Don't Close Your Eyes

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.

It’s always interesting to enter a fitness center or a gym. People from all walks of life, age groups, levels of fitness, levels of fitness knowledge, all are doing a plethora of exercises, whether its lifting weights, running, biking, or on the elliptical. One of the more interesting things that happen at the gym is when you begin seeing patterns that almost everyone does. It doesn’t matter if they are competing to be the next Mr. Universe or just trying to relieve some stress on a yoga mat or training for a marathon. It’s interesting that certain habits are almost entirely universal.

If you have not heard the song No Diggity by Blackstreet, I recommend you YouTube it and listen to it. It’s a great song, and it’s a good song to workout to. As you listen to this song, imagine being more than 30 minutes into a high-intensity spin class (Cycle-X: yes, I know, I talk about it often), your legs are tired from 6 previous days of working out, you’re sweating profusely, and you hear your instructor tell you to turn your resistance to ten. As many of you may have remembered, a 10-workout on a bike is like running barefoot through mud at a sprint. Your quads, hamstrings, calves, and shins will burn, and your breathing will be very ragged.

So bringing back that universal habit that almost all of us do at the gym: when things get intense, we close our eyes. I am sure all of you can think back and agree that, yes, on more than one occasion, when you were lifting, squatting, on the elliptical, doing something strenuous at a gym or outside, you closed your eyes when the workout got extremely difficult.

Well Sunday instructor Ashley (also the best Cycle-X student that I have ever seen in my life) yelled something during Cycle-X while we were attempting to “sprint through mud” for the 4 minutes of No Diggity. She yelled, “DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES! IT’S A WEAKNESS!”

Now, when it comes to Cycle-X, it’s not really a true issue if you close your eyes on occasion, but what she said resonates in working out. Does closing your eyes really make you weak? Well, not literally in the sense that if you close your eyes, your strength diminishes. However, think about it from this perspective.

Exercising, whether cardio or lifting, requires good technique. Technique is what keeps the human body safe and also keeps it getting stronger and healthier. Many people who work out know that technique is oftentimes more crucial than repetitions. In the real world, most people know it as “practice makes perfect.” Technique requires concentration, and it requires trial and error and effort. So when you close your eyes, you no longer have the ability to ensure that your technique is sound or if to fix your mistakes. If it’s running, if you close your eyes, you won’t see what’s ahead of you.

And don’t we do this too often in our own lives outside of the fitness center? Don’t we too often close our eyes when there’s too much or when things get extremely difficult? Maybe not literally in the sense of working out, but figuratively?

Not achieving something is one of the more disappointing feelings to have. Not doing well on a test, not getting the grade we wanted, not getting the job we wanted, or even other things that affect us. Perhaps unforeseen or even known things occur, and puts us in very adverse conditions. And what do we do? We close our eyes. I may not like to admit it often, but I close my eyes when I workout, and in my life.

When things get rough in my life, people tell me that I have a very strong calmness about me through the difficult times. Some people are jealous of it, some people are intrigued by it, and other are mad at me for not being emotional and just being calm. However, a lot of times my calmness is coupled and even enhanced by my willingness to “close my eyes” from the situation. I walk away from it. I try to wipe my hands clean from it. I pass the buck off to someone else. I refuse to acknowledge its existence. Or I’ll say “I’ll deal with it later.”

This is when weakness sets in.  

If we repeatedly close our eyes, we cannot see what’s in front of us. And when we cannot see, we miss out on a lot of opportunities, clues, and realizations. When road is painful and we feel as though the doors are closing in front of us, it is absolutely normal to close our eyes and to shut the world out.

But this is what we miss out on: the other opportunities in front of us, the ability to see our mistakes, the ability to reflect, the inability to move forward and recover, and even the inability to seek, accept, and receive help from our friends, family, and loved ones. When we close our eyes, we can even, unfortunately, go backwards in our professional and personal growths. We can do the same thing and fall again. We could mess up more. We deny other opportunities to arise.

So perhaps, I can learn from my friend Ashley when she tells us not to close our eyes. Whether it’s on a bike, or lifting weights, or living in the aftermath of being declined for a job or facing a personal issue, maybe I should keep my eyes open. If I keep my eyes open, maybe I can see the path more clearly. I can see what to improve, what to change. I can take steps forward in positive light and not darkness. I can even blaze my own trail.

Impossible is a misunderstanding of I’m Possible.  

Embracing Pain

"It’s not who YOU ARE that holds you back, it’s who you think YOU ARE NOT”


We all have the excruciating feelings of pain. We all know what it looks like and feels like. We all can share the experiences of emotional and physical pain. For many, pain is uncommon; for some, pain is very common. It is an animal and psychological instinct to avoid pain. Our bodies and minds are wired to flee from pain and to elude anything/anyone that could cause us potential pain. And yet, we always find ourselves in pain, both literally and metaphorically.

