Choosing the goodness

“For, you see, while facts are important, interpretation of facts is the final builder or destroyer of man and his dream. If we choose to find ourselves minor, or of no worth, the dust will burn and hide our bones. But if we choose to step back into the Garden, devour the apple, throw the snake out into the ditch, and survive forever out beyond the Coalsack Nebula, the choice is ours. We will build Olympus and put on our crowns once more.”

– Ray Bradbury, Beyond (1979)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am fascinated by perception.

What are the primary forces that shape it?
What makes those forces so intricately unique for every individual?
How accurately can we track where perception originates?
How well can we identify and self-correct deficiencies between how we actually perceive something, and how we know we want to?
Why are some of us more aware of it than others?
And, to what extent does that awareness help us, or hurt us?

Enough questions, already… I know, I know!!

Call me a nerd all you want, but sometimes I wish tracking perception was as cool as tracking macros.

(Maybe someday…..?!)

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This post is really just another reminder to choose the goodness, always. Some days you ride it, some days you drive it.
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Now here’s the irony – I was going to start this post with how busy life has been. (Sound like a familiar story??) How before last Friday, I’d only been to the gym three times in the last three weeks. (Of course I’ve still been walking and running! Besides the point though.) I was going to talk about how it wouldn’t stop freakin raining for a few days. And that I keep losing my voice (and not getting it back all the way) because there’s so much talking I have to do on a daily basis, and I can’t keep up.

Um, enough. And here was the reality check:

“BUSY” IS NOT A BADGE OF HONOR. It never will be, and neither will the story about it as an excuse.

So I could contribute a pathetic, nauseating story to the world, or – you know – just choose the goodness.

Enter the 2018 CrossFit Open. And what seemed like a damn good opportunity to live out a lesson, rather than just think about it.

Ultimately here’s why I’m doing it:

1. When game time rolled around, I still felt butterflies.
2. As soon as I felt them, I had all the faith I needed to tell “rational” to shut up and let the competitor in me go PLAY.
3. Performance on demand. (Picked up that gem from a Brian Chontosh podcast.)
4. This will be my last Open. And going all out on that last sprint ALWAYS feels good.

Maximizing the experience of 18.1 was – in every way – a huge success. I look forward to doing the same for four more weeks.

Beyond that, I’ll say this: CrossFit, you’re awesome. But I’ve changed. :)

Wishing all the good luck and good health upon everyone participating this year! May you keep choosing the goodness. <3
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“I began to experience painful moments in a radically different way. Instead of feeling frustrated or overwhelmed, I saw pain as nature’s reminder that there is something important for me to learn. Encountering pains and figuring out the lessons they were trying to give me became sort of a game to me. The more I played it, the better I got at it, the less painful those situations became, and the more rewarding the process of reflecting, developing principles, and then getting rewards for using those principles became. I learned to love my struggles, which I suppose is a healthy perspective to have…”

– Ray Dalio