How many times have you tried to get in your best shape? Every time you didn’t reach your goal how many limits have you set for yourself? How many times did you start a plan and sabotage yourself before you could get any momentum? We’ve been conditioned as a society to believe when we put forth a great amount of effort we’re supposed reap benefits or a reward right away (instant gratification) and if we don’t we may try again, but the effort will diminish each time we come up short or don’t get what we want until we reach a point and give up. If we do decide to try later on down the road we have lots of limiting beliefs about what we can’t do and what doesn’t work. Have you ever said you can’t do something without trying it first? Or said you can’t do something in the middle of doing it because it was challenging or you didn’t see the benefit right away? This is my theory, I truly believe that most adults are conditioned to believe that once we reach a certain age we’re not supposed to struggle or be challenged and so when we do face adversity or some challenge we automatically lessen our effort or give up all together. We tend to have a false sense of our self because we associate struggle and challenge as a limitation. But, if we learn to re-associate what these things mean, it’s actually a chance to increase our capacity whether that be in our fitness or in life. The fitness industry is predicated on this idea that its fast and easy for you to burn off fat and create the body you want. It’s a lie! If it was fast and easy we wouldn’t be getting more and more obese and overweight as a country each year. What’s required instead is discipline, and intelligently challenging ourselves on a consistent basis. This requires an effective training strategy and nutrition plan, but even more important emotional fitness. I recently read a story about a woman by the name of Marla Runyan. She’s earned a master’s degree, wrote a book, and competed in the Olympics. She was the first woman to complete the New York Marathon with an impressive time of 2 hours and 27 minutes. The amazing thing about her was the fact that she was blind. She was diagnosed with an eye disease called Stargardt at the age of nine. She won 5 gold medals in Paralympics, won the 1500 meter in 1999 at the Pan American Games, and was the first legally blind athlete to ever compete in the Olympics. In her book when discussing her condition she wrote, “It not only has forced me to prove my competence but also push me to achieve. It has given me gifts, such as will and commitment that I use everyday.” Marla is proof that we can accept conditions imposed on us by our environment and ourselves or we can embrace that our capacity is truly unknown! An emotionally fit person accepts that he or she will face challenges and adversity along their path, and he or she will not always be at their best mentally or physically, but is willing to battle through the storms not ever really knowing what the outcome will be because our capacity as humans are limitless. In order to build emotional strength and physical strength these muscles must be challenged! “Failure is NOT an option!” #GETSOME