It’s 5am on a cold winters morning. The second you get out of bed you find yourself comparing the cold air through the window to the warmth and comfort of your duvet. You stretch to click your back and warm up your legs from the pounding they’ve taken over the last few years. You start to think ‘My body is broken, why would I want to make it worse?’.
You get in your car to make your way to the bottom of a mountain with a coffee to hopefully wake and warm you up. You open your boot and use every bit of energy to pick up your 20kg vest and strap in.
Boot closed, car locked and the heavens open. Your shorts are wet through within the first 100 steps. Another 100 more and your trainers start squelching. The wind and hale is now burning the side of your face. That bushy beard you’ve taken years to grow won’t help in this weather in these Welsh mountains.
A covered glare to my watch let’s me know I’ve climbed 1,000ft at a pace of 3mph. The weighted vest now digging deep into my shoulders as I start to up the pace.
I reach the top and start my workout. 50 press ups in it feels like every drop of rain is trying to push my face down into the rock and stop me from getting back up. I count to 100 and start running down 40 metres and sprinting back up.
My lungs are on fire as I struggle to catch my breath. My legs are screaming. I finish my 10 sprints and run down the mountain. I reach the bottom just as the rain lifts and the clouds open. It’s still cold but my whole body is burning, even my cheeks. I take a deep breath and feel proud. I’ve worked hard in horrible conditions yet I’ve got the satisfaction of knowing I’m one step closer to being better. I feel alive.
The thing is, it’s easy to remind yourself of why you started your journey when you’re on a high. It’s much harder to remind yourself when your low, feeling uncomfortable and nothing is going your way.
I think if you look at anything worth having in life, it takes hard work, determination and a little obsession. Whether it’s business, fitness or family life, it has its ups and downs.
The ups are always reminders as to why you started but its easy to forget this when it’s hard.
My goals are far more important than any uncomfortable moments of pain. It’s the success I’m striving for and if you, like me want to achieve something that is deemed impossible, you have to be a little obsessed.
Without the hard work in times of discomfort, those goals remain dreams. Why did you start your journey?