Challenging times are inevitable

I was recently listening to a podcast by Rachel Hollis and she was interviewing Colin O’Brady who walked across Antarctica.  O’Brady grew up being an athlete and found his identity in it. At the age of 22, O’Brady was in Thailand and saw some people on the beach jumping ropes that were on fire.  He decided to give it a try, but the rope got twisted around his leg and he was on fire all the way up to his neck. O’Brady spent months in the hospital in Thailand and the doctors told him that he would probably never walk the same again.  At that moment his identity as an athlete was ripped away. O’Brady’s mother stayed by his bedside and told him “Colin this is a bad situation, but this is not the end of your life, this too will pass, what do you want to do when you get out of here?”  O’Brady told his mother that he pictured himself crossing the line of a triathlon, which he had never done before. From that moment on O’Brady did everything he could to prepare himself. When O’Brady was back in the states he was still in a wheelchair.  His mother said “I know your big goal is to do a triathlon but today your goal is to take your first step. The incremental success towards your goal is you today somehow getting out of that wheelchair and taking your first step”. A year and a half later O’Brady completed and even won the Chicago Triathlon.  

We are all going to face hard times, that is inevitable but in those moments, we get to choose how we react.  O’Brady could have easily given up after his accident and listened to the doctors. Instead, he decided to follow his dream and work relentlessly at achieving it.  What are your dreams? How do you react to the hard times? I know that it is tempting to back down when the hard times come but if you do that, you will never achieve your dreams?  Your dream may be to lose a certain amount of weight. We all know that challenges will come. When you hit a plateau do you give up and think you will never achieve your weight loss goal?  I have been there, but I am reminded that I am in control and it is how I respond to the plateau that will dictate whether or not I achieve my goal. It is so important to focus on the incremental successes.  If you look at the big picture of your goal you will often get overwhelmed and be tempted to give up. Focus on what you can do today or even at the next meal. Those incremental successes will build up and give you the fuel to keep fighting.  We are on this journey together. Your dream may be different than someone else’s but we can work together to push through the hard times.

Coach Erin