Life is hard. Life is really hard. Sometimes, life is damn near impossible. Just the daily grind of surviving is cause for celebration at times. It’s easy to celebrate winning the big game or setting a new PR or finally receiving that promotion and accompanying raise. But what about just showing up… what about the perseverance it takes to maintain and not regress? Why don’t we celebrate life’s smaller victories as fervently as the larger ones?
We have so many demands for our time and attention. We are expected to accomplish more with less time. Our phones, while serving as incredible marvels of technology and something I would not wish to live without, tether us to always be within reach. We can press a button, speak a question, and have the answer provided for us. Years ago, this simple 5 second act would require an hour of time at least and a journey to your local library.
With all that we do every day, have we forgotten just how impressive our mundane can be? Some of you got two kids ready in the morning for day care while simultaneously getting yourself ready for work. Some of you went and ran 6 miles before the sun came up. Some of you litigated a child molester to justice and some of you designed high pressure turbines for nuclear power plant generators. And what did you call all of those accomplishments?
You called it Tuesday.
Dude, your Tuesday was epic. You solved problems. You rallied against injustice. You instilled values into others. You took care of yourself. You prepared yourself to do it all over again tomorrow.
But that was just a day in the life, wasn’t it? You merely did what was expected of you. Another day, another dollar. Did you stop and smell the roses? Did you acknowledge the little things that bring happiness?
Now I’m not one for everyone getting a participation ribbon so no one’s feelings are hurt. Life is hard. Some toughness must be taught. But to think that only momentous moments are moments neglects the fact that life is made up of minute moments and usually these miniscule moments are life’s major moments. Maybe you didn’t thrive today, but dammit you survived.
An extraordinary task and a normal task could very well be the same task, just from a different perspective. Mull that thought for a moment. Let it sink in. And then, stop selling yourself short for all the amazing things that you do.
Consider the following. Which is the more impressive, the more heroic, the more worthy of celebration and adoration?
The doctor who performed successful brain surgery or the doctor who successfully treated a kid’s cold?
The police officer who foiled an armed robbery or the cop that stopped a drunk driver?
The student who brings her grades from all Fs to all Cs or the lady that keeps her all-A streak going?
The blogger that posted an award-winning recipe with accompanying photo or the one who used his blog to exorcise some demons?
The guy who runs his first marathon or the guy who runs his 10th?
The woman who loses 100 pounds and regains her living mobility or the gal who toils in the gym every day to maintain her fitness?
The wide receiver that catches the touchdown or the offensive lineman that made the key blitz pickup block that gave the quarterback time to throw the ball?
On first glance, it’s the first choice every time. That’s the glamorous choice. The sexy choice. The seemingly easy choice. Of course it is more impressive to lose 100 pounds than to simply maintain weight. Of course brain surgery is way more remarkable than curing a snotty nose. But really, aren’t the seconds in the above equally as worthy of adoration as the first?
We have been conditioned to only accept the extraordinary, but what about when the ordinary IS extraordinary? Why do we sell ourselves short time and time again? Yes, watching CrossFit champs snatch 245 pounds on the latest Team Series competition is quite impressive… but so is watching an inexperienced lifter struggle with and succeed in snatching 115 pounds. Perspective.
Celebrate the grind. When you’re out doing your thing, remember that your small successes are still undoubtedly, unquestionably, undeniably successes. Olympians can only win gold every four years. Yet, they are training the 1460 days between those chances.
You can’t PR every day. Hell, you can’t always be better than yesterday. It’s true. But life is not a linear progression upwards. There are peaks and valleys. And yes, some of those peaks are more like anthills. Still, with every hill, there is a crest.
This isn’t Ricky Bobby; there is no if you’re not first, you’re last in life. Some days second place is perfectly acceptable. Wire-to-wire winners are rare. How many of you entertained the idea of Mr. Froning not winning the 2014 Games when he wasn’t at the top of the leaderboard? I’m raising my hand.
Persevere. Success breeds success. Keep your eyes open for your successes. Be mindful that a weight you move with ease or an unsatisfactory race time for you could be a long term goal for another person. A routine job to you may be near impossible for someone else. Perspective.
When you show up, you’re doing better than most. When you don’t give up, you’re doing better than most. When you finally lay down for bed at night and recount all you packed into your waking hours, you probably did better than most. So smile, nod your head at your accomplishments, pat yourself on the back… and rest up to do it all again. Because that was Tuesday and you now have Wednesday to go out and conquer.
Love this post, Chris! If not for life’s smaller victories , we wouldn’t have the big ones – what gets tricky is spotting and realizing and relishing those small victories!
It is tough. I wrote this as much as a reminder to myself to appreciate the everyday victories. Glad it resonated with you!
What an awesome post for a Wednesday morning! (Wednesdays are not as sexy as Fridays, but just as worthy of celebration, if not more so 🙂 ) I actually have a pillow at home that reads “Just Show Up” — to remind me that just being present is sometimes the victory in itself.
