“Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.” -Mr. Percy (my middle school cross-country coach)

I don’t like exercise.

It’s true. If I could eat whatever I wanted, yet my body be American-Ninja-Warrior-grade, I would binge-watch Netflix and stuff my face until the cows come home.

However, that isn’t how the world works, is it? Yet, I’ve operated like it has.

Though I noticed my weight beginning to increase with a lack of exercise and dietary self-discipline, I would push aside that uncomfortable truth and run to food as my coping mechanism: it was my reward when I accomplished a goal and it was my security blanket to soothe my bruised ego when a bad day came my way. While I wouldn’t diagnose myself as having any sort of disorder, I was definitely in a unhealthy state of mind when it came to my body and how I should treat it.

So, this week, I joined a Crossfit box.

Why Crossfit, you ask?

1.) I know people who have been doing Crossfit for months, some even years, and it is amazing to see the progress they have made.  I have seen the fruits of the accountability and knowledge that Crossfit has brought and I am all about it. I’ve tried working out on my own at the gym, but without accountability and someone rooting me on, I’d fall off the wagon at the first sight of a physical plateau.

2.) Crossfit seems to bring all sorts of people, with all sorts of backgrounds, in all sorts of different stages of fitness, together. With traveling somewhere new every 3 months-isa for my job, I thought Crossfit would be a great avenue to meet and connect with people in my area.

3.) I want to lose weight and tone up.  I don’t want to sigh every time I see my body in the mirror. I want to be able to wear the clothes that I want and feel the way I want in them. I don’t to feel weak and vulnerable. I want to build up my will power, so that instead of hearing “I can’t” in my head, hear “I will”.

I want to endure the pain, so that I can meet the pride on the other side.