The Grey: CHOOSE

This weekend, Travis Holley and I caught up on some cinema and went to watch "The Grey". The movie was a bit different than I had expected, but it was legit nonetheless. It definitely got us to thinking about the parallels the movie draws with internal and external conflict in life and CrossFit (yes... what else are we going to compare it to...?) and the ability to choose your fate. 

The movie is deeper and more introspective than the action-packed trailer would have you believe. It deals with themes of life and death, internal and external conflict, social hierarchy, fear, love, brotherhood and choice. 

I took two major lessons from the movie (there are many more, but these two stood out to me):

1) The Alpha Wolf does not live without fear. 

Quite the opposite. The Alpha Wolf manages fear and funnels it into creativity, energy, survival, leadership and success. The Alpha Wolf does not always have solutions, but is always working towards solutions. Along with that, the Alpha always displays a PMA (positive mental attitude) - never quit - never surrender - never say die.

2) In the end, we choose how we will live and how we will die. 

You cannot always control the things that happen to you in your life, but you ALWAYS get to  choose how you will deal with those things. You choose your emotions, reactions and your next plan of action. 

When faced with adversity: Will you do whatever it takes to fight and win, or will you simply give up? 

The movie ends with a small poem:

Once more into the fray
Into the last good fight I'll ever know
Live and die on this day
Live and die on this day.