"There are some goals that just aren’t going to happen."

 

Just saw this post on Facebook. Great perspective and so very true. It has taken me 5 years to get to this realization, that there are some things that I just might not ever be able to do. And it's ok because I'm still not sitting on my couch watching the world go by. I am getting fitter, warding off old age, and spending time with some of the best friends I have had in a long time.  They are (for the most part) a kind, like minded, non-judgmental. helpful, healthy group of people.

So, read this post and cut yourself some slack!!

NEVER

I’m five years into my crossfit journey, and I continue to learn. Even though I’m a lot better than I was when I started, I still am astonished at how much growth still happens on a regular basis.
If you had told me five years ago how much I’d be able to do in 2015, my mind would have been blown. I had been a bookish, non-athletic, somewhat pudgy kid, and though I was able to run (slowly) long distances as an adult, I never really developed any meaningful strength or athleticism. At 44, I’m stronger, faster, tougher and more skilled than I ever dreamed could be possible.
But on the other hand, when I compare myself to other people in crossfit, many of whom have been doing it for shorter periods of time, and who don’t spend nearly as much time and effort trying to improve, I can see that I’m well behind many of them.
When I hear about my girl P walking a yoke with 500#, when I go to competitions and see people do things that are downright extraordinary, I realize that as far as I have come, there are some people who are doing things that I will never do.
I have often struggled with the injustice of it all. People who didn’t care as much, who didn’t work as hard, still were cruising right past me.  I’d get jealous, mad, and sad, but it didn’t change a darned thing.  

So now, after all this time, I’m finally figuring out something that was tormenting me before.  There are some goals that just aren’t going to happen. Really. Never going to happen.  And I don’t mean that to denigrate my accomplishments.  It’s just the truth.  No amount of training or hard work or protein shakes (or HGH or steroids, or anything else I can come up with) will make up for my genetics, natural body type, lack of athletic history or age.
Never’s a hard word to take in. Both in crossfit and in my outside life, I sometimes fight the reality.  I look at how I am, and then how other people have what I want, and I chafe.  I feel bad about myself or angry/jealous at them, but why? There are some things in this world that we might want, but will never have.  I have some sort of idea that if I can’t have exactly what I want,or if someone has something that’s better than mine, then it’s no good.  Why is that person’s hair nicer than mine (house more organized? seem happier? have a more active social life? etc.) Their life must be amazing. Why do I not get to have what they do? I have a similar fantasy in crossfit-if only I could deadlift 300, (get that darned muscle up, row faster, etc.) I know I’d be happier. But without those things, I just bang my head against a wall.
But that’s beginning to change.  I’m realizing that never is not necessarily a bad word, We’re not always going to get every single thing we want. I can keep fighting the reality, or I can just enjoy my own personal efforts and growth. I can enjoy the goodness in the life I do have. I can show up, do work, keep getting a little better, or I can fight it and complain and drive myself into the ground. The choice is obvious.  Embrace the things I will never do–don’t take it personally, and embrace the things I can do, the things I might do someday. Enjoy what is.
Being an elite athlete looks like fun, I can’t lie. But I’m guessing that it comes with its own challenges and stressors.  Being a community participant, with almost zero pressure on my performance has its own blessings. My crossfit goal is not to be the best, or lift the most, or for people to stand around and whisper at my mind bending skills. If that’s my goal, it’s a poor match with reality.
My true goal is to have fun. It’s to be fit with my friends. It’s to challenge myself and continue to grow. It’s to encourage others and myself, together, to be the best we can be, whatever that is.

ORIGINAL POST :  http://sweatpantsoclock.tumblr.com/post/127453145501/never

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