Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Find A Way


Sunday afternoon, I was sitting at home, tired from a week of school, working out, studying, doing laundry, constipation, and watching the first 19 episodes of The Walking Dead.  I could never get into zombies, but I was starting to feel like one, although I only bite someone's head off if they look at me wrong...or text me telling me that I need to go to the gym.  As I sat there, growling and snorting, thinking of food, my Coachzilla texts me to ask me what time I was going to work out. Since it was Labor Day the next day and I didn't have class, I told her that I was going to go then, and take Sunday off.

Yeah, right...

I don't remember how the next text message went, as it was apparently traumatizing, but it seemed like it was saying, "if you don't plan on going, you're not going to go, and if you don't go you're a weenie, and so you better go, and when you go, just go some more, and life is full of puppies, kittens and rainbows, and wonderful, you weenie...go, go, go, go.....

AAAGH!!!!  Alright!

So I went.

I was mad.

I was so mad I got on the treadmill walked fast, and DEFIED her instructions to do an easy workout.  She told me to do 30 minutes.  I DID 60.  SO THERE.  HA HA.

In the 31st minute, as I began to approach code blue status, I slowed down the machine and was a little more relaxed, having rid myself of the stresses that climb on board like a bunch of holiday travelers on an Amtrak train, all wanting the same seat.  I breathed easier and watched the closed-captioned television programs on the monitors above to catch up on what's happening in the real world with no zombies (that we know of).

I saw this lady on the news, dressed in a swimsuit and jumping into ocean water to begin swimming.  I said to myself, "that's Diana Nyad...it looks like she's going to try it again."  The "it" was swimming from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida, a distance of over 100 miles, and it was her fifth attempt.

Most people associate Diana Nyad with the numerous failed attempts to swim the strait between Cuba and Florida, but don't realize that an inability to cover the distance was not the reason she couldn't finish.

The distance was no big deal.  She had more than enough talent and skill and endurance to make it happen.

It was one specific obstacle:  Jellyfish.
These stupid jellyfish would take a toll on her, stinging her as she swam by causing everything on her body to swell.  Even her lips were swollen. That's what happens when you kiss jellyfish, I guess.

Finally, she and her team were able to figure out a way to overcome the jellyfish through the use of protective gear developed for that purpose. Now, it might have taken 35 years to figure it out, but she figured it out, and, as you can see from the picture, she made it.


Her words of wisdom?  Keep living your dream and if you're not living it...find a way.

Three simple words:  Find a way.

Obstacles are like those jellyfish.  They sting you and you look like crap going through the journey, but you adapt, and over time they don't bother you so much, although Diana walked like a zombie coming out of the water after 53 hours.

Whether it's swimming, fighting zombies, or losing weight:  You find a way...even if that means having someone text you to call you a weenie for not working out.

Go me...

John


John's Progress