When we’re younger.
Now is the time, when “we don’t need to” that we push, we strengthen the skill of will, make most advantage of our full tanks to learn how to thrive when the tanks are near empty. And they will be. We need to push to and through discomfort for 2 reasons.
As expected, pushing puts us in better shape so we can roll more in the future, acquiring more battle experience while getting us used to rolling through the different lens of being tired, and checks our ego as we gas out and get run over by newbies.
But more importantly and less obvious is our ability to find comfort when our tank is empty, that acquiesce to what the present moment is. Look forward to that presence. As important as it is to get in better shape so it’s harder to feel the tire, it’s more important to learn to live when you have nothing left.
We don’t hide behind our false youth shield, we use our true spear to practice discipline in the here and now, that will 100% be required when we’re older.
When we’re older.
We’re not so naive to still think our time here is infinite. Or that we’ll always be able physically to train, and our schedule will always allow for it. Or more specifically, that we’ll have the discipline to find the time as our schedule gets more comfortable. We’re old enough to know that if we don’t push ourselves in class, to and through discomfort, we’ll fall out of shape. We don’t have youth to keep us “in shape” and we never will again. It’s all on ourselves and our will to better ourselves, be in shape, and be one of the outsiders of our age group. We don’t make the mistake of comparing ourselves to those that live the normalized weakness of our modern western peers. We know that if we can’t find the will today, it won’t be gifted us tomorrow. We understand the power of will comes through working it, day to day, in micro acts of discipline.
Not to say there isn’t a time to get more rest, if we’re pushing it we probably do need more rest. Or if we’re hurt, until it passes.
With youth we can get away with little care for our bodies as our machines are in motion so much it’s harder to gather rust, but it still gathers in it’s sneaky ways, mostly in the habits formed that speed up the rust as we run the body less. We can’t normalize this version of “getting old”, we must avoid the selfish waste of our bodies and our time.
As always, regardless of where we are in our journey, we do what we can with what we have, while we have it. No regerts.
