even though you really want to say no.  It is also being able to forgive, even if you will never forget. Forgiveness requires a great deal of strength.
 
Strength is the ability to do all of these things.  So each day I pray for strength in body mind and spirit, and each day I try to get stronger. 

In closing, I started to think further…  What would you add to this list? 
  • It is being able to go into the box knowing you cannot do the WOD and being content with scaling all elements of it.
  • The ability to order something that you really don’t want to have because you should not order anything else on the menu.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic job here. I actually enjoyed what you had to say. Keep going because you unquestionably bring a new voice to this subject. Not many people would say what youve said and still make it interesting. Well, at least Im interested. Cant wait to see much more of this from you.
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