Only seeing the waves and not the Ocean.

Only seeing the waves and not the Ocean. 

I'm back. I've have been on a writing hiatus since the start of the Open. There's been a bunch of stuff lately that has been pushing me to start writing about perspective. About avoiding the tendency to always looking to the road ahead, and never looking how far you've come. It's so easy to look at your goals and your expectations and become frustrated. Maybe because you're not reaching them fast enough or you're not reaching your expectations of yourself.

Like I said this subject kept popping up as if I needed to talk about it. This started with a conversation I had with Little. We were talking about how long she has been doing CrossFit for and when she started. Funny enough she started 5 years ago right around the Open. Little recalled watching people doing the Open work outs and she thought to herself "I'll never be that strong." Fast forward 5 years to present day, I dare to say Little is stronger, faster and more powerful then she ever thought she could be.

It's so easy to get humbled in life, business, work, CrossFit and in everything. But a little perspective goes a long way. Michele just posted a Time Hop picture of the old gym on Facebook and it instantly brought me back to where it all started and how far the gym has come. It's funny to me because often in this world with Instagram, Facebook and Twitter it's so easy to think the grass is always greener on the other side. On social media no one or very few people show themselves making a mistake or messing up. For the most part people only post and show the best parts of their lives on Social Media, the exotic vacation they took, their chiseled 6 pack abs or their PR lifts.

It's so easy to look on social media at someone else's life and start comparing yourself to them.  Doing this makes you ignore or forget how far YOU'VE come and what YOU'VE accomplished. When I first started at CFGR we had zero members. Not a single member. I spent the first couple weeks or months sitting and waiting like a lost puppy waiting for someone to show up. It's so easy to look at what we don't have, when we should spend some time looking at we do have and what we have accomplished. Take a minute to slow down, look around in your life and appreciate where you are and where you came from. In fact do it right now.   Stop what you're doing and think about where you were 5 years ago. Seriously.  Stop reading this and think about it... Take the time to appreciate what you've done.

To help get this perspective find an old training log and look through it at the weights you lifted 5 years ago. Look back at your picture of what you looked like 5 years ago. Look back at what school you were in or what job you had 5 years ago or what your kids were doing 5 years ago. Don't forget how far you've come! Now that you've gained that perspective and appreciation, realize how far you've come and let yourself live in that moment. Enjoy this moment, right now this very second. Enjoy it and be thankful. Seriously stop right now and enjoy it and be thankful...................................

Great! Now you know how far you've come.   Don't be satisfied with it. You now know how far you can go so keep pushing. Think how far you can be in another 5 years if you just keep staying after it. We all face set backs, but those are only small hiccups in a longer journey. Keep pushing, keep going and every once in a while take some perspective.   Reflect and enjoy what you've accomplished. Don't focus on what other people are doing or compare yourself to other people.

On the subject of talking about where the gym has come and our journey, I'm going to be doing an interview/conversation with Austin Mariglia on his Facebook page, about the gym, coming up on March 24th. I'll post more info soon about the interview/conversation.