How has things been since my last blog? Yes, I’ve been busy with life both personal and professional. Everything I’m doing today is no different from any other moment in my past but I’ve learned something as I amassed knowledge from one day to the next. One of many rules I’ve learned is: Things you want in life doesn’t happen in the time you want it.
One sunny Spring day, I made my regular scheduled visit to the gym. The discipline starts out with weightlifting and then completing the workout with some serious cardio. I get in the zone during my stretching routine right before the elliptical. I set my radio on the cell and I’m off. I have to say one of the few moments I have to myself to think is on the elliptical. There is nothing else but my breath control and will to push through the 30-minute exercise. I start out with a warm-up to get the blood going. After the slow start, I kick it up at a steady pace for the next interval. Somewhere in the middle, I raise the tension for a few minutes and then bring up the incline to increase the difficulty. The last leg of my exercise is sprints and a steady pace to the finish line. Sometimes I do 30 minutes and other days I push it to 45 minutes. Lately, I’ve been making out at 30 minutes. *cough*, Ahem, *cough* At the end, the result of my activity is a drenched shirt and a satisfied feeling of accomplishment. One more day has been conquered. I feel good.
During my sweat-soaked routine, my mind drifts to many parts of my life. It fades in and out on my family, money, business and other things that makes its way to my consciousness. As beads of sweat run down my brow and my breath grows deeper, I realized one simple analogy… Life is like a cardio workout. We all go through it. It has its pace. It moves at various speeds and difficulty levels. You reach your goals. You get hurt. Yet, you can recover. All in the end, if you stay dedicated, you become a better you.
Life, like cardio, is in motion at a steady pace. Everything is beautiful but you know you must kick it up to achieve a certain point. Life builds up the tension that requires you to put in more effort. You’ll breathe harder. Faster. Muscles will get tense but you relax. Tension dissipates. At times, it’ll get steep and you’ll have to push forward, push hard and breathe deeper. No stress. Stay focused and it’ll slow down at some point. Focus on the breathing and inhale the oxygen. It’s just apart of life. Although, be mindful, there will be a time when you will need to sprint. Get ready. It will come out of nowhere! Dig deep and go! The challenges will present itself but hopefully your conditioning you built up is enough for the duration. Be committed because the next rest will come.
Unfortunately, what comes with strenuous activity are the injuries. Don’t get discouraged. Get off for a while and recover. Learn what you did wrong, heal yourself and when you’re ready, just jump back on. Start slow then build back up to where you were before. Remember, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Life is the cardio activity that will make you stronger in the end. All you have to do is stay with it. Stay the course.
I strive to be the best person I can be. I try to improve my mind and body. Every day is a day to improve my ability to attain my personal and professional goals. What I’ve learned over the years is if I really want to accomplish life goals, I have to be willing to sweat and put in the effort, expect the injury, recover, get back on and continue. Just keep going. Just keep going. At some point, the conditioning will be at an optimal level and you’ll look back and see all you have accomplished. At every step, every stride, every breath and every sweaty shirt you took off is one step closer to being the best person you’ve always dreamed to be. So… get on that treadmill and get started. Trust me, it all works out in the end. No pun intended.
Written by Nova Phoenix