My wife made a comment the other day to one of her coworkers about a time that we went to a restaurant. It's not often that I'll go to a restaurant, but yeah, it happens on occasion. Anyway, she was telling her coworker that I took my food scale to the restaurant with me so I could weigh my food as to keep track of my nutritional intake. The coworker just laughed and didn't get it. My wife went on to give a description of me setting the on my little food scale, taring it out, then systematically weighing each food item and writing the measurements down.
The coworker just stared at my wife as though she must be married to a lunatic.
I don't care what it is, whether it's a job you have, a relationship you're in, the band you're in, or you're trying to start up a business or career, or whatever lifestyle you lead - if you aren't <i>devoted</i> to it, you may as well bang your head on a wall while you attempt to do it. When you are devoted, the challenges that life gives you become temporary tests of your strength, rather than permanent setbacks.
The truest test of devotion, however, isn't by surviving the difficulty that life's challenges present us. I believe that devotion can be tested in no truer way than when we are absolutely forced to stay <i>away</i> from the thing we love – not just challenged to persevere through adversity, but to actually have it stripped from us completely. I had to stay away from training for a while earlier this year, maybe you had to put your dream on hold, or maybe you've had to do without that special person that you love. It is this time, when the forces of 'Devotion' and 'Challenge' combine, that gives us the greatest opportunity for rejuvenation of our passion than we ever could have had otherwise. Or...it can be the time that absolutely breaks us.
If we are fortunate enough, to once again, embrace what we have lost, then this is the time we will know if we have been rejuvenated or broken.
Rejuvenated? Then don't be surprised if you find yourself taking your own butter to Outback because you don't want to eat their margarine, and then you sit there and weigh all of your food before you eat it - all the while onlookers gaze at you as though you are crazy. You do this, because to do otherwise, would make you feel like you're banging your head on a wall.
Broken? Then you are better off for knowing...it was a matter of time before you found out anyway.
Of course, it's entirely possible that once lost, the opportunity for us to repossess what we lost may never present itself again. The end result of that is the same as feeling broken. To which I say, savor every moment you have with what it is that fills your passion <i>now</i>, because you never know when it may be taken away forever.
For me, I have to go lift now.
Yes, with devotion.
Mountain Man
ps All of this restaurant/food weighing stuff reminds me of this <a href="http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=2350081">thread</a> I was involved in at bodybuilding.com. <---(I'm heyzeus909, btw). (posts 1 and 3 are the only relevant ones...it just goes to shit after that.)
pps One of the greatest pleasures I have by doing what I do, is meeting people that are devoted – absolutely brimming with will and determination. It gives me a zest for life. Such as, <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/64508162">Shadow-Warrior87</a>. He's confined to a wheelchair, yet his devotion to overcome life's challenges makes him one of the strongest people I've met. From his page: "I began my quest to buffness and I have to say that I love every aspect of the journey. I want to see how far I can get before I get old and inevitability die..."
ppps Then there's <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/124068964">STEELERJ</a>. He pulled himself up out of an alcoholic filled gutter after watching his mom die of cancer; then devoted himself to providing a better life for, not only himself, but for his kids, as well. He gets up at 3:30am so he can get his workout in before punching in at work at 6:00am. Mix in kid duties and AA meetings, and by 7:00pm, he's ready to drop. I don't believe it very often when someone tells me they worked out until they puked...but I believe it when <i>he</i> tells me.
pppps The two most common complaints I get are from people reporting that working out is too hard, or they don't have time for it. These two guys are the ones that I first think of when I hear people complaining. In reality, what these people are telling me isn't that they can't put in the effort or the time, but that they simply aren't devoted. If you don't get devoted, you're going to end up broken.
It's just like banging your head on a wall.
This is my new website, if you're interested: <a href="http://eatcleanlifthard.com/forum/index.php">EatCleanLiftHard.com</a>. Thanks.
<b>*</b>The 'Wit and Wisdom' series is published and distributed by Barnes and Noble, and has featured the greatest minds of American history, such as, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and Mark Twain - to name a few. Although Barnes and Noble hasn't approached me to do a book detailing my vast wit and wisdom, it's really only a matter of time.
This blog was originally posted at <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/68555377">Mountain Man's myspace.</a>
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