This message came at a perfect time right after my...I struggled through my circuit training at home.
EXERCISE DOESN'T EVER GET EASIER, BUT IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR STRESS RESPONSE.
Just a side note, I've been exercising for a long time, since I was a kid; I was always on a sports team. And it doesn't get easier, you guys! It's not like, “Oh, now I'm a pro, and it's super chill”
No! It's always pushing your body. And it's a good stress response where your body gets to practice these low levels of stress, so that when you do have other stressors in life, like actual life stressors, or even inflammation, your body can be stronger to fight that off.
So even though it is suffering, it is low level suffering. I'm not the kind of people who actually enjoys pain. Some people I know, they're like, “I like the burn!” I’m like...okay, I don't. I just enjoy the feeling I get afterwards and not being in pain otherwise when I exercise.
SPARTAN RACE
Anyway, listening to a podcast, just a clip of it so far but I love this message, so wanted to record this video.
It’s by Joe De Sena. He is the founder of Spartan Race. And I have done one Spartan Race. I’ve done the easiest one, and I almost died.
At the end there was like these...you had to crawl on ice under these barbed wires. But “luckily”, there were so many people ahead of us so my friend and I, they were like, “Umm, just to make sure we can direct traffic, can you guys do like 60 burpees instead?”
And this is after running 5k up and down a mountain biking hill, and doing all these other strength exercises and obstacles already, okay?
It was like burpees, it not already fun, and then doing 60 at the end of this race, I almost threw up.
WHEN IS IT OK TO QUIT?
Anyway, so, the question that the interviewer, Dr. Michael Gervais, had for Joe was, “When is it okay to quit?”
And I love this message because he said, “It depends on what your True North is.”
So he gave the example of, if your True North is to be the best father or parent in the whole world, and you're out climbing…okay his examples are for like very elite people, but you can kind of use this in your own life.
He said, if you're climbing you're trying to summit some new mountain, and the storm is rolling in, and you have a small window that you may actually die. And you're like you know what, I actually...should I go for it, and risk my life? And if your Northstar and True North is to be the best parent, [then] you quit this climb, and go to safety, so go back to your family and your children.
But if you're single and you want to be the best mountain climber and break world records, and that's your ultimate goal in life, even if you have a family, but that is your ultimate goal in life, then, you know, you go for it.
Because, it's about...are you quitting, meaning you are now realigning yourself to your ultimate True North?
So that's why it's so important to know what our True North is, so we know when we quit, when we don't quit.
As...things are gonna get hard, right exercise is one thing but doing any type of work or living life in general, it's hard! But especially right now, I don't have to tell you how hard it is.
So we just have to anchor back to what our purpose is or what our True North is, why we're here, because it's so easy for us to avoid pain and suffering and the hardness of life,
But if we stick true to our True North, we can make better decisions on when we need to power through and when it's okay to quit. Or when it's okay to take a break and come back just to regain our energy again.
So hope this message of when to quit resonates with you.
And if you need help figuring out what your True North is, you lost that, I'm here to help! Book a Discovery Call Below 👇🏻