Some friends have mentioned that I sound sad in these blogs. And that is fair enough. I acknowledge that it can come across like that and sometimes maybe I am sad.
I have always been an ugly truth over a beautiful lie sort of person. You may have noticed with my candour about the challenges that I am facing or have faced in the past. Obviously, there is a time and place for a beautiful lie.
However, you do need to acknowledge your successes and give them just as much attention, probably more, than you give to your challenges and failures. So in an effort of acknowledging good things that have been going on I will list some positive things going on.
First and foremost is a new addition to the family. My little sister had her first son, Noah. He is about to hit 3 months old so getting more and more playful but still just eating, pooping, sleeping machine. At the moment most of my energy is looking after little sis but soon it will be playing with Noah, teaching him how to cause some mischief.
With my ankle injury, I can't do much sports so how I keep fit is with lifting weights. I have been working on deadlifting 260kgs. My max before the lockdown was 255kgs but that was with a belt and doing sumo deadlifting, basically a really wide stance. Lockdown really but a spanner in that plan and getting back into the gym I was really struggling with anything over 220kgs.
Our bodies have an amazing capacity to adjusts quickly and I have been routinely getting 245kgs without a belt with a conventional stance. This was my old max but with a belt so I am getting stronger, which feels good. I would like to lose some weight though, get into more of 'game shape'. But food is so damn delicious, I mean have you tried chocolate?
Another thing I am grateful for, food. Doughnuts from Little & Friday are amazing. Burgers from Burger Geek and Shake Out. Fresh new Strawberries that are in season have been rocking my world lately. I have been eating them a punnet at a time. You can probably see why I am not losing any weight😢😢.
Finally, I had a shave recently and caught my reflection in the mirror and thought, damn, you don't scrub up half bad. It was a fleeting moment but one I should recognize.
I know it seems strange to talk about your successes, especially New Zealand. But as I have mentioned above, lots of them are just things I am grateful for, which I think we should all acknowledge and talk about way more than we do.
I think we should be our own biggest cheerleader. Who else is going to champion you if you don't? This isn't ego-stroking telling yourself false stories of your greatness, but having an honest conversation around what you are doing well or what you are proud or grateful of.
My lifting story is to address that yes I am stronger than many people in the gym but the competition is only against myself. The weight I lift is not saying I am better morally than someone that can't lift that. I know that my max is someone else's warm-up. It is purely an expression of my own growth.
Discuss your hardships with people you care about, its a very healthy and important thing to do, hopefully, shaving isn't one of them 😁, but also share the good, celebrate yourself, celebrate your friends, fill out that picture of your life more accurately with the good as well as the not so good.
Shave well, be awesome, go be your own cheerleader.
Luke
