There Are Always Options

Life is full of options, and depending on how you look at it, everything involves choice. We have outside and internal influences, but how we react to them involves making a choice. That choice is often subconscious and driven by our habits, but we can shape our habits with conscious choice and effort.

My life over the last year has been far more focused on health and fitness than in years past. I’d let myself just ebb and flow with whatever was comfortable or forced on me for some time. Making the choice to get back in better health and later to fight against the cancer within was a conscious decision that has required effort and determination to see it through. Sounds pretty much like a philosophy you can apply to most things in life, right? Daily work, personal development, career development or change, relationships, etc.

I still have a lot to work on in all those areas, but I’m trying to apply this attitude and philosophy there too…again. My theme has continued to revolve around fitness of course, as that’s been my focus to fight the good fight. So this week I’ve been pondering how we have these options. We have the option to push harder to extend and develop ourselves. We also have the option to pull back when we recognize our body needs a time to recover. That’s what I chose to do this last week in fact. Pull back a bit, simply enjoy life a bit and build some memories. Forget the foreign invader and just take in the moment.

Of course there’s always a bit of a back to reality moment after such times, but that’s ok too. As said in the Dr. Strange movie, “the bill always comes due.”

Only you know whether you are adjusting as needed to keeping moving forward or if you are avoiding the challenge. In fitness efforts we always say we can do more than we think. Mind over muscle. Push harder than is comfortable and extend yourself to grow. And it’s true. But sometimes you really are at your limit. Back off a little to recover, then surge forward again. If you are honest with yourself, you know when you are truly at your limits.

In our cycling class we always try to push past comfort zone. That’s the beauty of the class is that we can adjust to wherever we are at. We are a group working together through class, but each pushing at our own personal current best levels. As our instructor reminds us, there are always options. Keep the heart rate up, push and pull. Exert to build and get more out of the time spent in the saddle. And yet, after a hard climb or push for speed it’s also always amazing how a little recovery lets you go again only seconds or a few minutes later. After feeling like you’ve spent every last ounce of energy to reach a goal, just a short recovery gives you the ability to push forward again.

The key is to only pull back and recover precisely as much as you need and not just fall back into what’s comfortable. After you recover, go back at it again with full effort. You didn't come here to sit here. You came to work. Work harder. It’s amazing how effective recovery becomes when we are maintaining a consistent plan of effort and growth. Recovery is no longer just collapsing after a big effort because we are “done,” rather just a short period in which we allow our body to regain everything it needs to push forward again.

We know those positive affirmations are sometimes silly sounding but they work. We respond to what we hear or tell ourselves. Positive or negative. You are strong. You can go harder. You can do more. Hang in there I know you can do it. You never know until you try. Can you do a little more? Yes. The answer is yes.

Move so you sweat. Exert yourself. When I first started I didn't sweat much because I wasn't strong enough to push into a better workout. My muscles couldn't push my heart. Now I SWEAT because I push past my comfort zone. Get beyond comfortable. Not just in fitness, but in life. Get out of that comfort zone and go beyond.

I’ve caught the cycling bug since last fall, enjoying the ride if you will. It’s a great way to get my cardio efforts in and I’ve enjoyed the growth I’ve seen. Several times I’ve found it easy to ask, “Why is this still so hard?” when I am exhausted after the same amount of time in the set spinning with all I’ve got. Then I take a look at the results an realize how much more I’m getting out of the same time and effort. When I started outside we’d bike around 8-10 miles on most mornings and the time we had available. Switching to spin classes when winter came along, I was hitting around 15-16 miles on the spin bike in the hour of class, and that was exhausting. After sticking with it and trying to get the most out of the time I can squeeze in, I’m not averaging about 26 miles in 1:15 (including some warm up distance).

I’d say that’s some pretty good progress. I’m hoping to keep building on that.

But to get there, this week I chose first to recover a bit. And it was wonderful. While I still did some workouts while traveling, the focus was making memories and enjoying some respite. Time with family. Time having fun. Some relaxation to recenter and refocus. Now I’m ready to hit the ground running, or spinning in my case, again.

Cancer Update: I have my next Oncologist appointment this week to check in. Nothing scheduled outside of a “how’re you doing” that I’m aware of, but I hope to find out when the plan is to take a peek at the BFT and see if we are making any progress. Hopefully in the next couple of months, but we’ll see what the doc says. For me mostly things are the same. I try to stay healthy to fight the fatigue and other side effects caused by the treatment. Same old, same old. Sounds like a bit of a broken record to me these days, but it is what it is.