GoddessAthlete’s BodyBlog

That’s what I learn in my Kung Fu classes, taught by my Martial Arts Instructor (and husband). www.wuchichuan.com

What does that mean?  It means no matter how many times you get knocked down by life, in a fight, or even yourself, you get back up and begin AGAIN, and again, and again and again.  For many of you know my belief, “you cannot fail, you can only stop.”

Well, the past two weeks, I have been put to the test.  With overtraining (not necessarily in the gym but doing too much and not getting enough rest), my body has been forcing me to be more down than I am accustomed to.  At first, I fought it, thinking that I am stronger than this, but then I gave in and remembered that often the quickest way up is DOWN!  How, you may wonder?  Well, the quicker the body gets the rest that it needs, the more quickly you are bouncing around again.  For those of you who are in martial arts, you know that you may have to go to the ground in order to get the leverage that you need over your opponent.  Going down allows you to get back up, and that is what I had to do.

I had to take time off from training, from working, and from DOING to give my body and mind the rest that it needs.  And, today in the gym, rather than feeling weak, I felt strong and powerful!!!  And as I came home from my workout, I walked past a squirrel and I stopped to watch him, as I love watching animals.  As he jumped up in a tree, I saw that his stomach was red and raw (he obviously has had some difficulty lately), but he continued climbing the tree and lept into the air to the roof of the building.  At first, I felt sorry for him, as he must be in pain, but then I thought about it some more, and realized that he is probably just fine.  He has been down, but he is climbing back up again. 

I read some research recently that showed that despite wild animals suffering attacks from other animals and other hardships, they don’t have post traumatic stress (how they determine this is beyond me).  But animals, unless conditioned by being beaten over and over again, tend to heal their wounds and move forward.  They aren’t stuck in the past but move to the future.  Children are often like this too.  One moment they are crying, then they see something that they like (something as simple as a leaf floating by) and they are up again exploring the world.  They are down, but don’t stay down for long.

Most all of nature does this……trees, animals, and most all of nature shuts down for a period of time (especially in the winter) but every year, the trees are bigger and stronger.  Nature is a good reminder that in order to grow, in order to reach our goals, sometimes we need to retreat and do LESS.  We need those days off from work and from working out.  Sometimes we need longer periods of time off, but that’s necessary for us to grow.

So, 7 times down may become 7 million if you are someone who pushes it hard, but as long as there is a 7 million AND ONE times back up, just like the squirrel, you will keep climbing, you will come back stronger, and you will reach your goal!

And to help you stay motivated on that journey up, I’ve started a free newsletter this month that you can subscribe to at www.GoddessAthlete.com.

I encourage you all to love your sport or your workouts (I know I LOVE pumping iron in the gym), but also appreciate your time down, as that is when the REAL GROWTH OCCURS!  And next time you get knocked down, take the time that you need to be down and get right back up!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 10:27 am and is filed under Training, Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.