Memoir Entry 5
July 10, 2023
Gliding Through the Weekend
On Saturday, I glided through my long run and ran 7 miles at a record pace! My goal is 10:30/mile pace, and I just managed to shoot under 10 minutes at 9:59/mile…sheesh. The most shocking thing about this entire marathon ordeal is how quickly my body has adapted to running, especially at these long distances. It was only a couple of weeks ago when I struggled to run 3 miles without stopping. Cardio has been the death of me since I can remember and I always dreaded it. This entire training process has demonstrated that with consistency and determination, you can accomplish difficult tasks. Whether that’s learning a new subject, attacking a new physical feat, conquering a fear, or intentionally putting yourself outside your comfort zone, it’s possible. So stop telling yourself you're incapable and get the fuck out there.
T-minus 84 days until I make my attempt at 26.2.
Attention to Detail & Physical Care
I’ve always prided myself on doing things the right way. I know that it can be easy to take shortcuts but by crafting your own process of how to navigate struggle, you instill valuable life lessons that make you a better person both mentally and physically. A happy body is a happy mind and vice versa. Take care of yourself and be cognizant of the daily decisions you are making each and every day. Take a moment to think about them: Do these decisions benefit you? How can you eliminate them? How can you embrace them for the better? How can you cope with these flaws to become a positive reflection on society? Maybe it’s committing three days a week to physical exercise. Maybe it’s saying hello and smiling at a stranger. Maybe it’s calling an old friend and shooting the shit. The point is, these are all answers that you will have to develop through trial and error. Comfortability is the root of your eventual demise so find your process of enhancing your physical and mental capabilities. “How do I enhance these capabilities?” Immense struggle, loss, and hardship teach us invaluable lessons that make us stronger in the long run. So find your niche and run with it goddamnit!
My niche is attention to detail. It has served as the groundwork for my success and this weekend proved to be a major deja vu moment. I had the opportunity of going to the 1st Phorm gym, about 20 minutes outside Saint Louis (check that off the bucket list). The facilities were absolutely stunning, but I noticed a small detail about the gym that me stop and think. Employees would periodically go to different areas of the gym making sure that the dumbbells, plates, and machines had the 1st Phorm logo facing up and properly racked. If any weight was upside down, it was quickly turned on its upside by an employee. As a guest lifting there, I also made it a habit to do the same. It wasn’t simply respecting the space either. These small details speak volumes not only about the culture of the company, but its success as well. These small details compound over time and set apart the winners from the losers. Attention to detail!
Life is Not About Happiness, It’s About the Adventure (Take it with a Grain of Salt)
I often hear people say that life is about being happy or at least finding ways to attain happiness. I tend to think differently.
Recently, I heard a talk about how life is an adventure. My generation (Gen Z) has misconstrued the idea of life being an adventure. More often than not we hear people call our generation soft and how we want everything handed to us on a silver platter. I don’t want to get into the deep dive but anyone who goes on any social media platform will understand why we’re called soft; I don’t blame them either. It sucks to have this representation because I truly believe it doesn’t paint an accurate picture of the majority of people born between 1997 and 2012.
Regardless, the goal of this adventure shouldn’t be to attain happiness but to navigate this game we call life. Don’t get me wrong, life can be filled with misery, death, and can be a ruthless place if you’re fully aware of how it works in practicality. Colleges, universities, and or “gated communities” are notorious for willfully blinding all types of individuals from seeing how the world and the people living in it think and act. To think of spending all that money only to fall in line with the privileged sheep is ridiculous. Additionally, we like to put ourselves in these social bubbles where all of our demands should be met or else we are subject to fall into a deep state of sadness or depression. Combined, these environments create a death spiral that leads us to an insatiable rabbit hole where our privileged demands will never be met. The conclusion is simple. We are doing more harm than good for the younger generations. We need to preach practicality and at least tell people that life isn’t perfect and it never will be! Simply catering to comfortability will continue to be a stain and more importantly a detriment to Gen Z and more. As I said in the previous paragraph, we need to evaluate our processes and understand that struggle bridges the gap between hardship and happiness. Take life with a grain of salt. It can seem overly complicated but with the right mindset and willingness to put aside your ego, its benefits are endless.
Get out there. Life’s an adventure. Grab it by the horns. You’ll be shocked at the places it takes you.
“Holding a high bar is uncomfortable because it is ‘exclusionary,’ and most people want to make everyone around them happy and comfortable. If you hold a standard, it can’t include everything…Figuring out your line and holding to it, will mean some tough conversations.” — Dr. Julie Gurner
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” — Marie Curie
