Ya’ll wanna know something that really rocking my socks off right now? OWNING A HOME! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, this gal has her name on a title to a piece of property (Mr. and Mrs., of course) and is totally lovin’ it. Namely, the luxuries of garages, dishwashers and garbage disposals have been the biggest load lighteners. Not having to scrape a car windshield in -10 degrees at 7am or subject torn hands to soapy dish water submersion is damn near heaven on Earth. This must be what the cavemen felt like when they discovered fire…or when immigrants get off the boat. It’s absurd how much we take the small things in life for granted. If you have a garbage disposal in your home count it amongst your blessings. I consider you high class and livin’ large. However, that’s not even the best part. For the first time ever, I live in a house with a water softener. Ladies, those two words have the capacity to change your life. You won’t believe the wonders this thing will do for your weave until you experience it. I feel like I belong in a shampoo commercial my hair is THAT soft these days. My love for showers has increased 10 fold (yes, I do shower, for those of you might have questioned it.) So yeah, we are officially adult, high rollers with framed portraits and art hung on our walls and guest bedrooms with matching pillowshams and duvets, NBD.
Speaking of guest bedrooms, one of them is currently occupied. Our good friend and CrossFit brethren Mr. Steven Palmer has taken up residence in one of our spare rooms with his cool GF, Gabby. So, as if we didn’t talk about/think about/do CrossFit enough, now we have another person under our roof to perpetuate the illness. Perfect.
Yes. I let this kid sleep under our roof.
So, amidst all of this joy and gloriousness in achieving the American Dream, let’s just talk about the moving experience itself. I mean, why wouldn’t we pick the weekend of subzero temperatures to move all of our worldly possessions to a different town with the man power of three? Oh, and did I mention the miniature blizzard (no, not the delicious DQ treat) that decided to pass through on this same exact day? Sounds pretty ideal… PS we rented the biggest U-Haul available…and my husband has THE WORST anxiety when operating motor vehicles. Want to guess what backing that thing up into a narrow driveway on a residential, slippery ass snowy street was like for him? Ha, if you know Roy well enough, I’m sure you can imagine…
I felt like this song should have been playing in the background.
You know these types of days… when not a damn thing is going right and when you think it couldn’t get worse, it does. So, here we are in this less than awesome of circumstances that CAN’T be change…the only choice available is to change your perspective.
I’m pretty Type B…roll with the punches, live and let live, que sera sera type mentality. Because of that I like to think I make the most of even the crappies of crap situations. Taking life too seriously is just asking to be disappointed. Some things you can control, some things you can’t…and those things you just have to accept. I’ll even one up that…things you can control and you eff up, those things you just have to accept, too. Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda…pointless words. There is a saying I default to when efforts have been exhausted: “It is what it is.” On this moving day, saying “we should have just waited until next weekend” or “we could have fit everything in a smaller U-Haul” isn’t going to help anything. It is what it is, how are we going to make the best of it?
Let’s take this to another setting…the gym. I feel like in the gym the “it is what it is” saying gets over ridden by mentalities like:
…this isn’t the answer.
If you really do put in your best effort, 110%, on the ground fully winded, you hold your head high and be damn proud of that sweat angel you just made. Don’t justify why you didn’t get one more round or that last rep…”I would have gone faster but my hand tore”… “Ugh, I should have finished that round, but I couldn’t hold on to the bar” …whatever rational explanation you have in your brain…it’s a limit and it’s holding you back. *Change your perspective* Going balls out and putting your full heart into a workout means having no shoulda, woudla, coulda to speak of after time is called. You can only do your best, and when it’s over, it’s over. Don’t sit around and talk about it for the next 284 minutes with your friends and let the short comings define your performance. One workout does not a CrossFit athlete make. Gotta take from it what you can, learn, laugh, and move on.
Stemming from a moving day experience, this philosophy is not just in the gym, this goes for life in general. Living with no regrets is the only way to do it. Life is too short to not live it to the fullest. Holding yourself down with reasons NOT to do something…how about the reasons why your SHOULD? Maybe talk about those. *Change your perspective* Instead why you didn’t PR or finish a workout like you wanted, how about you address the things you DID do well? *Change your perspective* Celebrate little victories, admit the weaknesses and leave the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” out of it. It either is or it isn’t and you’ve learned.
I have totally been guilty of dwelling on less than stellar workouts or other disappointments in life; it’s human to react like that. But once I realized it’s not worth it, life got so much less annoying and positive energy happened. So I’m paying it forward..
I challenge you to check yourself post WOD, leaving the gym…or next time life throws you a curveball- a U-Haul in a snow storm- or something worse that could potentially knock you on your ass…how are you responding? It’s your choice to be a Positive Polly or Negative Nancy. Just remember…
It is what it is, yo!
Kenzie Riley Keeps it Real (KR)^2 