How a Fatty learned to persevere

per·se·vere/ˌpərsəˈvi(ə)r/

Verb: Continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success. 

Well ok, maybe I've seen some success, I mean I do have some muscles but everyday it is still a task to overcome the mental block of working out. To shake off that mental dust from the night and to hit the weights or to tie the shoes and to push yourself harder than the day before.   And yet I'm learning that every time I do, every time I push myself and make that first rep or run that first few feet, everything changes. My brain clears up, my blood starts to flow, my enthusiasm builds, my muscles start to burn, my breathing starts to race and I feel alive. I feel better than alive even, I feel great.

Today was one of those days. I woke up and I immediately didn't want to work out. I told my kid brother that he should work out with me today. If there is anything that motivates me to do something, it's the prospect of teaching it to someone else. I love to teach. He agreed and together we hit the bowflex hard. It was his first time on the machine and it felt good to watch him struggle and persevere and it pushed me harder to do more. We took turns doing our sets, lowering the weight for him and tossing more on for me and then did curls side by side at the end followed by 30 second sets of planks and then scissor kicks and V's on our backs for abs. I am lucky to have a kid brother who wants to see me succeed, even at the expense of feeling some pain. 

I heard a quote a long time ago and I can't remember it exactly but it was something along the lines of, Do something you hate everyday, just for the practice. While I don't hate working out, at least not in the way I hate brussels sprouts or murderous cyborgs from the future who want to turn humanity into emotionless cybermen like them, I do think that I hate exertion on some level. I hope that as this lifestyle continues to become permanent that that taste will leave my mouth. Just admitting it is a step in the that direction!