Last week I mentioned that I’d probably be finishing a summit of Grand Teton about the time you’d be reading the weekly tip.
It turned out that we didn’t end up summitting, for a variety of reasons. Still, everyone in the group learned a few things about themselves and overcame both physical and mental challenges in the process of making it as far as we did.
After arriving back home, I picked up where I had left off re-reading a book which has had a profound impact on my life. The first micro-chapter indicated by my bookmark concluded with the following passage, which comes from the ancient Stoic philosopher Epictetus’ Discourses and hints at why we all went on our mountain adventure in the first place:
What would have become of Hercules, do you think, if there had been no lion, hydra, stag, or boar?—and no savage criminals to rid the world of? What would he have done in the absence of such challenges? Obviously he would have just rolled over in bed and gone back to sleep.
So by snoring his life away in luxury and comfort he never would have developed into the mighty Hercules. And even if he had, what good would it have done him? What would have been the use of those arms, that physique, and that noble soul, without crises or conditions to stir him into action?
That passage basically points out both sides of the same coin.
On the first side, we have the idea that the obstacles which Hercules faced and surmounted produced the mental, spiritual, and physical capabilities for which he’s known. On the second side is the idea that those capabilities enabled him to overcome even greater obstacles, all in service of protecting those around him.
In other words, the myth of Hercules is really a story of personal growth. And it brings me to the point of today’s tip.
Facing obstacles or challenges with important stakes not only makes life more interesting but also produces in us our most transformational growth, even (or especially) if we don’t succeed.
Young Hercules became the Hercules that we know because he battled proverbial dragons. As the stature of those dragons grew, so did his abilities. And we continue to tell the stories as both entertainment and to teach the lesson that growth comes from facing obstacles.
That’s also why all of us trained for and attempted to summit The Grand. The mountain provides beautiful views (i.e. entertainment) from bottom to top. And the path—that is, the preparatory training and the actual (sometimes barely discernable) trail up—provides the growth that can only occur when we’re pushed to the edges of our current abilities.
Even though we failed at our goal of reaching the summit, we all still returned as slightly better (e.g. disciplined, confident, knowledgeable, experienced) versions of our former selves. Speaking from both past experience and in comparison to Hercules, that growth will enable each of us to better handle even greater obstacles in all areas of life going forward.
Putting it into practice
As usual, I don’t tell stories of summitting mountains (or, at least, attempting to do so) to imply that you should do the same. I do it to draw parallels to other challenges you might intentionally, or otherwise, encounter.
When it comes to fitness, what I’m really trying to do here is to encourage you to take on and train for some type of event in which a real risk of “failure” exists. (“Failure” being in quotes to emphasize the idea that we can miss our intended target but still became more capable in other ways.)
That could be summitting a mountain, going on a hiking adventure with a personally prescribed distance and end date, participating in a powerlifting meet, Tactical Strength Challenge, or triathlon/obstacle course race, entering a pickleball tournament, or anything in between.
That’s not to say that the more common/traditional fitness goals of losing weight, gaining muscle, or setting PRs in the gym are bad or not beneficial.
It’s just that the event-based challenges tend to produce growth whether we succeed or fail, while the more traditional objectives tend to produce a lesser degree of growth if we succeed and leave us pretty much the same if we fail.
In the long run, even the little wins add up.