Lessons from Leg Day
Today was leg day. What that means is this: pain, anguish, sobbing, groaning, complaining, and, thanks to COVID-19, not all that much actual exercise because we don’t have many weights and the stupid gyms are still closed. But even without the proper equipment and the opportunity to really torture those lower extremity muscles, I still dread leg day.
That’s why I was listening to the Lonely Palette. Actually, I often listen to this awesome podcast while working out, but on leg day, it is especially useful for distracting me from the horror of squats and lunges.
Today’s episode was on Ansel Adams and it provided this great quote: “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” Boom. Ansel dropped some truth on us. But as I was performing calf raises and further considering those words, I began to realize that they could apply to more than just taking pictures. (I was also reminded of how much I hate calf raises!)
“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”
- Ansel Adams
I would expand the famous photog’s words to say: A good life is knowing where and how to stand. Living well hinges on adopting the right perspective. As someone once said, attitude is everything - change your attitude, change your life. In this season of challenging, unprecedented, unusual (fill in the blank with a news-channel adjective meaning “messed up”) times, I’ve found three attitudes to be essential in achieving the right perspective - finding where and how to stand to achieve that good life.
The author and DJ, back in the day. (Courtesy of Hulsey Photography)
DETERMINATION
As most of my family and friends know, I’m a big fan of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It all started with The Rundown. It’s not a great flick, but it does have some memorable scenes. Like when Christopher Walken, the bad guy, is trying to explain the concept of the tooth fairy to a host of Portuguese-speaking mercenaries. And then there’s Seann William Scott with his ill-advised “little thunder… little lightning…” attempt to beat up the Rock.
My favorite scene in the movie, however, takes place in the opening sequence when the Rock, who plays a retrieval expert, is dispatched to confront a professional football player about a large gambling debt. It goes down in a raucous nightclub where the player in question is getting drunk, surrounded by a host of his massive, similarly inebriated teammates.
When discussions fail (the Rock gets a drink thrown in his face) he retreats to the bathroom, calls his boss to explain the situation, then begrudgingly agrees to go back in and get the guy’s Superbowl ring. Once he knows what he has to do, he glances down for a second, composes himself, then looks up into the mirror. That look is what turned me into a Rock fan.
The expression on the Rock’s face at that moment says this: I not only can do this, I am going to do this and no person or thing is going to stop me. It doesn’t matter whether or not I want to do it. I am going to do it. I will make it happen.
We’re talking about an expression of pure determination.
I’ve drawn on that look on plenty of occasions - in the gym when I’m underneath enough weight that I could be crushed like a bug, when running a 5K and I’m out of gas, when working for an organization that has gone from great to el crapitan, and when suddenly pulling unemployment thanks to an “infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only within the living cell of a host.”
The determination the Rock demonstrates in that scene is essential to succeeding in less-than-ideal, unexpected, and otherwise difficult circumstances involving daunting odds. In other words, the kind of circumstances we are all facing right now.
HOPE
Determination is great for moving through, around, and over obstacles. But hope is what sustains us in the long-haul marathon of life. It is the fuel that motivates creativity, passion, and love. As Emily Dickinson once put it: “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without words and never stops, at all.” When we choose to hope, we choose to overcome.
Conversely, without hope, you could find yourself slouched on the couch, sipping box wine in your sweats, watching back-to-back episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond. Yes, it’s a terrible place to be. The sky is overcast, your thoughts are dark, the future is gloomy at best. As the proverb says: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”
Hope cultivated, accepted and practiced is like the rising sun. It sends the clouds scurrying for the horizon and gives you the confidence to go back into that club and take that ring from the jerky, arrogant football player. When combined with determination, it becomes an unstoppable force.
Adopting an attitude of hope makes everything possible.
THANKFULNESS
Being thankful for what you have offers proven physical and emotional benefits. Whether you’re at the top of your game or on the couch with Raymond, when you routinely pause to do a mental inventory of the good stuff in your life, realize things could be worse, and express gratitude, your attitude improves. That in turn, increases your ability to accomplish things, reach goals, rise above bad situations, and generates a force for positive change.
“When I lay down at night, I thank the Lord above/For giving me everything I ever could dream of/Cause I’ve got a roof over my head/The woman I love laying in my bed/And it’s alright, alright, alright...” - Darius Rucker, Alright
If you read the last blog entry, you know I was just offered a job (insert happy dance here!). I would love to tell you all about my new employer, the amazing organization I’m joining, and what an incredibly gifted and enthusiastic team I’ll soon be part of. But I am currently undergoing a background check. You see, this new position is G-14 classified. Until I’m given the green light, I could tell you, but then, yeah, I’d have to kill you, so it’s better just to wait.
What I can do, though, is say THANK YOU to everyone who persevered with me and bolstered my hope along the way. I actually considered doing this with a short video that would run credits beneath some inspirational music, like the theme from Gladiator. Instead, I’m just going to call out a few of the many folks and organizations who have been instrumental in helping me get to where I am today.
They included (starting scrolling and humming Elysium while you read these names to make it look like the end of a movie):
God
Frances Lane
Carl and Ann Lane
Rich and Liz Blanco
Michelle Koca
Carl Moeller
Keith Carey
Stephen Elisha
Isabel and the Authors League Fund
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment
The CARES Act
Biolife Plasma Services
Mari, Nacho, and Bella (aka Tres Perros)
And a huge thank you to everyone else (you know who you are) who offered encouraging words and support. If this was an awards ceremony, you would all be carrying home silver statues signifying your outstanding performances in a feature titled, “Get This Guy a Job Already!”
That’s not the end of the story, of course. Or the end of hard situations requiring Rock-like determination, fresh hope, and the need to give thanks. But it is a great opportunity to stop and remember that, no matter how crazy, stupid, or scary the world gets, we’ll survive if we can figure out the right place and way to stand.
Now if I could just apply that philosophy to leg day.