I was watching a video the other day and heard Stephen Colbert say something that really stuck with me.
“It is a gift to exist. And with existence comes suffering.”
I don’t know why but that statement really got me thinking. I’ve heard plenty of people talk about how life is a gift, and I think most of us would agree with that. But it was the second part that really caught my attention.
With existence comes suffering.
It’s such a simple statement but when you really think about it, it’s something that we all have to accept. No matter who you are, how much money you make, how healthy you are or how good of a person you try to be, you’re going to suffer at some point in your life.
And I think that’s something we have a hard time accepting.
We spend so much of our lives trying to avoid things that make us uncomfortable. We want things to be easier. We want to be happy, we want things to go our way and when they don’t, we start questioning why these things are happening to us.
But what if suffering isn’t something that’s gone wrong with life? What if it’s just part of being alive?
That doesn’t mean we have to enjoy it. It doesn’t even mean that understanding it makes it hurt any less.
It just changes the way we look at it.
So What Does Any of This Have to Do With CrossFit?
I started thinking about how much of this relates to what we do every day at BayWay CrossFit.
Think about it. People walk into our gym every day knowing they’re about to do something difficult.
They know they’re going to get tired. Their muscles are going to burn. They’re going to be out of breath and there’s probably going to be a point during the workout where they start questioning why they even showed up that day.
And then they come back and do it all over again.
I’ve always thought that was kind of funny. We spend so much of our lives trying to make things easier, but then we pay money to come to a CrossFit gym and voluntarily make ourselves uncomfortable.
But there’s a reason we do it.
We know that if we want to get stronger, improve our endurance or become healthier, we’re going to have to do things that aren’t always comfortable.
You can’t expect to build strength without challenging your muscles. You can’t expect to improve your conditioning without getting your heart rate up. And you can’t expect to get better at something without struggling through it a little bit.
That’s just part of the process.
And I think there’s a pretty important life lesson in that.
Sometimes Struggling Is Just Part of Getting Better
One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about coaching CrossFit in Baytown over the years is watching people accomplish things they never thought they could do.
I’ve seen people walk into BayWay CrossFit who were nervous just to start working out. They were worried they weren’t in good enough shape, that they couldn’t keep up with everyone else or that CrossFit was going to be too hard for them.
And sometimes it is hard for them.
But that’s okay.
That’s why we have coaches. That’s why we scale workouts and adjust movements based on someone’s ability. Whether someone is doing personal training or participating in one of our group CrossFit classes, the goal is to help them improve from wherever they’re starting.
What I love is watching how their mindset starts to change.
At first they might get frustrated because they can’t do a movement or because they have to use a lighter weight than someone else.
Then a few months go by and all of a sudden they’re doing things they couldn’t do before.
The workouts didn’t necessarily get easier. They just got better at handling them.
And maybe more importantly, they started to understand that struggling with something doesn’t mean they’re failing at it.
I think that’s something we can take outside of the gym too.
Life Doesn’t Always Let Us Choose Our Workouts
Here’s where I think the comparison gets interesting.
In CrossFit, we choose to do difficult things.
We know what the workout is, we know how long it’s going to last and for the most part, we have some control over how difficult we make it.
If the weight is too heavy, we can go lighter. If a movement is too difficult, we can scale it. If something hurts, we can stop.
But life doesn’t always work that way.
Sometimes things happen that we have absolutely no control over.
We lose people we love. We deal with health problems. We go through financial struggles, relationship problems and all kinds of things we never expected to happen.
And unlike a workout, we don’t always know when those things are going to end.
I don’t want to compare being tired during a CrossFit workout to someone going through something truly painful in their life. Those are two completely different things.
But I do think the gym can teach us some things about how we respond when life gets difficult.
We learn patience. We learn that progress doesn’t always happen as quickly as we’d like. We learn that sometimes we have to ask for help and that there are going to be days when simply showing up is enough.
