I am a student of life.
As such, I am constantly pursuing more understanding in what life has to offer. How do we help people deal with high stress or high anxiety situations? Do we throw them into the middle of the pool with a sink-or-swim mentality? Or, do we make it easier and have them wade in a small, shallow kiddie pool?
We do not have the ability to make the world easier. Trying to make it easier isn’t fair to the student or person you’re trying to help.
Instead, what I try to do is break the challenge into small, manageable steps. Let’s put your feet in the water and hang out there for a day. Then let’s sit on the stairs or steps for a day. We are addressing the fear by breaking the idea of swimming into smaller steps.
Every time we do this, we are not making it easier. What we are doing is expanding his or her tolerance of discomfort.
I had a new athlete yesterday that had a litany of reasons as to why she would be slow, weak, incapable, etc.
I told her I don’t care. It doesn’t matter what you can do right now because you are here to get better. That’s what many people don’t realize. No one else cares. We are all here to improve, myself included. We are comforted and encouraged by each other’s suffering.
My job is to show you a couple simple ideas:
- You don’t know what you are capable. Most people quit when it’s uncomfortable because there is a fear of injury. While I am a chiropractor and clinical nutritionist, I don’t want my clients to be injured. That’s just bad business. First and foremost, I am here to help you feel good and move well. Strength comes with time when you’ve mastered moving well.
- You can improve your capacity. I am helping you expand your cardiovascular and strength capacities. But, most importantly, I am expanding your capacity to be uncomfortable.
My goal is simple: To make you comfortable with being uncomfortable. Every day, we try to improve even by the smallest of margins. It is the aggregation of these marginal gains that leads to the transformation of self.
The amount of progress you make is only limited by you and the excuses you give yourself. Come in, day in and day out to improve. You will get there, one day at a time. Begin laying that foundation one brick at a time by showing up every day.
If you find yourself a little uncomfortable today, come in. There’s no better time. You will only say, “I should have done this sooner.”