Owning It
You get to do what you choose to do
I am an enthusiastic participant in competitive working out - aka CrossFit. Back in 2018 I was quite competitive. Now, five kids later, I am trying to be again.
To say the opportunity to train isn’t the same - is to put it mildly. In 2018 I’d wake up around 6:30am and get up and have breakfast with my two kids. I would have a 2-3 hour morning session while my kids were at Mother’s Day Out. I’d pick them up, we’d have lunch, they’d nap. I would too (if desired). After nap we’d play for a while, and then my parents would come take over for dinner and bedtime while I went to train for another 2-3 hours. I had a body work (massage) sponsorship and I’d get worked on 1-2x a week. I had personalized programming tailored to my weaknesses. I had an Olympic Lifting coach I’d see multiple times a week to make sure my form was improving. It worked, I got better.
These days I’m up between 4:50 and 5:30am. I make breakfast for the kids, get stuff prepped for the day, then go get 5 of the 7 kids dressed (the oldest 2 are completely independent in this regard by now). I bottle feed the twins in the middle of that process. On school days I drop off the oldest 4 and then play with the youngest 3 until nap time. One satellite (homeschool) days we get started on school work right after breakfast and work until at least nap time (with breaks in between). Once I have the napping children down for naps (typically the youngest 3) I get to train. I hit a quick warmup, get a lift in, clean that up, then jump into the metcon. After that, if I have time (and energy) I’ll do a skill piece or a second metcon (depending on what I’m currently worst at) then I head inside to prep dinner so all the hands on prep is done before the babies get up at 3pm. On school days I go pick up the kids to return to finishing touches on dinner. On satellite days we play at home before I do so. My husband comes home from work and we all sit down to dinner together. After dinner the kids have activities or we all play together before we wind down and do bedtime routines. Once the kids are down my husband and I do twenty minutes of low intensity cardio together before we hang out in the sauna and cap the day off in the cold tub. We wind down with a cup of warm milk or Beam (#productplacement) then crash out for the night around 9:30pm.
Sauna hats!
If you’re doing the math that’s about 90 minutes total to train each day. On Wednesday’s it’s a little different as we’ve hired help so I can go train in an affiliate with a class, I usually get an extra 30 minutes in on Wednesdays.
My husband is even more impressive. He works a full-time office job, so he obviously can’t jump into training midday. So he works out in the morning before work and before the kids have woken up.
And he loves animals, swoon.
So often I hear people say “I have (insert life demand here) so I don’t get to workout anymore.” For example, “I work full time, so I just don’t have time to workout.” And it doesn’t have to be working out, it could be any endeavor we’re claiming to be unable to pursue. But it isn’t true. In the above statement it is much more true to say, “I work full time and I find working out before work or after dinner unpalatable. I value my sleep and post-work leisure more than I value the benefits of exercise, so I’ve decided not to workout.”
That’s the truth.
Instead we sell ourselves lies about how other people accomplish the things that we claim we aspire to. Oh they have more time, they’re intrinsically motivated, they’re naturally gifted. Probably not. What is true is that they decided they were going to do the things they’re doing. Or they decided they aren’t going to allow something else to get in the way.
Miranda Alcaraz of StreetParking ran a whole campaign called “More than Nothing”. I’m a big fan of the concept. You might not actually be able to do all you want to do. I want to be the fittest I can be again, while maintaining the hierarchy of my faith and family being paramount. That means I don’t train when my children need me. I train when the little ones are asleep and the big ones are practicing their independence. When something comes up for the kids where midday won’t be available for training - I either workout before they wake up or I choose to take the day off. It isn’t “I didn’t get to workout today.” It is “I chose to prioritize other things above training today.”
You get to do the things you choose to do. When we look at the world through a “what can I do?” Perspective we get to take our destinies back. We get to take our direction back. The best part is it exposes that the world is far less limited than it appears at first glance, and we are far more capable. Extraordinary people aren’t extraordinary, they’re just normal people who have chosen to do the exceptional. For the record, I don’t consider anything I am doing to be exceptional either. Perhaps after a lifetime of choosing to pursue better I’ll arrive at excellence, I’m just grateful I get to try.