Sunday Story…How can I miss you

If you won’t go away?

Will you notice when I go? Or will you miss me? Am I all bluster and blow? Or, like jasmine carried on a warm breeze, will I be missed?

I notice when the loud, the obnoxious, the bully, the strident, the irritating go away. I notice the lack of stress when they disappear. I notice the calm, the peace that settles when those prickly personas go. I don’t miss them when they go away.

I miss when the empathetic, the kind, the compassionate, the thoughtful, the inspiring, the refreshingly real go away. When they go I look for them to reappear. I bask in the serenity they bring, the quiet confidence that exists with them. I miss them when they aren’t there.

Do you want to be noticed or missed when you leave? The choice is yours.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Fitter

Than yesterday, last week, last year. Way back when we were young most of our peers were relatively fit. Granted some of them were much fitter but fit was more the norm than not. We could run and jump and play games and do what we wanted to do with our bodies.

The maxim “use it or lose it” was in operation though and over the years everyone’s fitness changed and, generally, not for the better. Now when I look around at my peers it is painfully obvious who has been using it and who hasn’t.

Fitness is simple…move a load a distance. More fit equals moving larger loads further distances. Getting off the floor is moving a load a certain distance. Picking a box off the floor and putting it on a shelf is the same thing. How do you get more fit? Practice moving things faster and further. It really is that simple.

Your health is closely tied to your fitness. We all marvel at the octogenarian who still moves and operates like she is fifty. And we all mourn when we see a fifty-year-old moving like he’s eighty. The longer we live the bigger the gap we find between fit and unfit, between healthy and unhealthy.

Being fit takes commitment, work, and tenacity. You have to show up, grind out your work with intention and intensity, and realize that maintenance over the years is actually progress.

Be fit. It beats the pants off of anything else.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey@gmail.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Journey

Starts with a single step. And it does. Yet there isn’t just that, is there?

I have taken first year Spanish about 5 times. I still can’t speak Spanish. I can sort of understand it…At least I can nod and smile at the appropriate times, I think. Starting that journey over and over has not gotten me any closer to the destination.

It isn’t just the starting, just the first step that matters. It’s the follow through. The 2nd, the tenth, the 100th steps that matter as well. If I want to be a Spanish speaker I will need to do more than the first year.

The first step is important, without it nothing else is possible. But it isn’t the only one that matters.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Now

Or later.
I want it now. I want it all and I want it now. This is the toddler’s way! I did it once; I shouldn’t have to do it again and again to get whatever it is.

You and I know this is not true. I have to eat healthy nourishing food over and over to get results. Once won’t do it. If I want better fitness I have to show up and work hard at the gym more than just the first 20 days of January. I know we don’t like these facts but they are immutable.

If I want a custom made anything I am going to need to wait for it. I am going to have to get fitted, learn how it works, get better at it, do some trial and error and maybe even tweak it a little before it is truly made for me.

You choose: Are your results are created by a toddler, skipping from thing to thing, going for the “cheap and easy” things, never staying long enough to see what works or doesn’t. Or are your results are created by a grown-up; who made a plan, stuck to it, changed it a bit when necessary but kept the goal in sight and stayed on task over a long period of time.

Toddler or Adult?

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Why don’t I

Do what I know is going to be good for me?

You know you will feel better after you work out but…
You’re tired
It’s cold
You have SO much to do
You aren’t feeling well
You just aren’t in the mood.

So you don’t go. And you end up feeling worse partly because you didn’t work out and partly because you know it’s good for you and you denied yourself that feeling.

What is up with this? Why do we do this to ourselves? It isn’t just working out. It’s eating right. It’s drinking less. It’s reading more. It’s spending more and better time with our families.

You know what to do and you know you will feel better, and you know it’s good for you and yet you don’t do it. What happens in that brain of yours that this goes on? And on and on. Because it didn’t happen just once and you learned from it. Nope, it’s happening over and over again.

What will it take to fix this? It’s simple, really. Not easy but simple. First, make a commitment to yourself to keep your commitments. Second, make a commitment to do the thing you know will be good for but you are having a hard time doing. Third, install into your memory how you feel when you have done the thing you know will be good for you. Lastly, go do it. You’ll be glad you did.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The space

between

Where you are and where you want to be can be vast. It could be a chasm and look completely impassable. It could be a challenge and look like something that may inspire you to do more, be better.

You get to decide what that space becomes. Will you use it to pull you forward? Can it be a launching pad to do greater things? Will you dance with the fear of falling in the gap?

Or will you look over the edge into the abyss and walk away…over matched and under-inspired.

The choice is yours. This space isn’t just one thing or in one place. It keeps showing up to challenge your resolve. It keeps appearing to test your will.

How you look at that space is everything. Victory or defeat isn’t in what happens in that space, it is your attitude when you survey the landscape. Will you be defeated before you begin? Will you win before you finish?

The key is to determine how you will deal with the space before you know it is even there. Attitude is everything.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Why we do

What we do.
Why do you CrossFit? Why aren’t you on the treadmill or stair stepper or any of the other myriad choices for exercise?

Because you aren’t exercising, silly. People who exercise are doing it out of obligation or as a chore. The doctor says I have to exercise for 20 minutes a day so away I go to some mindless hamster wheel to “exercise”.

You CrossFit to be more fit than you were yesterday. You can move a larger load further and/or faster than you could yesterday. You are more fit. Hooray for you.

But why? I mean why is that important to you? We all have a different answer. Here’s a couple:
I want to go skiing in a couple weeks and I want the 3rd and 4th days to be as much fun as the first day.
I’m getting ready to play in a recreational sports league and I want to have fun and do well (and not get wrecked!)
I’m going to climb a mountain/run a half marathon/do a tough mudder and I want to have a good time doing it.

Better fitness equates to more fun! All of those things require better fitness. So get more fit. Have more fun. Look better because fit people are happier people and happier people are more fun to be around! Do more CrossFit!

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412