“Why in the world would you want to do that?” “Why, did you do it?”

These are common questions that many people hear after they do something that to the outside world would appear to cause pain or suffering of some sort. Things like climbing a mountain, or hiking the Appalachian Trail, or competing in an IronMan triathalon, or adopting twins are just a few of the events that come to mind.

I know this because I have either asked these questions or heard them myself. Personally, I have climbed Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and just completed my first IronMan this fall.  And the answers can vary from person to person but I wanted to share with you my favorite answer.  My favorite answer happens to be so because it is MY answer to those questions.

I climbed the mountains and did the Ironman because I wanted to CHOOSE my pain. I wanted to CHOOSE my suffering.

Now the good news is that when you go into a high endurance sport with that type of a mindset, you generally enjoy the tough times. I by no means decided to do these things IN ORDER to suffer, I just wanted to put myself into situations where I would need to force myself out of my comfort zone if I was going to finish or at least be properly trained. I wanted to force growth upon myself.

Many times this summer as I was climbing another hill on my bike I would begin to utter the phrase “Aye yai yai…” (out of pain), and anytime I caught myself begin to give in I would end that phrase with the word “choose”. So, it would sound like “I, I, I…..choose” and this would remind me that I was out there on that hill because I wanted to be, not because somebody asked me to or told me to be on that hill. I would then transport myself to the mindset that if I was a kid and able to be on a bike for 4 hours in the countryside, I would be in heaven!

The reason I wanted to share this quick story with you is not to tell you that you “should” climb a mountain, or sign up for an IronMan or adopt. The reason is that when we CHOOSE to do something we have NEVER done before, it creates growth within us that we have not experienced. When we CHOOSE to challenge ourselves (and I mean really CHALLENGE), we have to get better at many other areas of our lives to achieve that challenge.

This summer I had to get better at my schedule in order to fit in all of the training, and I had to get better at communicating with my wife because of all of the training; two things (amongst many others) that have greatly improved my overall quality of life.

But one of the greatest benefits of taking on a new challenge, preparing for it, training for it, and then giving it everything you have (because sometimes you may not make it to the summit) is that many areas of your life that seemed like a challenge before become soooo much easier.

Think about it. If you can push yourself mentally, physically, spiritually or all three at the same time to your absolute breaking point (which usually requires blood, sweat, and/or tears) then your day-to-day life just isn’t that scary or exhausting. 

The way I see it, if you are committed to growing, then life is going to dish you some challenges, so by CHOOSING bigger challenges than life gives you, you will stay ahead of the curve. Those “problems” life presents you will seem insignificant in comparison to the pain of discipline that you chose.

My call to action is this: Think about a way to challenge yourself. Then CHOOSE your challenge. Then COMMIT to your challenge. Then ACT.

I must acknowledge Eric Plantenberg for the conversations over the past 7 years that helped lead me to this point of understanding. Thank you my friend.

I invite you to share your new challenges that you are choosing.

Be Free!

Tom Weber
VP of Sales