Embrace your Struggles

Hello friends,

Welcome to September!

It was a busier weekend than normal....making a reprieve much appreciated...

or was it?  

We went hiking and I am more sore today than I have ever been in my entire life....well, except for after doing the obstacle course at the National Guard training center in Catoosa. That mountain beat every gym work out I have ever done....which, of course, made me question my work out routines....but that is a totally different topic for another day.

It was a five mile hike....that's it....but it was a difficult level trail...and, honestly, I am so stinking proud of us for making it to the top!  The view made it all so very worth it.  You want to know the thing that stuck with me most though?

It's the people that we encountered on the way up that had already made it, and were heading back down.  They were so happy, calm, not in pain at all, and encouraging.....BECAUSE THEY HAD MADE IT!  They had seen the amazing view and soaked up the therapy that it offered....they had felt the cool breeze....smelled the pine...sat on top and recharged....about an hour later, we were those people too!

It is September...a month designated to focus on the importance of self care...If that's not a lesson I need to learn, then I have no idea what is....Because I have always had a performance mentality....
I care what people think...
I care what people say...
I care about feeling accomplished...
I care about what message my looks project...

All I could care about on the way up that mountain yesterday was, "Man...people probably think I am so out of shape....I'm breathing so hard...I wonder if my face is red...If I take a water break, am I going to get judged?...I have dirt on my pants; people are going to know that I tripped....."  You know what?  I am pretty sure that I am the only person that was judging me all the way up!  Those people that were on their way down were probably not that different on the way up...they knew...they understood.  It was not until we made it that I realized this. 

Just because someone else looks like they have their life together does not mean they have not known the struggle.  That struggle is what makes us stronger, faster, and gain that "can do" mindset....because when you know what you just went through to get to where you are, you appreciate it more.  Like what Rachel Hollis says, "EMBRACE THE SUCK".  Without doing the work, there are no results, and that is soooo not the life that I want to live.  The next time I get to climb a mountain, this time of reflection if going to come to mind.....because I DO want to learn how to embrace the suck.

I want to encourage all of you that are reading this....don't let the knowledge that something you are about to do is something you are not in shape for...or practiced in...or whatever excuse your mind is telling you, stop you from actually doing it. 



Happy Pilgrimming, friends!

Destiny