Pressure is a double-edged sword. Too much pressure and we get stressed out and become paralyzed with fear, unable to make a move because we don’t know where to even begin. Too little pressure and life has no excitement, nothing to try to accomplish, and we find ourselves with no real goals to reach for, sitting on the couch watching back-to-back episodes of Judge Judy.
Photo credit: Fe Ilya (Creative Commons)
Our lives are so busy, stressful, and full of pressure that sometimes we just don’t know how we’re going to make it through the day, let alone how we’re going to save the day – or save ourselves. There’s emails, meetings, projects, issues, and then there’s kids to take care of. It’s overwhelming.
Pressure isn’t always a bad thing. We often view it as something to be avoided and eliminated from our lives entirely, but that’s the wrong way to think about it. Pressure can be used for good.
We can either use pressure as an excuse or as the reason to make a difference. Its a choice. Either path can be taken but each one leads to a very different ending.
Even Superman needed pressure. Without it, he was just Clark Kent. As Bill Phillips has said, Superman was only super when there was pressure. It was required for him to rise to the occasion. Had he always been under pressure, he would have walked around in a cape and spandex all of the time and that would have been a little weird, especially for an office job. It would have also been exhausting. With no pressure, Clark would never be Superman or use his gifts to make a difference. Clark’s outfit was the default, Superman’s was the exception. He knew when to switch.
The reality is that Superman was real and the Clark Kent persona was created to hide in plain sight. How many of us are hiding in plain sight, too busy or too paralyzed with fear to break out?
I first read Phillips’s book Body for Life ten years ago. I had just proposed to Missy and I wanted to get in the best shape of my life. I completed Phillips’s twelve week challenge and got in great shape. Then I got married, had kids, and started using the excuse of being too busy to exercise.
I’m tired of my excuses. I’m tired of telling myself that I’ll get back in shape one day, just not today. I’m tired of saving the day but never saving myself. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.
What about you – what have you been avoiding? When will you decide that it’s time to do something about it… that it’s time to take off the Clark Kent glasses and take action on your goals?
You’ll know what your kryptonite is if you ask yourself what you’ve been avoiding. Exercise is mine. So I’ve decided to start a new twelve week challenge. Not someday but today.
It’s the thing that I don’t want to do. And that’s why I know that I have to do it.