I Ain't Waitin' on the World to Change so SHUT IT John Mayer

Webster's Dictionary defines CHANGE as:

a : to make different in some particular
b : to make radically different
c : to give a different position, course, or direction to

CHANGE has been on my mind lately.  A wise man once told me that "if you're not changing, you're dying".  I think this can be applied on so many levels in one's life.  

In the XFit world we are told time and again to embrace the suck!  I think the same goes for the change.  For someone like myself who feels the most comfortable when there are no surprises and things/events are planned and organized, change is not always welcome.  Who am I kidding, it's almost NEVER welcome.  When I feel the inclination that something is about to change I instantly get on the defensive side and think of all the negative results that it will have.  This I have discovered is not always the case.

About a year ago right around now, I decided that I was going to make a change, as much as I was procrastinating and putting things off, I knew it was time to get serious.  I had been to JN's barn off and on the year previous and never really committed to being serious about change until a very close friend (ok so maybe it was my sister) pretty much told me that if I wasn't willing to invest my time and energy into being committed, not to be surprised when others weren't willing to invest their time and energy into me.  BAM!  What an eye opener for me!  I absolutely NEEDED the right people in my life to invest in me, to coach me, to carry me when I was down and to get in my face and go all Jillian Michaels (although I'd prefer Bob Harper but that's a whole different kinda blog) on me when my internal dialogue was telling me all the reasons why I didn't have the power to finish the WOD, how I was just a fatty and had no business there. This was one of those 'aha moments' that Oprah talks about. I needed to change.  Needed to commit.  Needed to continually tell myself that I was worth the blood, sweat and tears that it was going to take and believe me there was plenty of all three of those.  In the begin of this journey we were still just a small group of crazies that got together and pushed each other to our limits and beyond.  We experimented on different WODs together.  Shared our PRs.  Shared our failures.  It's amazing how this thing that we do truly binds us together.

So a year has passed and you know what, I have battled the mental demons and the physical demons and can truly say that I have the business to be there...all the frickin' business in the world!  I have now embraced the suck and slowly the change.  The box is 'home' to me on really shitty days when the only thing I can muster up energy to do is walk through that door, hopefully get one of those famous 'John Bear Hugs', and know that every drop of sweat is one stress at a time leaving my body.  Anticipating the post wod feeling of absolute exhaustion mixed with the knowledge that you truly left it all out there EVERY time. 

These people who have travelled this road with me and done so many things for me have such a special place in my heart.  Losing any of them sends me into anxiety.  I am who I am today because of my ShopGym family and I will be forever in their debt.

Be the change you wish to see in this world my fellow ShopGym peeps and rock today out like nobodies business!

B