By Mike Tarrolly, Co-Host of the Crushing Iron Podcast
Life moves fast and it’s good to sit still at times and ask, “Am I in love with the way I’m living?”
(This was the topic of a recent Crushing Iron podcast titled Fall In Love With Your Life, which you can listen to here)
I think it’s fair to say that when I met Coach Robbie, we were both struggling with the concept of falling in love with our lives. After some massive struggles, we have both consciously tried to build our podcast and C26 around the idea of finding our truth’s.
Robbie has documented much of his experiences regarding recovery on the podcast. My challenges are similar but may be a bit more subtle.
There was a time when I thought I’d write a book titled, “On The Fence.” It’s really the story of my life. What I have is both good and not good enough. Wanting something, getting something, then wanting more. It’s a terrible cycle when applied to your psyche.
Nothing seemed good enough. The quest for perfection can be a lonely path.
But after two years of doing the Crushing Iron Podcast with Robbie, I really have learned to be a more satisfied with the simple things.
In a lot of ways it comes back to remembering what I was like as a kid. I took immense pride in the simple things like shoveling the driveway to shoot baskets. And I’d do it for hours despite the fact that it was the furthest thing from perfect.
Try jump-stopping on ice. Or finding a shooter’s touch with thick mittens. Or bouncing a frozen basketball. I simply made the most of what I had and found a deep level of satisfaction.
I think that’s the trouble with the quest for perfection. It never ends, but people always tell us we can have it. Wrong. Well, unless you accept the nuance of imperfection as perfection.
When my mind’s right (as it often is after a podcast recording) I know that flaws and warts make life infinitely more interesting. The whole “without darkness there is no light” thing.
Life really comes down to acceptance and forgiveness, most often with ourselves.
I mean, should I really be hard on myself for not qualifying for KONA? But I’ve spent hundreds of hours trying accomplish something I think it will validate me to others. The irony is, often times I feel worse because it didn’t solve the problem. I’ve given it the best I’ve had but can never accept that as truth.
The brutally honest side of all this is, I haven’t been true to myself. Life isn’t always fair and my struggles always surface when I forget or try to suppress that truth.
But it’s hard when people constantly tell you “anything’s possible” or “you’re not working hard enough.”
Anything ISN’T possible and the only thing I’m probably not working hard enough at is . . . being myself.
We just got back from our 4 day run camp with our active athletes and Club athletes in West Tennessee. You can check out the highlights in this video.