Remember This Above All Else

And remember all the fun you had with other people, even while rowing.

Just because you work out earlier/longer/harder/more than anybody else doesn't make you a better person.

Your actions to help others in this life are what make you a better person.

Remember that the word "training" indicates preparation, not accomplishment.

Remember that you train so that you can accomplish other things in life, in addition to whatever happens in the gym or on the trail or on the field.

Remember that thrusters and pull-ups—no matter how quickly done—in and of themselves add no value to the world. None.

But you? You add value to the world.

Remember that however fantastic you feel after a hard workout or a well-earned victory, that emotion fades quickly and holds no candle (not even the barest flicker of the most minute flame) to love.

And that most people in this world would trade every material success for one more hug from their long-gone mom, one more phone call from their brother who left this world too soon, one more smile from the auburn-haired child who went to school and never came home, or one more chance to wake up tangled in sun-yellow cotton sheets and the smell of her.

Remember all of this.

And remember that training helps you prepare for all your endeavors.

Prepare, but be certain to keep your sights in check and your internal scale calibrated.

Because, most of all, in order to live this life well and with no regrets that spill into your eyes as tears and wreck the day no matter how well you thought things were going, most of all you simply must do this one simple and yet amazingly difficult task repeatedly and forever, even in the hardest of times, most importantly in the hardest of times: remember to love.