Take a breath. Close your eyes. Put your hand out. Feel your surroundings. Experience with all your senses the moment. Know only the sweat, pain and triumph…or failure. The clock has no meaning, only the effort.
Now, look at the clock, worry about what time you will get. Tell your self before “Go” how many reps you will get. Know your self imposed limitations and stay in them.
The two examples above could easily be the same person and have likely been all of us at some point. The first person is taking in all that is around them. They are letting the experience drive their performance. The first person knows that the battle is internal, that improvement or failure has little to do with comparisons and much to do with looking in the mirror. This person will go home satisfied knowing that they laid it all on the line or disappointed that something was left. Either way no one will know except them.
The second person is a prisoner. They are a prisoner to the clock. To their friends. To the cage that they have built around themself. Good enough is decided before the effort. Good enough is just enough pain to save face and not enough to scare them. Not enough to bare their soul and to truly show what they are made of. Theirs person is scared to find out.
We are all capable of more. Of being better. Only the experience will stake us there. Only jumping in the deep end will prove if we can swim. Tear down your cage. Take a deep breath. And find out who you are.
