One of the greatest joys of Friendship for me has been the ability to build long-term connections that transcend distance. Many of my best friends have moved away, but our shared passion for fitness and pushing boundaries keeps us connected. This week, I had the chance to catch up with Omar, a former young coach who has become a lifelong friend and a fitness powerhouse in Egypt. Omar's story is a testament to the power of embracing challenges, which is a theme we both believe is crucial for success in both fitness and life.
The Importance of Pushing Boundaries
We both share the love of coaching, but more than anything what we love is seeing people prove to themselves that they can do hard things. For some people, this is proving to themselves they can still do hard things! I've found that now more than ever, it is becoming incredibly easy to be stuck in a rigid routine and let days, months and even years go by where we don't push ourselves towards progress in any realm.
If we look to our kids, one thing I find is that early in life we invite, and even look forward to pushing boundaries every single day. "Move fast and break things" is definitely the motto between 0-16 years of age (maybe older for some of us). Because of this mentality, we're frequently unsafe and making major mistakes, BUT we also learn significant life lessons quickly (and often the hard way). I actually think there is a lot to be taken away from this fearlessness of change and challenge.
Embracing Change vs. The Resistant Mindset
On the opposite end of that spectrum, we can see someone who may be resistant to change. Imagine a curmudgeon old man on the front porch with his shotgun yelling at the neighborhood kids playing. Perhaps they're comfortable in their routine and find new relationships or challenges daunting, never wanting to leave the porch. While this is just a visualization exercise and that old man may have actually lived one hell of a life already, the key takeaway is the importance of staying open to new experiences.
Back to our conversation now, one of the biggest things we both noted are that many of the most successful and engaging clients are the ones who are ready and willing to do new / hard things and accept change into their lives. Most of you when you came into this community were doing it EXACTLY TO change yourself, however it is often staggering and shocking to us coaches when people sign up into a program to change their lives, but are unwilling to accept the discomfort that comes with it.
We both agreed that this is a result of too long a period of time in their lives without doing hard things, rather than a miscalculation of the difficulty itself. We must resist letting long stints of comfort seep in, because this will weaken that muscle of being adaptive to change. And being adaptive to change is the fountain of youth!
The Importance of New Experiences
If you were ever a bartender, a caddy, a server or worked directly in a service industry, you probably excel at meeting new people. You know how to ask engaging ice breaker questions, and get people's vibes very quickly. This was a muscle that you were flexing and working on every minute while you were at your job. At first, you may have been inexperienced (I know I was!), but over time you developed your own specific way to build comfort around interacting with new people. The same is true with public speaking, or leadership skills as it is with sports, physical skills or in the gym.
This goes beyond just anecdotal conversation also; it is proven that forming new social bonds and interactions helps decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's. And that trying exercise, dancing, yoga and walking all showed better results than SSRIs in battling depression.
Taking the Hard Path at Friendship (or OZONE!)
So, what's to take away from this?
In your hour of community based fitness, you can:
Meet a new person, or new people.
Form a potentially new close relationship in your life strengthening your mental resiliency from long term chronic illness
Dance to music (Jan I'm looking at you!)
Aerobic Exercise
Strength Train
Walk & Jog
Do some Yoga
All in one hour.
The Challenge and the Reward
But to maximize the real value, it means ensuring you do the hard thing. For some of us, that's shaking a new hand and introducing yourself. Taking a genuine interest in someone's life who is a stranger. Finding common ground and supporting each other in your goals.
It might mean putting a new scary weight onto the bar (something ALL of us have been doing a lot of lately). When the coach says "It looks easy" but man it felt hard to you…trusting that and walking into the unknown.
It can mean trying a Thrive class with an Echo Bike or Sled in it, even though last time it made you go white in the face and feel sick.
It might be signing up for a competition out of your comfort zone! Last year at RRR we had people running the longest distance in their whole lives, we've seen first rope climbs, handstand walks, PRs and more in our competitions.
It could be finally signing up for that mountain you've always wanted to climb, or to take surfing lessons on vacation in Hawaii, or do a full marathon (right LIZ?!).
From my and Omar's point of view, these are the truly special things that we get to see and be a part of. It's a character & life defining question and challenge. Take the easy, comfortable way, or the scary hard path. I promise you that choosing the uncomfortable path and learning the skill of how to do hard things consistently will lead you to better health and relationships. Invite others along with you and keep making deep friendships.
I hope each of you can meet Omar & feel the love in his heart. I once took a chance on a new young coach, and I got a truly great lifelong friend out of it. He is impacting more lives with every passing day, and it's been great to see how he challenges his own community. Never forget how taking a risk on a new introduction can have a seismic impact on the world down the road.
Ever read something where it's like the author HAS to be speaking directly to you?