Take Advantage of Being Lucky

I know we all have those days (maybe weeks) where it feels like the world has turned on us...we don't feel like ourselves, nothing we do seems to be quite up to par, everything seems more difficult and confusing than it should be, anger/sadness/frustration seem to be a theme of emotions we can't seem to shake...
It sucks. I know what it feels like. I would never discount anyone for feeling that way, but take a step back.
Take a deep breath.
Think about all the things that make you lucky, literally count your blessings.

Whether it be the amazing family you have, your parents, your spouse, your children
or the fact that you Crossfit, you are physically able to move your body in a way some people cannot
or that you have a job, an income, a way to provide for yourself
or that you are healthy, with minimal sickness
or that someone loves you. It doesn't matter who, just that you are loved
or that you can sleep at night without worrying about food being on the table or a roof over your head
or even more simply that you can drink coffee, you can eat candy, you can laugh, you can smile and it be genuine.

I could go on forever...but really think about it and 1 by 1, count your blessings, look at how lucky you are and LOVE IT, take advantage of it.



*Don't forget to donate, a Crossfit athlete in a horrible situation, my prayers are with him and his family.
 https://fundly.com/kevin-ogar-s-recovery

Wake the F Up

Temperature: 16 degrees F

Time: 5:00am 

WOD: 1000m Run

50 wall balls

500m Run

50 Box Jumps 

1000m Run

50 Toes to Bar

Alyssa: CANNOT imagine getting out of bed

This morning my alarm went off at 5am, normal time for 3 days out of the week. In NY/CT, this week has been cold and I am a complete baby about it. I saw today's workout when I woke up and immediately pressed snooze. Thoughts going through my head, "No way I'm waking up...it's freezing what will I even wear to be running outside...no one else is going to show up when they see this workout...I am working out at night too, so I don't reallly need to go this morning..." 

At about 5:30, I stopped my intermittent falling back asleep/whining to myself and decided all I was doing was making excuses and I said out loud, "Alyssa, Wake the F Up!" and I jumped out of bed. 

I put on my fleece lined running leggings and long sleeve, quickly packed my bag and was out of the house in under 10 min. As I was driving, my mind went back to "wait, why am I doing this?"

Well...all in all, I kept driving and had probably one of my better workouts. I felt great and even better than I didn't stay in bed just because I would've been cold. 

Sometimes all you have to do is tell yourself to Wake the F up and the rest will fall into place.

Making Friends with Your Weaknesses

The other day, one of the trainers at my box threw out this quote while all of us were whining about the workout we were about to do, "Find your weaknesses, make friends with them, then beat them to death!" (Chris Spealler). My immediate reaction was, "but it's so much easier to be friends with my strengths." 

Then I came back to reality; I know, I know, of course it's easier to be friends with my strengths, but that isn't why we Crossfit. We (I) crossfit because I am challenged every.single.day, I am pushed to my limits, to the point where a big part of me wants to give up, throw in the towel, but we (I) don't. We push harder, we train more, we spend hours on those weaknesses. For months, I've known the gymnastics movements, overhead presses and snatching are my weaknesses. For the most part, what have I done? (Embarrassingly) Avoided them! That ends now...

I'll be completely honest, I'm slightly afraid, mostly because I don't want to fail BUT how amazing is it when you succeed at something you are afraid of? 

And last but not least, who doesn't want friends you can beat to death (figuratively, of course)?!