Three Thirsty, hungry and tired friends…
There is a story where three friends had a long journey through the desert. Two of them were complaining about how hot it was, how thirsty and hungry they were. But one of them was just quiet, walking to the closest town they could find. When they arrived at the first town they could see, the quiet guy was the first person to sit, eat and drink water and rest after. The other two guys made fun of this guy telling him that he was acting all the way to town like he was not thirsty, hungry and tired and he was the first to drink, eat and sleep.
The rested guy looked at them and told both that he never said that he was not thirsty, hungry and tired, but complaining about won’t change the situation. That he decided to focus on his goal and ignored the discomforts.
Our hot member...
I was in the office assessing one of our CBF members, when I stepped out of the office, I saw Jazmin exercising. It was around 4 pm in the middle of summer. She decided to complain that it was too hot and it was impossible to exercise at that time. I told her that I have exercised at this specific time of the day when it's hot and I don’t feel the difference. That I only focus on my exercise and I get my exercising done ignoring other factors. But if she continues to focus on the heat, then she will intensify her perception about the heat. Jazmin told me that she would try to focus on her workout.
The body likes to complain…
It is normal that when we are about to exercise we find an excuse not to do it. But when we are committed to our goal and health, we just do it no matter the excuse. The body does not like to be in discomfort, but the mind knows we need to achieve our goal. It was around 3 pm when I was getting ready to run when I heard a little voice inside of me telling me that it was too hot and the sun was shinny with no clouds. Of course, I ignored that voice and I started running.
This time I ran 4 miles which took me around 30 minutes, more or less. As I was running, I got lost in my thoughts. I got to my destination and I turned around. All this time the sun was shinny which I ignored. The same wind that I created when I was running was enough to cool me down. I continue being lost in my thoughts, but something brought me to the present and then I noticed that I had a cloud on top of me that lasted almost to my destination.
I noticed that I enjoy the cloud on top of me covering the sun and it was kind of a treat for me in my hot run. Nevertheless, the heat was not bothering me. I believe the biggest reason why the heat was not bothering me is because I don’t pay attention to the temperature and I know my body will adapt. Maybe just like the dude who was in the desert who did not complain I may feel the same discomfort, but I decide to ignore it.
Of course, for you to be able to do this, you must be well hydrated and healthy. Don’t put yourself in a bad situation by exposing yourself to heat and getting a heat stroke. Always stay safe.
Conclusion…
The more you focus on the negative and focus on the discomfort, the more intense it becomes and the more you will feel it. It is just like time. When you are waiting for the results in the doctor’s office, it feels like the time does not move. However, if you are in the park with the person you crush, time moves fast. The truth is that time goes at the same rate, but your perception is different depending on the event.
The same with your discomforts. If you just focus on the task and ignore all the discomforts, you just enter a state of flow where the only thing that matters is the task that you are doing.
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