When do you "turn off"?
As coaches, crossfitters, parents, husbands, wives, children, friends, lovers, and generally busy people we are during every second of every day... well... busy. (Insert sad face here).
This is the result of taking on many responsibilities, wearing many hats and having lots to do to "stay on top": keep up with the Joneses - pay the rent - pay the car - do well at your job (is doing well good enough?) - be a better athlete - be the best athlete - lean up - eat well (cook a lot) - make it to the meeting(s) on time - answer e-mail (52 in the past hour?) - visit family - take supplements - roll out - mobilize - answer e-mails - meet with clients - PT - another meeting... ARE YOU STRESSED OUT YET?
That's when you step back, take a deep breath and realize it's all a game. That's right - life is a game. You get to choose when and how you play, what you play and by what rules you play. Everything is a choice: when you wake up, when you go to sleep, when you work, when you play, when you WOD and when you don't. Then you get to decide to what level you do each of these things.
Over the past month, all of this has been especially clear in my life. As things change at CrossFit Central, CC ATX and the RedBlack Gym, we are asking a lot of ourselves and those that we work with. It is not good enough to be good. We must be the best. Not because anyone has told us so, but because it simply is what we do. We do it because we do it.
In striving to be the best in the world at something, naturally there comes a time when you have to step back and ask yourself: When do I turn this thing off? When do I rest? When do I take a moment to myself to think, reflect and breathe?
For those of you out there with a macho bravado and disdain for all things yoga and "lite", your quick reply might be:
"Ha! I can sleep when I'm dead. #Hustlegrindanddoworkbitches. Rest is for the weak... "
That may be the case, but show me a man or woman who does not take care of themselves and I will show you a person who:
a) Is inefficient in the workplace and not performing to their potential.
b) Is tired, grumpy, injured, and unhealthy (mentally, physically or spiritually).
c) Hates life or at the minimum where they currently are in life.
So the big question is: WHEN DO YOU TURN IT OFF?
-Do you find yourself staying up until Midnight when you have to wake up at 5:00 AM?
-Are you attached to your iPhone or CrackBerry: checking e-mail, tweeting, texting, calling ad nauseum?
-Do you skip meals, workouts, quality time with friends and family in the name of finishing a task that could easily be done later with the same result?
-Do you work even when you are done with work?
Your health, sanity and well-being cannot be overstated.
Please note, I am NOT advocating a lazy-man's shrug it off, it's not that important, fall-behind, procrastinate and suck-at-what-you-do lifestyle. Actually, I advocate the opposite.
Work 100%. Play 100%. Party 100%.
BUT!
There must be clear and defined boundaries in one's life. "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven."
Live in the moment. That is all there is; all we have. When it is time to work, work. When it is time to play, play. When it is time to love, love. And when it is time to pause, reflect, recuperate and rejuvenate - do that!
