A Little Walk Lindsey And I Took Last Year
These past couple weeks for me have proved one major thing for me: approach things with the right frame of mind and GREAT things happen! I have taken so many things off my plate, and this has allowed me to get so much more done with the most important things. I have officially opened my temporary gym space, my training gains have been taking off, my recovery and mobility is getting greater and i have been feeling all around in much better spirits than in a while!
So how has this happened? Well, it took me bearing down a little bit and telling myself what was important. Here’s the thought process that I went through:
I made a set time to get myself completely alone (normally I would head out to the woods for this, but this time, I just sat on my couch). Then I asked the question: What do you want?
I wanted to do everything in my power to make it to the CrossFit Games in 2012, I wanted to open a gym, and I wanted to get my Courage Bars officially up for sale! That’s it. So how would I be able to stick with these basic, “simple” goals? Well, by taking all the other ones I had (and trust me, I had a LOT), making sure they were all written down, and putting them off in a folder somewhere for another time. Then, to help my crazy, spastic brain out, if another idea came to me (at least one a day, seriously….) I would quickly write it down and stock it in the “idea and future plans” folder. Now, all of my energy would either be directed directly towards the three things I want the most right now, or, into learning how to chill out. So, napping, resting, stretching, deep breathing, walking around and spacing out are all things I am very quickly teaching myself are GOOD things to do.
The brutal truth of it all is as follows: I did all that stuff all the time! I mean seriously people, how much time to you truly spend each day doing nothing productive? All I have been focusing on is allowing those times to genuinely be relaxing for me. If I am going to zone out in from of the computer for an hour or two, or in front of the TV, it will be because that is exactly the plan. I won’t stress about it, I won’t panic about “all this other stuff I have to get done”, I’ll allow myself to do the things I need to do to feel happy and healthy. This is incredibly relaxing and peaceful, seriously; it’s awesome. And, interestingly enough, it is literally what all those self-help advice givers are all about. Be honest with yourself about the things you do, and all of a sudden you release most of your stress.
The main change for me was learning how to convince myself that doing nothing wasn’t a waist of time. See, I would sit with y computer, doing “work”, watching TV shows on Hulu for like 4 hours. The fact of the matter is, I really wasn’t getting all that much work done. So, rather than create all this made up stress, and if I really did spend a good deal of each day just chilling out, reading or watching TV programs, I might as well enjoy the rest time to the fullest. All I can say is that my stress has been going away. It feels great. And my gains in the gym are finding their way WAY back up!
So, if you’re planning on shilling out, CHILL OUT. Take your relaxation just as seriously as your work and your work will be that much better. Give it a shot.
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage