Becoming IronAdam

what a weekend. i met one of my good, and I would call him long lost, friends for dinner last night. He’s very spiritual and he’s not the type to have a surface level conversation. At times, I felt he was peering into my soul, but right now, I need that. He asked me how I was, and then he asked me how I really was. “ok” was not sufficient.

In our conversation, he mentioned to me that strength often originates from weakness. This ran counterintuitive to my thinking. I always believed that what appeared to be strength was often compensation for weakness within. Although that seems very similar, this is a case of glass half full/half empty.

I’ve seen some of my strengths lately as busyness to deal with some of the things I’ve gone through over the last year as I wrote in my previous post. And maybe not exactly strengths. I mean, 6 books on a night stand doesn’t constitute strength. But take my example of ironman training (sidebar: yes, i am going to do a half ironman and ironman in 2010 – training began this weekend; this is crazy, but I am excited). I am punishing my body, working out harder then I ever have been. At times, I’ve felt guilty for this. I’ve thought that this was merely compensation to avoid confronting what lies within.

My friend put it another way. He said that the person I am becoming because of the pain that I’ve dealt with will make me the man I am tomorrow. That strength that comes from pursuing my passions despite the weakness within will help heal that weakness and make me a better person. Strength may be compensating, but it will eventually win.

So this is just a different perspective. Changing our perspective can change our lives. It’s like the chorus to the sister hazel song called Change Your Mind

If you want to be somebody else,
If you’re tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind…

Yes, I just quoted sister hazel. Anyways, changing your mind is easier said then done, but I sometimes need a slap across the face like my buddy gave me last night to realize that I can improve my way of thinking.

Although life is a series of ups and downs, whether its within a day or within a lifetime, we should take those nuggets of wisdom that we encounter when we’re lucky enough for them to be presented to us. This wisdom can make a huge difference in our lives, but only if we’re fortunate to be aware and awake to see it. Like Morpheus said in the matrix (and yes, i had to look that up to realize Morpheus said it),

“I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”

Thanks Newton. You’ve changed my mind.