I have friends who are going through very painful experiences right now. I have friends who are experiencing pain due to relationships that oftentimes border on abusive. Some friends also are going through a painful decision on their relationship status and whether or not it is the right fit for them to be in a relationship with a certain person or not. I have a friend who was recently robbed. I have friends who are going through emotional struggles, physical struggles, and spiritual struggles. I, myself, have been through emotional, physical, and spiritual pains through my life. As a result, it’s normal to run away from the pain. It’s natural to avoid things that cause us pain. It’s logical that someone wouldn’t put him- or herself through painful experiences. And yet, I find myself disagreeing from time to time.

Once again, I am not surprised that my trainer Kelly Moran has put me in a position where I find amazing life lessons within my workouts. I will be honest in saying that my workouts are not for the faint of heart. They are not meant for the casual person who works out or the individual who takes his or her time between sets and repetitions. His workouts are fast, extreme, and demand a lot from the body and mind.

The pain that results from the workout is excruciating and long lasting (days at a time). As I’m writing this post, I am standing because my legs are so sore and in pain that sitting sounds like a horrible idea. Doing hundreds of repetitions without resting in between forces muscles to burn, tendons to tighten, and blood to rush towards the area. While the pain doing the workout is unbearable, the after effects are worse. Squatting down to pick something up is an impossibility. Walking up and down stairs is a task for the gods.

And then what do I do within 24-hours? I make sure I do the elliptical and then I do Cycle-X the next morning.

Kelly said something this morning that I believe is a great life lesson to learn, not only from a workout perspective, but from a perspective of lifelong learning and personal development.

There are many drills (all drills, let’s be real) that are painful to complete in Cycle-X, and one of the hardest drills is to sit down on the bike, and turn your tension to 10 (your maximum tension you can do without stopping your legs from pumping) and maintain that intensity for the duration of an entire song. A friend of mine was in that class, and I believe was her first experience with a 10-song. As she was progressing towards her 10, she did what we all have done in Cycle-X: the moment we feel that twinge of pain, we’re going to back off the tension and turn it back down slightly. Of course, nothing gets by Kelly, and he yelled:

“Embrace the pain, accept it, and use it”

What I believe Kelly means with this is that pain is going to be inevitable, especially when you engage in an activity that is difficult. When you are able to accept the pain and embrace it, you can turn it into a weapon for yourself. For the workout community, most people understand that there is an adequate need for pain during and post-workout that ensures muscle growth and cardiovascular strengthening. In the words of my friend Tasanee, "No Pain, No Gain."In the case of Cycle-X, embracing the pain that comes from essentially cycling through sand and mud for 4 minutes results in your legs getting stronger, your heart getting stronger, and your resilience to strengthen.

So how is this relatable to real life? I know some people may be skeptical and tell me that working out pain is much different than other pains in the world. Yes, I completely agree with all of you. The pain that results from a leg workout or from Cycle-X is incomparable to having your heart broken, to experiencing a death in the family, to having emotional and spiritual turmoil. And yet, while the pain is incomparable, perhaps the “how” we understand that pain may be applicable across many situations.

No one walks into a workout hoping to be in pain. No one walks into a relationship hoping to be in pain. No one enters life or engages in any activity hoping that pain is a result. We all hope and pray that as long as we put our effort in, positive experiences and progress will be the result. However, sometimes, unfortunately it does not happen for us.

And so what do we do? Oftentimes, we run away. We shut down. We vow to never do it again.

I will never love again.

I will never make that mistake again.

I will never pick up that weight again.

I will never [insert your activity].

It’s natural. I do it. We all do it. But what Kelly said in Cycle-X can be used right now.

Embrace the pain that has happened. That doesn’t mean to enjoy it or to like it. Embrace it, hold it close and acknowledge its presence. Pain is there. Your heart was broken. You made that mistake and it hurt badly. You failed miserably at that workout, test, etc. Your legs are in pain from running that mile, from being at a 10 on the bike at Cycle-X. Like life, pain is inevitable. We cannot escape pain. I wish we could, but we cannot.

So we embrace the pain. We accept that fact that we are going through pain. We should not deny the pain in our hearts, our bodies, our minds. If we choose to deny that pain, and to ignore it, we don’t learn from it. We don’t realize our mistakes, our learning points, our strengths and weaknesses. So after we accept that pain, what is a possible thing to do next?

Perhaps we make ourselves stronger. Like legs on a bicycle after completing the 10-resistance song, so can our minds, hearts, and bodies be strengthened once we embrace and accept that pain occurs in our lives. While it sucks, it does not end our lives. How we understand pain can result in a difference between growth and being jaded.

My friend made it through that 10-tension drill, and I hope she loved the feeling afterwards of knowing she met that challenge and go through it.

Life will frequently put our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls to the test. Life will ask test our breaking point. It will push, pull, twist, and throw us around. Through the blood, sweats, tears… the heartbreak, the headaches… the self-doubt, the hatred, the scorn, the feelings of being stabbed in the back…

Embrace the pain. Accept it. Use it.

Strength is the product of struggle.