The Weekly Word

Breaking Habits is Hard
It was a bittersweet morning yesterday as I woke up, started the tea pot, prepared the French press and started to read a book. This has been my routine for a solid decade  but I recently decided that it was time for a change. Today I did something I thought I would never do again: quit drinking coffee.

I don't think coffee is evil and should be vilified, I just don't think it is the best for me. I have a slight problem where if I decide to go in on something, I tend to push it a little far. For example, I will either eat zero cupcakes or 5 cupcakes. Once the decision has been made to do it, the flood gates are open. This has been my relationship with coffee as well. It is never one cup and then be good for the day. It is multiple cups drank throughout and eventually, it leads to over consumption.

Why is this an issue that needs to be addressed? I am not sure if it is genetic or just poor coping mechanisms to stress but I have had slightly elevated blood pressure for much of my life. Coffee does not help that. When I get all jacked up on coffee, I feel that my responses to stressful situations aren't always ideal and I am not as patient as I would like to be so we are giving this little experiment a go. Stay tuned!

What I've Been Thinking About...
In Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning he wrote the following: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

This is beautiful in theory but one of the toughest things to follow through and successfully execute. In my personal life, teaching it to kids, or even encouraging my child to follow this advice has led to some difficult moments or conversations. For example, we had a nasty storm this week. Our five year old daughter was not enjoying what Mother Nature was serving up and was starting to get a little scared. We focused on breathing, she covered her ears, and eventually she was able to get back to sleep. The following morning we talked about why we did what we did and told her that she cannot control what goes on around you but you can control how you respond to it. I told her I was proud of her for overcoming her fears but I know that with the next storm, this behavior is most likely going to happen again and this scenario will play out once again.

The important part of this whole topic is just because an undesired behavior happens again doesn't mean you failed at teaching the lesson. The lesson may take 1000 attempts, done in a variety of ways for it to last. So when you get to lesson #999 and it doesn't work, don't quit. You never know when it is going to stick and it is on us adults to make sure that we continue to try.

What I've Been Watching...
This week I started watching the movie Race which tells the tale of Olympic star Jesse Owens. It was a solid movie, one that I watched and/or listened to while doing things around the house. My favorite scene occurred when a group of college students were causing a ruckus in the locker room and talking in a nasty way to some of the black athletes at the school. The coach used this as a moment to tell Jesse to quiet the noise, to focus on what he was saying, and ignore the rest. If you can do that, you can do anything.

Owens went on to win 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany right in the face of Adolf Hitler. To say it was a tense environment at those games would be an understatement. Hitler was on a quest to prove the superiority of his German athletes and Owens showed up and embarrassed them all. I could only imagine what it must have felt like for Jesse to be in that country, in that stadium, in front of those Nazi's and then to perform the way he did. Talk about blocking out the noise!

Health Tip of the Week
Should we be acting more like kids? I have to say, if you want to get high level agility and conditioning work out of a group of kids, introduce a fun game and then get out of the way! Earlier this week the kids were sweating, breathing heavy, and smiling as we played a game of Gaga ball with a few fitness elements sprinkled in to the mix. This usually happens when we set up a game of tag, chase, or anything else that brings a little joy to your training. Tremendous effort plus big smiles is a winning combo. 
 
Now, for us big kids, it is not unreasonable to try to do the same thing. I think it is safe to say we can all use a little more joy and why not implement it into your physical fitness practice. The fun doesn't have to end once we reach adulthood. So here is my advice for the week:  Find something physically active that elevates your heart rate, doesn't feel like punishment and most importantly, puts a smile on your face! 

Quote of the Week
"Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust." -- Jesse Owens

I hope you all have an awesome week!
Chris Fluck