I do care, however, how people use words.
Words matter. The way we frame a situation, the words we use to explain it, will alleviate it or worsen it. We use words in such unique ways that they can make a horrible situation feel less horrible or they can darken a day that really had some sunshine shooting from the corner.
I've noticed a strong connection between words that we use and mental strength that we harbor in endurance sports.
Mentally tough triathletes use words like uncomfortable and challenging when they may want to say painful and hard. When we use the latter terms enough, we begin to believe them. So a big hill after an arduous five-mile run really is challenging. It's not hard or impossible, just a challenge that will make us stronger and better in the end. The ache in the calf or in the hip after a hard workout becomes something uncomfortable but not genuine pain (I've had three kids. I know what pain is, and it's not a sore hip after a long run).
We had some days last year when we came home from big bike rides and the minions needed us. I wanted little more than a nap. And when I wanted to focus on how hard maintaining life was after training, I knew that if I did that, everything would fall apart. I had seen it happen in snapshots, and I didn't want the whole picture to look like that. I also remembered something I had read once on in an article about sugar addictions. It said something like, "This is not hard. Giving up sugar is not hard. Cancer is hard."
You can't argue with that.
I am amazed how words become self-fulfilling prophecies. I had this conversation with a very good friend of mine, and Jason and I have it every once in a while when he's feeling particularly philosophical. Our words have the power to lead us to do things we never thought possible or to stop us short of a goal which we could otherwise have met. If we tell ourselves we could never do something, we're right. We'll never complete an Ironman. The three-year-old will never be potty trianed. We'll never have a break from the (totally awesome) children.
I really hate superlatives. Always.
They're almost always wrong.
On the flip side, if we have a goal we think about and we refuse to use the word "never" in the context of that goal, we can make a plan and figure out how to get there. And that's where painful becomes uncomfortable and hard becomes challenging.
I'll step off my soapbox now.
This week we had another great and challenging week. Jason continued to meet his goal. For two weeks now he has maintained some fantastic sleep habits. He's gone to bed at night at a reasonable time, and he's woken up pre-5:30am on week days to roll out, strength train, or sip a strong cup of coffee and get some perspective on the day.
His discipline is contagious, and I want some of it.
So this week I plan on beginning some of my own healthy habits in addition to the regular workouts. I won't impose on his early mornings (they've become somewhat sacred, and I enjoy believing that he actually wakes up as happy as he behaves when I roll out of bed at 6am), but I will change some things up a bit with the pursuit of a healthier life overall. More on that next week. :)
One more note: Valentine's Day was a wonderful hit at our house. We exchanged the gift of time, with Jason giving me more time to sleep in the morning after an uber-late night of catching up on some work and me giving him a distraction-free workout when I took the kids out of the house for an hour. Really, time is the best gift. Leave the flowers and the candy. I'll take an extra hour any day from the one I love.
