Showing Up

A large part of fitness (or strength) is showing up and doing the work.

Ditto for friendship, parenting, relationships, and writing (or whatever your skill set is). 

If you want good results, you simply must show up, even when you don't feel much like showing up.

Yup, That Can Be Hard

Because life, while delicious, is often not easy. So many hands tug us in so many directions, like little children all needing something from us all the time, pulling pulling pulling, until we lock ourselves in the bathroom for one moment, just one moment, of peace and quiet and nobody needing anything.

But here's the thing: you open the door again.

You go out into the needy, needy world and you deal with it. Because how you deal with it all shows exactly who you are.

All of life is showing up ... or not. Because not being there is a choice too. Abandonment—of goals, people, animals, causes—is action through non-action, if you think about it.

Showing up is how we improve ourselves as human beings, by being there repeatedly, even on days that we might not want to be there. And often the most wonderful changes of spirit occur when we press forward with heavy hearts or clouded minds.

I've never finished a workout and regretted it. I've never finished a piece of writing and regretted taking the time to put my thoughts down on paper or screen. And I've never taken the time to show up for someone who needed me and then thought, "I shouldn't have done that." You're probably the same way.

So, be there. And be there when you're there. 

Commitment can change your world.