Lesson Learned

September 19, 2012

In my short 31.75 years of life (not 32 yet!) I have learned many lessons. They started as a baby, when my parents “tried” to teach me “NO,” and continued through my childhood when I was taught right from wrong, good from bad, the difference between tattle tailing and telling what needed to be told and the famous treat others as you want to be treated. Of course there have been many, many more lessons learned (never play leapfrog with a unicorn and don’t eat yellow snow being some more of the “wiser” lessons) through my life, far too many to list or even recall at one time in one sitting. I can say that some lessons I had to learn the hard way, some were drilled into my head so I didn’t ever have to think twice about them and some I just developed on my own. The lessons that I learned the hard way seem to be the ones that have had the most impact on my life. Maybe that’s because whatever it was that I experienced to cause the burn or teach me the lesson is something I will never forget and that’s what makes it so real and harsh. Though I totally feel that sometimes you have to break the rules and see what happens… maybe it will have a positive result, create a new lesson learned…  but then again… maybe not.

Its no secret that my parents have been the most influential people in my life. I thank god in every way I possibly can that I was blessed with the most amazing people to start the process of “molding” me into the woman I am today. When I talk to my mom she says things like “Sarah, we just pointed you in the right direction and hoped that it would all come together… you were going to go whatever way you wanted to go.” Even after she says that to me I have to say that they don’t take enough credit for what they have done for me as a child and still do for me as an adult. Maybe they never actually “teach” me a lesson some cases (but believe me… I was taught MANY lessons from doing stupid shit as a child and teenager, I was the queen of “maybe we wont get caught”)…  but I learned (and still learn) so many life lessons just by their actions. How they handle themselves in certain situations, how I see them process the “good, bad and ugly,” how they treat other people and how they treat themselves, their family, my brothers and I…  all of those things teach and have taught me the lessons that have made me “this way”. I am proud of that. I can only pray that I am half of the parent for my future children that they are for me.

Today I saw this particular image was immediately inspired to write.  I couldn’t help but think of how many times I have learned this lesson. I think its normal to get lost in the “what happened” and lose focus on the “whats going to happen.” Of course depending on the situation and severity of said situation, the duration of time that you “should” be focused on the “what happened” can vary, but really, until you get past that and start thinking of how you are going to react and how you are going to process and move forward you will be stuck in what could be a very unpleasant position in life. I have learned (see how this works) to channel my energy in a positive way. There are going to be things that happen in life that I don’t like, don’t understand and might not want to do… but with all those situations, sometimes I don’t have a choice as to whether I can bow out, walk away or not deal with. So, I have to think of the good things that might result in such event, or figure out why I don’t want to do it and see if there is a way to “deal.” In the past I would have just decided that it was going to suck… that I didn’t want to do it… that it was going to be “horrible” and… guess what… more often than not, it was. Maybe not because it actually was horrible, but because I couldn’t see past the blinders and let myself enjoy whatever it is that I was doing. Suck it up buttercup, look at the other side of the situation, find the good and maybe, just maybe it wont be so bad.

At the gym there are always ups and downs. There are extremely frustrating moments, like my 3 minutes swearing at the wall during the handstand pushup WOD at Garage Games managing to only get ONE in all that time… balanced out by extremely rewarding moments… like this morning completing the workout with all the handstand pushups that I could muster all Rx. That day, at Garage Games, I could have internalized that moment, got stuck in it. I could have continued to think about how frustrating it was and shy away from every handstand pushup workout that came my way. I could have sulked over it and said “I cant do it Rx” when I saw them come up in the next workout. I could have continued to focus on “what happened” rather than looking forward, looking at how to make that never happen again. I learned that lesson long ago… back before I can even remember what it was I learned it by doing. I am sure it had something to do with a conversation with my Dad on the way home from a sporting event or dance recital… “Sarah, you know what you did wrong. Now how are you going to be sure that you never do that again? You know how to fix it. You are going to practice, focus and never ever give up on that. You might fall, you might not succeed the next time, or even the time after that, and that’s ok, just never ever stop trying and you will never ever fail.” I heard my Dads voice in my head telling me that the very next time I was at the gym. I was up on that wall doing HSPU’s focused on “moving forward.” Yes, I have failed… and I will absolutely fail again… but today was a break through and I was not going to give up. Thanks Dad!

WARMUP:

Bear Crawl Length of Gym

3 Rounds

- 5 Med Ball Cleans

- 5 K2E

- 10 Spiderman

- 10 Grasshopper

- 10 Superman

Bear Crawl Length of Gym

WOD: "Fight Gone Terrible"

1 min each station with 1 min rest after round

3 Rounds

- HSPU

- Ring Rows

- Back Extensions

- Box Jump (20")

- Calorie Row

(85 + 79 + 75 = 239 Rx)

SKILL/STRENGTH:

- Mobility (since I already did 1RM for Back Squat and OH Press)

2 Min at Each:

Couch Stretch, Pigeon Stretch, Frog, Shoulder LAX, Banded Shoulder

- 50 Hollow Rocks (day 10)

Just a small disclaimer here… there are going to be days here and there that I just post some influential or funny picture and my WOD from here on out. I don’t want to wind up behind on blogging my WOD’s just because I didn’t have time to write a post for the day. I feel like I write much better when its one post a day that was inspired by something that happened in real time. So if there are days that feel lack luster I am sorry. I will try to limit that. 

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