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.