Go under the bar

Sometimes, you just gotta get under the bar.

Life can get stressful- believe me, I'm there. So many things fluctuate on a day-to-day basis, and so many questions remain unanswered: where will I live next semester? what job will I be doing? will my current relationship work out, or is it going to fold (lookin' like a folder at this point...)? These are all things that are (unfortunately) out of my control. What I do have control over, is how I respond to those stressors.

I could let them dominate me and drive me into a dark hole of fear, anxiety, and depression. Instead, I choose joy. Joy is an internal state of well-being that is independent of one's external circumstances. Happiness is an emotion, therefore it fluctuates. Joy is a choice- not an emotion. That is why the apostle Paul can exhort his readers to "be joyful always" (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

One thing that brings me a lot of joy is weightlifting. Not working out, but training. If you don't know the difference, then it's probably because you have never trained. Anyways, I digress. There is something very fundamental and primitive about lifting. From ancient times, men have lifted heavy stuff, sometimes for survival, sometimes for sport. When I go under the bar, it's almost as if I am going back and reconnecting to something woven deeply into my soul. The feel of the bar against my body; the strain of my sinews yanking on tendons and bones; the voice in my head telling me to give up, and the other one telling that voice to shut up- these are things that make me feel alive, that in some small way connect me to men who have come before me all the way back to early man. When I am under the bar, my world stops spinning. No longer am I thinking about life and its many uncertainties. All that is on my mind is "move the weight".

Our society is all about quick fixes and shortcuts, and in weightlifting there just aren't any of those (minus the whole steroid thing, but thats another topic for another day). You have to wake up every day and decide to be strong, to be better than you were the day before. That goes not just for weightlifting, but for life. The bar is a great litmus test for what kind of man you are because he is unbiased and unforgiving. He wont BS you. He does not care if you are rich or poor, sick or tired, happy or sad, smart or dumb, handsome or ugly, cool or geeky. He does not care if you just got promoted or fired, married or dumped, all A's or all F's. All he cares about is if you have the gumption to get under him and move him. One thing is for certain: you find out what kind of man you are when you enter the world of weightlifting. There are days where you will love it. There are plenty of days you will hate it. The bar does not distinguish between those days- only you do. That is why, regardless of your circumstances, you just have to get under the bar.

Make the choice to be great. Find your bar, and get under it.