The aftermath of the New Year's Day work-out. (Photo credit: Betsy Fedder)
First a note from our Head Coach:
***REMINDER that CFA’s class schedule has been significantly modified and will begin Monday, January 4th. If you have not emailed or discussed your preferred times with one of the coaches please email your preferences to Shanna (ShannaDuvall@gmail.com). Otherwise check your email this weekend for your days and times. If you have not heard from me by Sunday afternoon then please contact me! Thanks, Shanna (I can presently be reached at one of the following cell phone numbers as well 315-244-5571 or 828-707-2316.)
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We had a FANTASTIC turn-out for our New Years WOD/Paleo Pot-Luck/Lecture Series. Many thanks to those who came out to show support. There were multiple requests to get a message board for new recipes and conversation regarding Paleo. Here it is: CFAFood.proboards.com Use this as you would like. If you want more categories, please let me know.
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My post today is regarding how many will approach a paradigm shift. When we learn that our choices are directly impacting our lives, especially when those choices in the past were less than optimal, it is a daunting task to take on the responsibility of freedom. It is far easier to say “that’s bogus” and go back to our old lifestyle.
I’ve encountered the Pit of Despair on a few occasions in my life. As a lecturer was speaking, or I was reading something, or merely development of my own thoughts, I’ve had to account for my own shortcomings and experienced a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The feeling that I could throw up. “How could I have been so wrong? How could I have missed this? What do I do now?”
In my lecture I laid out the physiological mechanisms that relate how our choices in food impact our health and vitality. The balancing of stress and rest will determine your genetic expression: will you be lean or obese, risk heart disease or stroke, develop cancer or attention deficit disorder? Stress physiology relates directly to many of today’s societal ailments.
How do we deal when faced with the possibility of having been wrong in the past and set ourselves up in a poor situation? Guilt, anger, and worry are NOT the answer. In fact, those will only INCREASE your stress physiology and limit your recovery and acceleration of capacity. Frankly, your mental state influences your stress as well. Acknowledge an increase in your breathing rate, in your heart rate, in the pulse pounding in your head. THESE are signs that you are “stressed” and that your anger over this realization will only increase it further.
My approach to this situation has always been to understand the past, orient to the future, but focus on the present. You cannot change the past, but only realize that you made decisions based upon your level of knowledge. If your level of knowledge is now increased or changed, make decisions based on that. Orient to the future and what you hope to become. Do you want increased capacity, health and vitality? Make your decisions that will allow for that. Focus on the present by making decisions that will move you to that future situation. Anger about the past will NOT move you towards health but further into stress and the physiology it creates.
I beg all of you, embrace the change. Don’t concern yourself with what you KNEW. Integrate what you KNOW and evolve.
Post thoughts to comments.
-Corey
Corey, thanks for that post! As usual, CFA gives me exactly what I need at the just the right moment, Seriously questioning my career lately has left me very confused and very depressed on a daily basis. Especially when I injured myself and thought that meant I had to stop going to Crossfit! I started eating terribly, and sitting around doing nothing all the time, which of course led to more depression and more un-health. Then Corey, advised me that perhaps going more instead of less to CFA was what I should be doing so I could become a stronger person. As usual, he was right. It turns out that CFA is what has been keeping me sane in these confusing times. And as I feel my vitality increasing, I feel my life coming back into my own control. And though I still feel confused about what my next step should be, I know that I can make one now and am not trapped. Life is open to all possibilities, you just need the courage and the discipline to succeed. Crossfit provides that. It’s not just an excercise gym. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a philosophy. It’s taking control of your life and saying NO. I will not be beaten down. I am stronger then that. I can get up and keep moving. The power is in my mind, body and soul. After all, if I can make it through one of Corey and Shanna’s WOD’s, I can accomplish anything! Thank you. All of you for being such a wonderful community. I’m glad to be a part of it!
hey corey. can my friend, not a CFA client, join the Paleo board?
This picture along with the title and post is a keeper. The “Pit of Despair” is littered by bodies with “increased capacity, health and vitality.” You’d have to be a CFAer to get the whole picture.
Spoken like a true sage. Amen brother
@Kate: I’ll never turn down a fellow nerd.
@Others: Redfoot was in an interesting situation and was a bit of an experiment. He came to us a motivated and deconditioned individual. However was embarking on a job that was VERY physically demanding. He would go through our workouts infrequently and leave exhausted and taxed. He would then put himself through strenuous hours at work and tax himself some more. If you remember the capacity curve I drew in my lecture (clips coming for those who couldn’t attend) he was great at exceeding his capacity because his motivation was high and capacity was low. As such, when you exceed capacity you formulate injury. Red’s problem was that his capacity was so low it was easy to surpass. What I told him was “come more frequently but don’t work as hard”. The idea was I had to reign in his motivation to give his capacity time to grow. He’s an excellent student and listened to the advice “don’t work so hard”. He is now to the point where he can work much harder but does not EXCEED his capacity.
Some people need HARDER work, others need EASIER. It all depends on your current situation and capacity. Thank you Red for listening. You are always a joy to have in class and I’m glad we made it work for you.
Nice post coach.
Red Foot, I think you and I are in similar professions, and so I hear what you are saying about injuring yourself and questioning your career. I never in my dreams thought that my profession would be so hard on my body, and at first (and sometimes now if I’m not careful) I would get really disillusioned, frustrated and depressed, wondering how I was going to continue it. I worked really hard and long to become what I am. But then I turned it around and decided to see it as a life lesson and a chance to turn things around. I started doing Crossfit because I wanted to get in shape and lose weight, but also because I need to be strong to do what I do in my job. I love the paradox that my job of getting people out of pain often causes me pain. Ha. So now I know that in order to do what I think I am meant to do, I have to take really really good care of myself, eat right, get enough sleep, exercise, and get bodywork to keep myself healthy and whole for my clients. And then when you know that, HA! I’ve always needed that! We all need that! And so now my profession is that catalyst to keep that lifestyle, as you say, going! I CAN’T let it slide anymore like I did before, because it affects me in not just a “nebulous” way, (weight, depression, what have you that I have suffered from but not made myself figure out) but in a direct way- my career! The way I make a living! So thank god for that! What a gift!
I just reread my post and man am I liberal with my exclamation points, but this is an exciting revelation that Crossfit has helped me come to. !!!!