I’m not particularly fond of whiners nor do I have much patience for them.

Until I turned into one.

Yep. I turned into a ridiculous whiney baby a few months ago.

Candace (my wife) was excited to sign up for an obstacle course race and there was a local gym she wanted to join so she could practice. 

Hell no was my initial answer when she asked if I wanted to train and do this adventure with her until she said, “that’s OK, you can sit on the sideline and cheer me on.” 

Double hell no! Kelly doesn’t cheer on the sideline.

“Sign me up!”

Sooooo… I showed my ass big time during the first day at the training gym. I whined, shot cold-as-ice dagger stares at Candace, and cussed a lot. It wasn’t pretty and I wasn’t proud. 

Who was this chick and where’d she come from? 

And then it hit me. I realized it’s been a looooong time since I’ve stretched myself out of my comfort zone physically and I was uncomfortable! I was doing things I’d never done before and they were scary…and I wasn’t good at them. 

What did this experience teach me?

Get out of the comfort zone!

It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing the same workout and lifting the same weight. It diminishes return and doesn’t stretch us.

Now that I can objectively see where I’m weak and that I won’t die doing these obstacles I’m encouraged to continue practicing them so I can inch higher on the proficiency scale.

Stop wining. 

When we commit we need to commit. Whining takes up time and energy, it’s not attractive, and it drags others down. 

During the race I set my mind straight and said I would do the best of my ability and have a good attitude. I give myself a 90% (damn that mud and those heights!)

Gratitude.

There's always someone who's got our back when we're trying something new and that makes all the difference in the world to know they believe in us.

Lara from the gym and Candace were two very encouraging women in my court who showed me grace and patience especially when I was being ugly and I'm very grateful for them :) 

You never know until you try.

We’re pretty limitless with what we can accomplish physically and mentally and when we stay afraid from trying we keep what could be a new passion or natural ability from blossoming.

I’m not certain I’ll do another adventure race but I am seriously thinking about trying out the cheerleading on the sideline option next time ;)

Let's all make a pact to create a great today where we don't whine, do something out of our comfort zones, show gratitude to others, and try something new. Who's in!?  Post about it in the comments.

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