Here's my life lessons I learned from the barbell today as I dropped the bar over and over and tried and tried again.
One of the things the snatch requires is for you to "get under the bar" quick. And what I mean by that is you pull the bar overhead very technically and then drop under it in a complete deep squat. It terrifies me.
1. Because it is an unnatural position for me, it does not come easily.
2. I am afraid I can't do it without falling so it is very hard for me to commit.
Basically these two things mean I don't want to FAIL!
This reminds me of my life sometimes. Athletically things have come naturally for me. It is not hard for me to catch on to different things. I have played sports all my life and seem to catch on. And if I don't quite get it at first I just charge through until I do. My husband has called me a bull in a china closet. However, I cannot just barge through on this. It's very technical. If I don't understand the finesse and technique I will never get it. Patience has to come into play. And patience has never, ever come easy for me.
SO HERE'S MY OPTION: I can keep doing and probably failing along the way. Get frustrated and drop the bar lots in hopes I will "get it" one day. Or I can move on to something much easier for me. Something that does not require the work, the perseverance, and the frustration?
I have always thought of myself as a brave person, not afraid of risks, etc...but I start to think, maybe I am brave at ONLY the things that I know I will be able to accomplish or come easy for me. Maybe I have never been really brave at the things I have to really try hard at, fail at, and get up and try again. THE HARD THINGS....
Just like I am afraid to go deep into that squat with a shiz ton of weight over my head. Actually more like the bar and some 10-15 lb. plates, which seems like a lot to me. (I just recently got the PVC over my head in that position if that tells you anything), maybe I am afraid to go "deep" into things that I don't know for sure I am going to conquer or be good at. And what if I never really "get it," will I be ok with that too?
I don't know the answer to these questions, but here's what I know right now.
- I am going to keep trying regardless if I fall flat on my behind or face.
- I am going to train myself to do HARD things not just in working out, but in life. When it gets hard, I just keep working at it.
- I am going to surround myself with people who know what the heck they are doing. I am going to learn, pick brains, and watch random "snatchers" viddys.
- I will surround myself with "team" those who encourage me to try AND never let me QUIT.
- And lastly I am going to let my kid watch me fail and try again. I want him to know not everything comes easy. We work at things, we fail at things, we get back up and we do it over and over again, because that's how we roll.
What if we all promised ourselves we would do things that were hard. When that nagging voice comes in our heads and says, "you can't do that, did you see such and such do that better than you?" This could be in all areas of life. What if we shut those down and just did it anyway? What if we captured those negative thoughts and remembered who God really made us to be! What if we called a trusted friend and said, " I don't wanna try again, I am dunzo, I am sick of failing!" And she gently picked us back up for us to try again.
WHAT IF....Regardless if we conquered it, regardless if we mastered it one day, we keep on just to say we never gave up on ourselves and we never stopped trying.