The Good Stuff

Last night, I stood in a small gym and watched a guy try to lift some weight.

Again and again.

See, this guy – Chris – failed more than once, many times, to the point that the clock was about to run out. He could have stopped and just said "F*** it. My overhead squat is not going to happen today. This is just a workout."

But he didn't.

He kept gathering himself, and resting, and trying again.

And, in the last seconds on the timer, when it looked like things would go to hell again ... he got that overhead squat.

And I felt my heart surge in my chest and I had to swallow hard and blink back tears.

Stupid gym. Sometimes it makes me sooo uncool.

But to watch another human being struggle like that and keep fighting, even when the odds were against him and the clock was running out and what the heck does it matter anyhow, it's just a workout?

If that doesn't move you ... well, you're not the kind of person I want to want to sip the good stuff out of a heavy glass with.

Others may make fun of what we do in the gym, and they may make fun of what I write here, but I'm guessing they've not stood where I've stood, or tried what Chris tried, or opened their hearts wide enough to "get" it, to get us, to get why we do these things.

But that's what Chris did last night: he opened his heart wide and found that one squat, with a second to spare on the clock. It might only be one workout, but it will echo through his life for days, and months, and years. And he will be a better person for what he learned in those moments with the barbell in his hands.

So I don't care what the naysayers think.

I don't care what the closed-hearted feel.

I only know to pay attention when the hair on the back of my neck stands up, and my breathing gets shallow, and my pulse quickens. Something important is happening then. Pay attention. There's a lesson in those moments if only we are smart enough to see it.

Find it. Live it.

Life is short. Don't miss the good stuff.