A few weeks ago I posted about the Fall Brawl. It was a great event and I had a blast.
But I have to be honest... me and Crossfit have been in a little bit if a funk. I got it all in my head that I have to do all the workouts as fast as the best guys and be one of the strongest. It hasn't been going as well as I would like. The reason is this simple truth:
Aaaaand there was my dose of perspective.
When I first heard of Crossfit I thought it was just a great work out program. I found out that it's the hardest work out program I've ever done. But as time went on I realized that Crossfit is much more than that. It's actually a lot of fun to do the workouts. It's even more fun to do the work outs with a bunch of great people that are supportive, inspiring, and fun to be with. It's a community of people who value life and honor the people in our military who defend us every day. It's way more than just another gym.
That's what I needed remember. That was my dose of perspective. I never started Crossfit to be the best or strongest. I started it to get in better shape but I discovered much more. I got obsessed with being an "elite" athlete and when I wasn't getting the results I wanted immediately, I got bummed out.
When I first started Crossfit, I had one goal: Show up, don't quit. (is that 2 goals?)
So I'm not throwing in the towel or anything. I'm going to continue to try to get better, faster, stronger; but I'm going to calm down about it and remember that it's all about feeling good and having fun and not about the numbers I put up.
3... 2... 1... GO!
I've definitely been in a funk since the competition, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to compete in sectionals which kind of led me to reevaluate everything (because part of that evaluation process led me to think, "Why bother, I'm not that fast or strong and why work my ass off when I still won't be at the level I'd want to be if I'm going to compete...") and it's frustrating. But I think your point is good -- it helps to remember why we do CrossFit and the bigger picture of what it is and what it does for us, even though I think it's easy to get caught up in the competitive aspect of it, whether it's an actual competition or just the daily times on the board (I think that's partly due to the culture of crossfit and partly something we, or at least I, do to ourselves.)
ReplyDeleteDid you see this video from Lake Tahoe? http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/11/roundtabletahoe-psychological.tpl
I think some of their comments were really good, especially Spealler's. And Mikko's too.
AND (not to ramble on and on about this, but it's something I've been thinking about a lot and I think we're in similar positions in some ways on this) I think it's important to keep in mind where you started and how long you've been doing this compared to most people, especially guys like Blake and Dave. You started, what, a little over a year ago? You've come so far in that amount of time!
ReplyDeleteI know I get especially frustrated when it seems like people can do so much more than me so much more quickly, but when I think back to where I was when I started and the background with which I came in (had no idea what a squat was...had never touched a barbell...) compared to where I am now, it helps keep it all in perspective. It has also helped that I wrote down some goals for myself over the summer that I wanted to do by the end of the year -- some that I thought would be easily attainable and some not so much -- and it has helped being able to note when I reach those goals and seeing in a more concrete way my own improvement instead of just comparing myself to others.
Okay, sorry, I'm off my rant. This is really all just a reminder for myself more than anything.
Christina - It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who is struggling. It seems like I'm the only one. I appreciate your comments and the energy you bring to the gym. Thanks for being a great friend. I'll check out that article.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this while eating some doritos and my big act of 'sacrifice' was forgoing the soda with it.
ReplyDeleteMuch like I said with perspective dose #1 and how we don't look at the folks below us ... if it helps, I am in awe of how great you're doing, the video I saw of you competing, and how great you look and thinking why can I never seem to get out of this funk of sticking with a program and bettering myself instead of dealing with self-pity.
So you may not be as big or bad as Blake and Dave as Christina says but you're pretty awesome in my world if that means anything.
Thanks BP! It means a lot! I just wish we lived in the same city... cause then we'd get buff together! Wait... does that sound bad? Should I "no homo" that?
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