Have you seen it?
That glint in someone’s eye when they are fully committed to the moment that they are experiencing? I call it “The eye of the tiger”.
Perhaps you have been in this situation yourself.
There is a point in every difficult or scary situation where that little voice creeps into the back of your mind. “You can’t do this anymore, you should stop. You’re not strong/good/skilled enough to do this. There’s no way you can lift/jump on/pull/climb over/do that…” Have you heard that inner dialogue before?
If so, you are lucky. There are many people who never have this conversation with themselves. It is a very healthy discussion to be having… let me explain.
You are faced with an argument. An elegantly constructed theory by your brain to preserve the status quo. It is a paradox really. As humans, our greatest accomplishment is our ability to adapt to harsh situations, which is remarkable considering how hard our brains and bodies work against us to remain unchanged. That little voice that you hear in your head when you feeling extra stressed would like very badly for you to give up, to quit, to stop doing whatever it is you’re doing that sparked up that conversation.
It is precisely in that moment however that we get to create an immediate and lasting personal change. If you were to keep track of every conversation you’ve had with that voice, you would notice that it usually occurs when you are pushing yourself to the limits of your current abilities.
The choice that gets to be made in these moments is very important.
You can choose to listen and agree to the well presented, but ultimately flawed argument presented, or you can choose the opposite.
When you tell the voice to shut up, sit down, and enjoy the ride, you make a conscious decision to fully embrace the now. In the moment that you choose to ignore the pain/hard/difficult, you cross over into a state of mind in which you are taking your previously thought limit and running with it. Every step you take with that limit puts you into uncharted territory in your mental and physical capabilities. This moment -however brief in time- is where personal growth occurs. It is where adaptation in its purest form happens, and it is beautiful.
CrossFit as a lifestyle has an uncanny ability to allow that conversation to happen on an almost daily basis. As a coach, one of the best parts of my job is watching the conversation unfold in other people as I know it does in my own head. To see people battle to the edge of exhaustion, and then watch as somewhere deep down, a decision to ignore is made. The look in their eye changes. The eye of the tiger emerges, and the moment has been embraced.
If after reading this you find that you haven’t heard that voice in a while, or ever, it is time to start an argument. If you are unsure of how to get a hold of that voice, here is a simple method:
Walk to the edge of your ability, and take one more step.
The voice will be waiting.
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I heard this voice yesterday attempting max box jumps. It reminded me of all the negatives of jumping that high, bruised legs, bleeding shins, rubber burn…
Attempting any max, I find that voice screaming. It becomes a battle of wits, your own, positive vs. negative. Sometimes the latter wins, most times I try not to let it.
It’s on those days you PR that you really realise you have put that negative voice in its place and said, you shush and let me DO this. And then you do. And it feels great.
Show that voice who is boss.