I listened to the audiobook, You Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins, and it’s a story about his life. The basis of it is that growing up he had a really tough abusive childhood. When he became an adult, he was overweight, not loving himself, and tired of his life. He looked at himself in the mirror and really honest with himself. He decided that he was going to change his life, and he studies to become a Navy SEAL. There are many obstacles he faces and many setbacks he faces along the way. But, he just keeps getting back up. Even after he becomes a Navy SEAL, he goes on to embracing challenges in many other forms. What I loved about his story was it’s really a story about mindset.

One of his messages is that we’ve become too soft. It’s easy to complain. It’s easy to make excuses. It’s easy to feel sorry for ourselves and get into a victim mentality.

These things are easy to do because we’re living in a very complex modern society and world. We’re constantly bombarded with information. We are lacking wisdom. We’re lacking the ability to really push through our challenges. We think things should be easy, that we should get instant results.

Now, maybe this isn’t you, but I can tell you from my own experience that I pushed myself. I’m somebody who’s always looking to grow. With that being said, I still get into ruts.  I was in a rut and I wasn’t fully aware of it, because oftentimes we think our excuses are real. 

And for me, this was especially true when it came to my physical capabilities. I’m not talking about physique or the way that I look. It doesn’t have to do with vanity, it’s more about being in great physical condition. I want to be in good shape because I want to have energy. I want to have the energy to be able to serve, be a good mom, and feel good.

I waking up feeling not so good, even if there are good things in my life. I was kind of boggled by this, but I would let it go and settle – just thinking of it as just ‘how it is – a little bit tired.’ And I was working out several days a week, but I wasn’t pushing myself – I was maintaining.

After reading this book, I have created a few physical challenges for myself merely because when you move your body, you move emotions, you move stuck energy, you move things that have kept you in a rut. So, if you are feeling stuck, if you are feeling in a rut, take on a physical challenge, run a race, climb a mountain. These are some things that I’m doing.  If you’ve been a runner and you’ve been climbing mountains, do something different. The key is, is to move your body in a very high-intensity way so that you actually can face some of your mental blocks within that arena.

I’ve noticed that with running, doubt will creep in and I  keep going. The first race I ran, my deal with myself was no walking. At one point during the race, there was a very long hill, and this soft voice crept in that it said,  “It’s okay. You could walk a little bit.” I noticed it, and I kept going. 

This past weekend when I ran a race, my self-talk was tremendously better. I was thinking, “I love doing hard things.” It was a very different dialog. I didn’t even have the thought of walking. And I beat my score by two minutes. I’ve made progress. Tony Robbins talks about how progress equals happiness. Which is why I like using the physical arena as the ability to know that you’re making progress. 

If you’re not making progress in an area that’s important to you, whether it be your career, relationships, or physical fitness, take on something that’s bigger that you haven’t taken on. 

I use challenges as a tool to better know myself and where am I getting stuck. What has happened is because I’ve busted through certain limitations running,  I notice when I get too tired, for example folding laundry, I keep going. But before I might have stopped. I see this strong mindset carrying over into my life. It’s a training.

So, let me know. What physical challenge are you going to sign up for? What’s something you have never done before?

Put something on your schedule that is big, that is challenging. 

I signed up to climb a mountain next year in October. I’ll be training all year for it. It’s the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.