The Journey

It’s not often that you find people willing to take that extra step in life.  That extra few minutes to take out the trash, or that extra few words that will help console a friend.  What would happen if everyone in life did go that extra step?  I can’t imagine life full of people that were so passionate about those extra few steps.

Each day is a mountain to climb for me.  I must take those steps that help me to recognize my own self-worth.  Not because I am forced too, but because if I don’t what kind of person am I?  I’m 100% or nothing.  Too many times we are poisoned by a world that believes only that to complete a task we must only take the steps that are before us.  Going above and beyond would be ludicrous, outside the realm of comfortable.

I was never one to stay in the realm of "comfortable".  My life loses its edge when I stay in this dreary boring place.  What kind of person would I create if I was to always do only what was required.  This is safe.  No risk, no pain, no learning.  Where is my reward?

No.  The best version of myself will not come from a half-hearted effort.  It will take everything inside of me.  As much as my body and mind can handle, then going further.  Those few extra steps that set me apart from the rest.  Take that for what it is.  I don’t give a **** if you don’t think I have what it takes, or if you think that my dreams are so far out of reach.  The true believer does not look at his/her goals as being out of reach they know that is simply a matter of time.  Payin’ dues everyday.  Sometimes scraping the bottom of the ****in’ barrel to come out on top.  Doing what needs to be done, in order to achieve.
What extra steps have you taken lately?

It’s everyday.  It’s waking up and doing morning cardio.  It’s cooking for 6 days in advance.  It’s setting the alarm on your cell phone as a reminder to eat.  It’s giving up alcohol for good.  It’s calculating the calories in a day above or below maintenance.  It’s training until you can’t walk.
I don’t care what people say about me.  I don’t care if people think I’m too small.  For me, it’s just a matter of time.  I WILL be bigger.  I have the patience and the drive to see it through.  Nothing anyone says matters to me.  When the doors close behind me in the gym, I’m bigger than everyone.  I train harder than everyone.  In my mind I am the biggest mother f@#$er to ever set foot under the barbell.  Each hard-earned pound of muscle brings me closer, bigger, stronger.
It’s waking up each day and looking forward into the eyes of giants and becoming the one I was meant to be.

I was out and about today doing some grocery shopping for some more egg whites and chicken and I decided to stop at the mall.  I figured it’s been like 8 months since I bought any new clothes whatsoever so I would take a look at some shirts.  I went into American Eagle and was looking at their graphic tees.  Decided to try on a shirt.

I was completely amazed how it fit.  It was so freaking tight around the shoulders and chest.  That size used to fit me decently.  It was always somewhat tight, but it felt like it was spandex on my skin and I was stretching it just having it on.  Damn, I looked good in the mirror, but I thought, when I start bulking in November again, I’m gonna get bigger.  It’s not a matter of "if" I’m going to get bigger, it’s just a matter of when.  I decided to take the next size up.  I can’t wait for the day when I have to put on the XXL line of clothes.  Unfortunately, since my waist is so small, I would look stupid in them.  Looks like it spandex all the way.

Sometimes I get so caught up in the minor details like bodyfat, calories, training, that I just forget to measure progress in other areas.  Putting on that new shirt told me something.  All the eating, training, dieting, training, eating, sleeping, recovering, eating, training, eating, eating….has paid off.  Purpose is never forgotten no matter how deep in the **** you are.  Slow and steady for me is good.  Hopefully the next time I put on a new shirt I’ll have to get another size up.

There are no off days for the seriously dedicated.  Every single day counts.  The off days are just as important as the on days.  Our bodies ever growing and ever changing we learn and adjust ourselves accordingly.  I am so relatively new to this game that each waking moment I am learning.  Some days it’s "aha!" while other days feels like 3 steps back.  This is the process for growth.  Those that stick with the plan, and find new and exciting ways to execute it are those that will eventually succeed.  I take a step back from my day while eating my post-post workout meal and realize how hard I go each day.

There is so much potential in me.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds.  So much iron to crush and so many records to shatter.  Each and every day is the next step towards growth, the next small journey towards the ever-changing equilibrium that is "me."

52 weeks in a year, 5 workouts a week.  That’s 260 workouts to make the best of what I have been given.  That’s 260 workouts that I devote my blood and sweat to the grueling sets and reps that make me who I am.

I’ll spend my last dime if it means eating 1 more chicken breast because I know that 1 more minute, 1 more hour, 1 more day means 1 small step closer to the best version of me I have ever created.  That’s what each and every day means to me.