Check Yourself

It's always been easier to destroy than it is to create.

• It's easier to tear down than to build.

• It's easier to edit than to write. (Although good editors, like good coaches, earn a sharp salute: it is not easy to improve someone's work without destroying it.)

• It's easier to be the guy on the side of the platform saying "He could have had a better second pull" than it is to be the guy with the barbell in his hands, working his ass off.

• And it's easiest of all to hide behind a keyboard and snap at people with words.

Some things in life take courage: ridicule and destruction never do.I've watched many people snap at things lately:

• say harsh words,

• write mean things,

• produce aggressive bullshit that they're trying so desperately to heap upon someone else.

As if spreading darkness could somehow lift it from your own soul. It can't. Hasn't worked since the beginning of time. Won't work now.

The unhappiness will always come back until you find a way to make peace with it.

Maybe it's stress, maybe it's the economy, maybe it's the time of year: whatever the triggering factor is, it really doesn't matter.

Whenever you degrade someone else, you degrade yourself.

When you insult another, you insult yourself.

Don't believe me? When you yell, your voice is loudest in your own ears, isn't it?

Maybe it's time to learn to critique and construct, to correct without vengeance. The best teachers in your life probably had a way of telling you what was wrong at the same time that they gave you hope: hope that you could fix whatever it was, hope that your efforts could make a difference, hope that there was hope for you.

The best coaches you've ever had probably gave you hope that you could make that lift, that you could get to depth, that you had a chance of completing that muscle-up.

That's why we have coaches – not to critique, but to elevate.

So, the next time you find yourself about to rant or berate, check yourself.

• Think before you speak.

• Think before you press "Enter."

• Remember, the delete button is there for a reason: use it!

Everything (and everyone) in your life will benefit. And your back squat will gain 20lbs. (Okay, maybe not, but it was a nice thought, wasn't it?)