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Sweet pillow and a great message. Does that count for just showing up and sleeping in some mornings? =)
Great post! I’ve been so stressed lately from juggling a day job, a dream job, time with my husband and CrossFit. I was thinking it’s like a chipper WOD – once you get through it, you realized it was fun…worth it. The little victories keep us going. I like the grind. I just need to remind myself of that every once in awhile.
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Love it, spoken like a true CrossFit writer! Everyone loves those days when we go heavy and PR, but those chippers are necessary evils. Sometimes better than evils. Nothing wrong with the grind, I think it has gotten an unfair rep.
With a long work day ahead of me and class until 10pm, this post couldn’t have come at a better time. Such a great message and one that we should all embrace because you’re right – no matter how small the success, it is still a success!
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Love this Chris – as per usual you have it so spot on!
Sometimes we do forget that what we do everyday is pretty darn awesome and sometimes we need to focus on our daily achievements rather than these huge massive goals/bucket list dreams that we associate with thriving. 🙂
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Thanks! I don’t really have a bucket list. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not haha. I just have a bunch of small goals I’m trying to get done… Well I guess that makes a bucket list huh? =)
I love this post! The ordinary is extraordinary!
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Thanks, and yes it is!
Excellently said.
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mate, a killer post. This really hit home and I think it’s something many of us can not only relate to, but be guilty of. I wrote a post a while back about how we underestimate our bodies and ever since then, I’ve made an effort to appreciate it more but now need to take it to the next level and appreciate other things too.
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I’m definitely far from great at it, but I’m trying to really appreciate small things, beauty in all things, and just life in general. Life is short, and precious, and pretty awesome.
TUESDAYS ARE NOTORIOUSLY SHITTY DAYS so if you feel like you had an EPIC Tuesday than HOLY HOT DAMN, YOU REALLY REALLY REALLY must have had a good day!!! Perhaps you won the lotto and were gifted ALL THE COLD HARD CASH right then and there?!?!?!
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This is seriously amazing… it’s so easy to not pay attention to your accomplishments when they are the same day in, day out… but that doesn’t make them any less special!
Absolutely! Kinda makes the day more bearable. Thanks for stopping by!
Too often it’s about the comparison game! We tend to think our successes aren’t good enough compared to the next person’s.
I was thinking about that this weekend at the competition (obviously not on a major life event scale, but still). There was a girl that ended up coming in last, but she PRed every single lift, and PRed her back squat by 40 freaking pounds! On one hand I am sure there was a slight bout of disappointment from the placement but holy dang she has a ton to celebrate! I came in 14/18 and again, would like to have placed higher, but I PRed two and a half lifts and probably couldn’t have done much better if I tried.
All about perspective!
Yeah you did awesome in your comp! I’d say that counts as more special and less grind, haha. But yes your point on perspective is right on!
Wow…after my “comparing yourself to yourself” post, this really hit home for me. I love the idea of celebrating the grind…the maintaining period of life. It’s so easy to think “That was good, but not good enough.” But really, we do amazing things on random Tuesdays and that deserves celebration too!
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This post was as much a pep talk to myself as much as suggestion to everyone else. Sometimes the grind gets to me and I need to remember to heritage every day.
LOVE this. This is so what I needed to read in the last couple of weeks. A few “bad” workouts (but I showed up…) and work stresses and it’s easy to lose perspective.
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Yup, stress has a way of shifting our perspective into the negative. Thanks for stopping by!
I love this! You have to celebrate the small victories. If not, then what’s the point? You’d just go through every day feeling “blah” instead of getting excited. Heck, I do a mini victory dance when I make it to work all in one piece with all of my work supplies and a car that isn’t damaged haha
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Haha you should post your dance on your blog. Perhaps I get too excited over some things, but yeah better that than the other way!
I have been reading your posts for a couple of months and just needed to tell you that you are a great writer. This was a great read and a great way to stop and celebrate me being me, which is just a mom getting two kids off to school and taking some classes and trying my best at CrossFit. I have been kind of in a funk for the past few weeks due to having to drop hard class, my 1/2 marathon I was training for got cancelled but this was a good day and I feel like accomplishing those other goals on my list! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for reading and your kind words! I’ve been especially down lately and I need to heed my own advice. Thanks for making my day. =)
Thanks! This is kind of what I’m trying to embrace right now since my pr’s are going downhill in a major way while pregnant. It makes it tempting to just stay home!
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But you’ve never done the WODs as plus one, right? So technically you’re setting a PR each time! =)
Great post, and so well written. Some days, it really helps to read something like this, and today was definitely one of those days for me. Glad I discovered your blog! Looking forward to browsing through the rest of it!
Thank you so much! Glad you discovered me too! =) It’s amazing what a subtle shift in perspective can do. I’m humbled that I could have made your day a little brighter.