I can remember when I had to carry this bucket during the first lap of the Spartan ULTRA BEAST last weekend.
I remember thinking about how many more miles and hours I had left to complete until the race was done.
My mind quickly started to wander into a negative place.
“Holy sh*t… I have 6 hours or more LEFT”!?
“I’ve only gone 8 miles”…
“My achilles is killing me”…
“F*ck, why did I sign up for this again”!?
Then I snapped myself out of it.
I remembered WHY I had signed up.
It was precisely for THIS.
The test.
The challenge.
The battle I’d get to have against myself.
I signed up and committed to the race because I wanted to go against the negative one I knew would show up at some point within my mind.
And BOOM…
Sure as sh*t, here that asshole was trying to talk me out of finishing the race.
Good try, mothaf*cka… Not this time.
I remember I wanted to set that bucket down so bad, but I made it a point to hold onto that thing for the whole lap that we had to carry it for.
It was probably a good 1/2 a mile, maybe more.
The bucket wasn’t that heavy, but it got taxing to hold.
I saw a LOT of other people setting their bucket down.
I saw one guy f*cking sit down on his bucket.
F*ck that…
I carried that bucket the whole way then I trekked off into the rest of the race.
Now, why am I sharing this bit with you?
Why should you even care about the bucket carry I had to do in the Spartan race I did?
Because this same conversation I had within my head, I know YOU have in your head as well.
While you’re on this journey in life, sh*t gets tough.
Sh*t can seem like it’s never going to end because the finish line can’t be seen.
If you got a ton of weight you gotta lose and don’t see that lean physique you want to have in the mirror right away…
Or you’re not lifting the amount of weight you want to hit on certain lifts or performing as well as you might like…
It can be a real test pushing forward when you DON’T see the results you want to see right away.
Especially when you’re putting in a lot of work.
That voice in your head will quickly start to tell you to QUIT.
But I’ll tell you this…
When you keep going, and you REFUSE to quit, the finish line will show up at some point.
Then that’s when you get the REWARDS of crossing the finish line.
That’s when you’ll earn the fulfillment and joy of pushing yourself beyond your limits.
It feels f*cking good, and it’ll erase any of the ‘pains’ you might have to go through to get there.
If anything, the ‘pain’ you feel from the REGRET you get when you QUIT will be much worse.
Nothing prides me more than when a man from within The Forged FATHER lets me know about his progress and success.
It prides me because I know what it takes to get that success, and I know what these men are going through to get it.
You gotta keep pushing forward.
It’s NOT easy, but it’s essential.
It’s essential because it’s the only option.