Guided by Experience!

I used to get asked why I would travel and coach at events such as WZA? It was a question that seemed to spark my interest as well. Why did I enjoy coaching at events like regionals or wodapalooza, ultra-endurance events, weightlifting competitions, and tactical athlete competitions (i.e., recon challenge, tactical games, best ranger challenge)? It was not like  I could step out on the competition floor for the athlete to do 100 thrusters and 10 legless rope climbs for time, cross the start line of an ultra-endurance event, cut weight for a weightlifting meet, or put on a 60 lbs ruck and complete the unknown tasks. What I could do was support them from a psyche standpoint. Providing a vital part in the athlete's mental performance attributes and how they operate in high-stress states. 

Yes, I have performed those thrusters, moved for more than 30 hours in a mountain endurance race, even had to make weight to lift at a national level event or perform a skill-based task when exhausted after moving for 7 hours with a 60lb ruck during life or death situations and competition setting. I get to provide each athlete with a sports psychology perspective when I attended these events, no matter the sports domain. The athletes I had in the past and currently coaching know how much I am growing and creating the parallels of the two worlds and my personal life growth. 

Working with athletes the past couple of years in this manner has changed my perspective. As coaches continue to develop, they must not forget the athlete's psyche and build education on psychology and sports psychology. The strength and conditioning field is no longer about how strong or fast you can make an athlete, in my eyes. It is becoming a matter of you can help the athlete tapping into their full potential at that given moment. My goal is now to keep an athlete durable, meet their goals, keep them healthy mentally and physically, and assist in developing skill sets to succeed personally and professionally. As human performance coaches evolve, the challenge becomes how to get the athlete to fulfill their goals, be an asset to themselves and those around them without compromising health whilst pursuing their physical endeavors.   

Writers Block…

Writer’s block is a thing. I am learning this as I continue down the journey of writing. Tonight, I find myself with a block. It’s not that I have nothing to say, I just can’t seem to create a flow.

I feel the weight of my words. I see so many individuals putting content out for the sake of putting out content. Writing isn’t content to me. It is art. 

Here I am writing and creating, not for anyone but for myself. But I’m not perfect. I’ve allowed other people’s standards to box me in my past. 

I’ve discovered that it doesn’t work that way. I changed my thought process to this: 

Instead of trying to produce for the crowd, try creating and publishing my own art that I find interesting and actually care to read. 

I have the control to create something worth reading with my own thoughts. I get to develop my own standards of what I expect of myself and the effort I put forth into my writings. And thankfully, it only gets better. 

So as I feel my writer’s block lifting, I think it’s worth noting how standards are a barrier in today’s society. Most don’t have any but are ok with placing standards on others. These are the same people who can’t even maintain those standards themselves. 

As I continue to fall in love with writing, just as I did with running in the mountains, I know it takes time. A lot of the time, running through the mountains is tough, tiring, and exhausting. 

Yet, it is freeing, peaceful, and enjoyable all at the same time. It allows me to recall experiences that evoke a variety of emotions and feelings. 

Writing my thoughts down and sharing them has created some of the same feelings. It’s another path towards healing. It has offered me a support system that I value and helped to create standards that I enjoy holding myself to. It’s just not always in alignment with the crowds’ standards.

Development of personal standards should be something that each of us has, and if you can’t think of any off the top of your head... Ask yourself, why is that? Do you hold others to unrealistic, self-serving standards? Can you achieve those standards that you hold someone else to? 

There comes a time when our youth slowly fades away, and adulthood slips in. That sense of maturity helps us seek less social affirmation for our practices or in life. In a way, standards become obsolete—these new actions remove our ego from the crowd and offer the skillset to fuse a deeper connection to our existence. This fuse of existence has helped me find a free, peaceful, and enjoyable life through emotional connection and not suppressing feelings that ultimately implode. That implosion is what leads to death by our own hands. 

So before holding others to your self-serving standards, learn to hold your own.

Live life through your own actions and standards. I’m holding up that mirror again. We can thank my writers’ block.