Deal With It

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day who is going through a rough time and it got me thinking about a lot of different things. She made one statement that stuck out above the rest and it was this: "The opposite of love is not hate, but rather fear". To me, this was news. I much prefer the idea of being able to write things off as hate rather than deal with the fears that the hate stems from. With that said, let me bring it back toward the track. What are your greatest fears on the track and how do you deal with them? First off, to all of those of you that are like me and whose gut reaction was "I am not afraid of anything there because I am in my element", I am calling BULLSHIT! We all have fears and insecurities, whether our egos will show them outright or not. For myself, I was never very naturally athletically gifted and that was an issue for me that I would cover with the largest doses of bravado that I could muster which, for the record, was extensive. To compensate for this shortfall, I was reckless with my body and generally mad in every sense of the word. The truth is that I was afraid of losing my position to someone more talented so I tried harder and then I was afraid that my body wouldn't hold up so I began to subtly hold back. If I am to speak plainly, most of my career was riddled with fear that nearly destroyed me. In my case, it has taken me many years to come back to the love that I felt for the game that I once lived for and even watch it again. To put a point on it, deal with your fucking fears because the alternative is not pretty for anyone. How do you deal with your fears? Well we all have a slightly different method for this but, in short, the best way is to deal with them is to face them until they are beaten into submission. My friend mentioned that this is easier when you focus on the love you feel for something that you fear and apply your energy into growing that love until the fear seems small and manageable compared to your love. I find myself laughing, whether s a defense mechanism or a sign that I've rounded the bend, whenever fear shows up and that works for me. All I can tell you with any certainty is that living paralyzed with fear rather than relishing in your love is not worth it. Deal with it as soon as you are aware of it and if you have any advice on dealing with fear then share it.


Cheers,

J

5 min warm up
Stretch
2x 12 pushups
2x 10 DB chest press
2x 12 inverted rows
2x 10 bent flys
2x 12 step up to over head presses
2x 10 single leg squats
2x 12 upright rows
2x 10 lateral raises
2x 25 reg crunches
2x 25 straight arm twists
5 min cool down
Stretch