Focus

One of the best pieces of coaching/advice I've ever received was simply to focus on my own game. To worry about myself. To "put your game face on, put your head down, and do work." And, to trust the process and believe that what I'm doing is right - to pick a path and stay on it. Starting out it's not something I would have imagined I would need to hear, but after three years I've found that I'm much more competitive than I realized and referring back to this cue tends to solve a lot of problems and answer just as many questions.

I knew that CrossFit was going to be difficult. I expected that trying to lose close to half my bodyweight would continue to be one of the tougher challenges I'd ever face. On that front, I wasn't wrong. What I didn't anticipate was how much I would struggle mentally and emotionally through this journey. How exercising and nutrition would test me on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. Maybe it shouldn't be as hard as it is, but then again, if it was easy it probably wouldn't mean as much.

Photo by Jason Collins - Brickhouse Media Team

I've found many of the things that are difficult for me come very easily to others. That's just the way life shook out, and it's okay. It's been important for me to accept that my struggles are what they are, but also to realize that I'm not alone in the fight. Yes, not everyone has trouble resisting the urge to be destructive to themselves by binging on terrible foods - but there are many ways to be destructive. Many ways to derail one's progress. Many wrong roads to turn down. Many things that put a person at odds with what they think they want in the moment, and their ultimate goals.

That's why it's important to focus on my game, my goals, my nutrition plan, my workouts. Those are the things I can control. Wasting time wondering why she gets to do a particular skill in class or why he can eat ice cream every weekend and why I can't do either is stupid. It only takes focus away from the skills I'm working on to make me better and the food I need to eat so that I can be healthy and lose weight and make all the things I want to be able to do easier. If I'm not looking at the road in front of me it's not a question of if, but when, I'm going to stumble. 

And so we all fight on.