Battling the enemy within

Have you ever wanted to try something new in your life so bad that looks so exciting and scary at the same time?

Have you ever wanted to ask the prettiest girl in your office out but can’t look at her in the eye every time she walks down the lobby? Have you ever wanted to be the like your best friend who has that FHM magazine body but you couldn’t even last 15 mins running?

Yes, I’m pretty sure you had those wishes or even turned them into goals but have never made them close to reality. You had the "fire" for a moment but in the end, the weaker you won. “I can’t do it” - you said to yourself with a soft-ass voice while looking down and shaking your head with sub-zero self-esteem.

You think too fast and imagine ahead what could go wrong. You over-analyze the situation and ultimately get paralyzed. You have predicted the 99 ways how it would never turn out in your favor instead of that 1 way how you could've achieved it. You haven't even tried but you already had the result played out in your mind a hundred times. Apparently, the outcome has always been unpleasant to you.

image from http://rollingout.com/

Before you even tried to lift that 20-pound dumbbell you already thought of how your body was going to be sore for the next 5 days. Before you even tried to put your running shoes on you already imagined how tired you are going to be at work. Before you even tried to do jumping jacks you already considered the therapist’s fee for your broken back.

image from:
http://rimashahasphotography.weebly.com

These thoughts are what comprise our common enemy – FEAR.  You see fear of the unknown is not really why people get scared to do something new. What makes people frightened of something is the fear of “what has been known” or the perceived result. To explain further, say you wanted to learn football but you are severely overweight. So you already rejected the possibility of ever walking into the football field. This idea was planted in your mind unconsciously five years ago when you were watching the athletes in your university gym do their training. The competitors were in top shape, had greatest cardio and you could see their six-pack abs right through their shirt (no homo).

What has been known to you is that only people with God-given body are the ones who are able to train hard. So in your perception, you can try as much as you want but you won’t be able to do it like them because you simply don't have the body or the "gift" like them.

Guess what? YOU ARE WRONG! You’ve probably heard this from a friend or a trainer or someone who cares for you (if not then you are one poor soul, I kid). You need to stop this madness.

Let's go outside the world of fitness and take Oprah for example. She was born to a housemaid and grew up in her grandmother’s farm.  She was molested as a child that started when she was 9, by her cousin, uncle and a family member’s friend. Sometime during her early teenage years, she gave birth to a baby boy who eventually died due to premature birth.  Fast forward to today, Oprah Winfrey became one of the “100 Most Influential People of the 20^th Century”, the first African-American billionaire and one of the most generous female philanthropists in the world.  

I'm sure you’ve also heard about this guy who was born with no limbs for no apparent medical reason. This "little" man was bullied his entire school life to the point where he attempted suicide by drowning himself in his bath tub. We are eternally grateful that he miserably failed to kill himself. Otherwise, Life Without Limbs Org would not have been founded and millions of lives would not have received the spiritual help & inspiration they needed from a man named Nick Vujicic.

How about this Muay Thai fighter from Canada who’s had 70 wins and a number of championship titles around his belt? (Of course there's got to be a Muay Thai-related example.) This man’s name is Baxter Humby and his nick name: “The One Armed Bandit”. You read it right, no kidding. His right hand was amputated at his birth due to its entanglement with the umbilical cord. Did it stop him from achieving his dreams? Well, he currently holds the International Muay Thai Council World Super Welterweight Champion belt.

Baxter Humby - image from: http://www.palipost.com

I can go on for days and tell stories of ordinary people who’ve made the extraordinary but I still wouldn’t be able to inspire you to do what you've always dreamed of doing. Until you do it yourself, you’ll only be another “wanna-be”, a “hopeful”, and what hurts the most – a “loser”.

So how did these people do it? How would I do it? Acknowledging fear is a good start. Accept that it is there. Play around with it then face it. And maybe talk to it just like how you talked to your childhood crush, smell it just like how you inhaled the second hand smoke of a cigarette the first time, touch it just like how you splashed in the pool for the first time. Easier said than done, right?

“Only when you truly know yourself and your enemy, will you not fear the results of a hundred battles”. 

In the words of Sun Tzu, you have to know yourself, realize your potential, be prepared for what your enemy can do to you so you can capitalize on it and you may worry less of the result of any fight. 

image from http://www.nj.com/entertainment

Albeit, they did not solely study them selves, more so what they were . Instead, they focused most of their energy on what they could become. The formula is really simple: Know yourself, acknowledge fear & focus on your potential. Try it and let me when you've won the war within. See you on the top of the mountain!