The Warrior Mind/Body

On August 12, 2012 I will be participating in an event that I never imagined myself doing: The Warrior Dash. The Warrior Dash is a 3.2 mile race with crazy obstacles along the way. Crawling under barbed wire, climbing up cargo nets, rappelling down a ravine, and trudging through muddy, waist-deep water? Not really my thing.

But I’m making it my thing. This race fulfills two goals I am working on: getting strong and fit and having less fear/more fun. When my sister suggested we do this race together, I had all kinds of objections in my mind. Even now, as I type this publicly, I have doubts. How many times have I “committed” to doing something that requires a lot of hard work and then failed? Lots.

Still, I’m attracted to this word Warrior. It works for so many aspects of my life right now. I’ve started thinking of myself as a Warrior. Strong, disciplined, unyielding, tough. The underlying purpose of the Discipline Project has been to prove to myself, one way or the other, whether being more disciplined actually makes my life better. And by better, I mean happier. I’m pretty self-indulgent and fairly permissive with my kids. In some ways, I think those traits are good. I follow my passions, take risks, adapt to change and allow my kids to do the same. In other ways, those traits are bad. I have a hard time following through on commitments and making hard changes that will benefit me long-term. I’m a short-term girl, and that’s clearly not a Warrior.

Will this Warrior concept help me make the hard changes? Warrior. I want to brand the word on my arm. Embrace it and live it, and see if my family and I are all happier in the end.

But the doubts. There are many.

I’m a master of avoidance. Every day is another day that I tell myself I’ll start doing XYZ tomorrow. How I will force myself into this Warrior mindset, I do not know. But once again, I’m looking to this blog, to my writing and to those of you out there who read and understand. I have about 29 weeks until the Warrior Dash race. 29 weeks to share my struggles and my progress.

Here’s my plan:

• Start that “Project 365″ photo thing. Many of these will be self-portraits and I’m hoping they will document a transformation. (Yes, I’m starting late, so it may not actually be 365 days. Or maybe I’ll continue into January 2013. Whatever. I’m not stressing about it.)
• Write a weekly post sharing my diet/fitness progress and goals.
• Be in kick-ass shape by August, then go on to train for the Disney Princess Half-Marathon (Feb. 2013).

While I seem to be focusing on the fitness aspect, there’s really much more to my Warrior challenge. It’s about discipline, of course. It’s about writing. It’s about having my kids see me work hard to accomplish a goal. It’s about taking action and quitting the avoidance. If you’re working on the same goals, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or on Twitter.

“Bottom line is that the next time you find yourself complaining about a lack of focus, energy or direction; stand up, take courage, and set your own direction. We’re waiting for you to show us that the miraculous is still possible.”
~ Steve Rice at Karmic Kappuccino.

Tagged as: change, exercise, fitness, goals, happiness, routine, self-improvement