One of the things I love about the CrossFit community is that you’re rarely going through something difficult by yourself.
Whether you’re working out with us here in Baytown or coming from Mont Belvieu, Highlands, Crosby or any of the surrounding communities, you’re surrounded by people who are trying to improve themselves just like you are.
And sometimes that encouragement is what helps you keep going.
I think that’s just as important outside the gym as it is inside it.
Accepting Something Doesn’t Mean You Have to Like It
This was probably my biggest takeaway from what Colbert said.
I don’t think accepting that suffering is unavoidable makes suffering any easier.
If you lose someone you love, understanding that death is part of life doesn’t make you miss them any less.
If you’re dealing with a health problem, understanding that our bodies aren’t invincible doesn’t suddenly make the situation better.
The pain is still there.
But maybe accepting that suffering is part of existence changes the expectations we have about life.
Instead of thinking that something has gone wrong because we’re going through a difficult time, we start to understand that difficult times are simply part of being alive.
And that doesn’t mean we give up or stop trying to make things better.
I think about this with fitness all the time.
If you’ve been doing strength and conditioning or functional fitness for any length of time, you know that progress isn’t always going to be a straight line.
You’re going to have good days and bad days. Sometimes you’re going to get stronger and sometimes you’re going to feel like you’ve taken a step backwards.
There are going to be days when you don’t feel like working out and there are going to be times when life gets busy and your fitness has to take a back seat.
That’s normal.
The goal isn’t to have a perfect workout every day. It’s to keep working toward being healthier and stronger over time.
And I think life is pretty similar in that regard.
We can’t expect every day to be a good day. We can’t expect everything to work out the way we planned.
But we can still appreciate the life we’re living, even during the difficult parts.
It’s Still a Gift
The more I thought about Colbert’s statement, the more I started thinking about how easy it is to take the ordinary things in life for granted.
Waking up in the morning. Spending time with our families. Watching our kids grow up. Going to work. Having the ability to exercise and move our bodies.
Things that we do every day without really thinking much about them.
And I think sometimes we get so caught up in the things that are going wrong that we forget how fortunate we are to experience any of it in the first place.
I’ve always believed that CrossFit is about more than just getting in shape.
Of course I want our members at BayWay CrossFit to get stronger, lose weight if that’s their goal, improve their conditioning and live healthier lives.
That’s why we offer CrossFit classes, personal training and other fitness programs.
But I also want people to understand that being able to exercise is a priviledge.
Not everyone has that opportunity.
And even for those of us who do, there’s no guarantee that we’ll always be able to do the things we can do today.
So maybe the next time you’re in the middle of a workout and you’re tired, frustrated or wishing it was over, take a second to appreciate the fact that you’re able to do it.
Not because being tired during a workout is the same as suffering through something terrible in life.
But because it’s another reminder that we get to experience things. We get to challenge ourselves. We get to improve and we get to keep trying.
And when life brings us something difficult that we didn’t choose, maybe we can remember that hardship doesn’t take away from the value of being alive.
I don’t think the goal in life should be to avoid suffering. I don’t think that’s even possible.
I think the goal is to appreciate the life we’ve been given, do the best we can with it and understand that the difficult parts are going to come whether we want them to or not.
We don’t have to be thankful for every difficult thing that happens to us. But we can still be thankful for the life that allows us to experience all of it.
That’s what I took away from Colbert’s statement anyway.
Life is a gift. Not because it’s always easy or because everything works out the way we want it to.
But because we get to be here at all.
And I think that’s something worth remembering.
About BayWay CrossFit
BayWay CrossFit is a CrossFit gym in Baytown, TX, serving Baytown, Mont Belvieu, Highlands, Crosby, Anahuac, La Porte and the surrounding East Houston communities. We offer coach-led CrossFit classes, personal training, strength and conditioning, and fitness programs for different experience levels.
If you’re looking for a place to start your fitness journey, visit baywaycrossfit.com to learn more about our programs.