There’s something I saw years ago that has stuck with me ever since.
I was watching Annie Thorisdottir, one of the greatest CrossFit athletes in the world, compete.
And I noticed something.
When things got really hard, she smiled.
Deep into a workout, when she was hurting, tired and clearly uncomfortable, this smile would appear.
I remember thinking, why are you smiling? This looks horrible. 😂
But the more I watched it, the more I loved it.
Because that smile seemed to change the way she approached the difficult moment.
She wasn’t trying to escape it.
She was embracing it.
And over the years, I’ve thought about that a lot, both in training and in my own life.
We all go through difficult things.
Some are things we choose, like a hard workout, a race or trying to achieve something we’ve never done before.
Others we definitely don’t choose.
Work gets difficult. Relationships are tested. Business gets stressful. Life throws things at us that we weren’t expecting.
And I’ve realised that while we can’t always control how difficult something is, we can work on how we respond to it.
For me, that smile has become a reminder.
This is hard.
But maybe that’s exactly where the growth is.
Because the question isn’t only:
“How do I get through this?”
Maybe a better question is:
“Who am I going to become because I went through this?”
And that is what I want to talk about this week.
Difficult Things Change Us
Think about some of the difficult things you’ve already been through.
Starting a business.
Raising children.
Changing careers.
Going through a difficult season in a relationship.
Losing weight.
Running your first 5K.
Walking into a CrossFit gym when you felt completely unfit.
At the time, some of those things probably felt overwhelming.
But look at the person on the other side of them.
You’re capable of handling things today that an earlier version of you might have struggled with.
That’s growth.
And I think we sometimes forget this when we’re right in the middle of something difficult.
We’re so focused on how uncomfortable it feels right now that we forget to think about what this experience might be building in us.
Instead of only asking:
“When is this going to get easier?”
Try asking:
“What is this teaching me?”
The Gym Is a Great Place to Practise
This is one of the things I love about CrossFit.
We voluntarily do difficult things.
You walk into CFA, look at the whiteboard and occasionally think:
“This is going to hurt.”
And then you do it anyway.
You pick up something heavy.
You run when your legs are tired.
You try a movement you’re struggling with.
You miss a lift and try again.
You finish a workout you weren’t sure you could finish.
And every time you do that, you’re building something.
Yes, you’re getting fitter and stronger.
But you’re also building confidence.
Resilience.
Patience.
Discipline.
You start collecting evidence that says:
I’ve done hard things before. I can do hard things again.
And that doesn’t stay inside the gym.
It comes with you when work gets difficult.
When life gets stressful.
When things don’t go according to plan.
Training gives us a place to practise how we respond to difficulty.
When It Gets Hard, Smile
This is what I’ve taken from watching Annie all those years ago.
When things get hard, smile.
Seriously.
Try it.
Halfway through a horrible workout when everything in your head is telling you to slow down, stop or feel sorry for yourself…
Smile.
It doesn’t magically make the workout easier.
But it can change your relationship with the difficulty.
It’s almost like telling yourself:
I know this is hard.
I’m still here.
Let’s go.
You’re embracing the moment instead of wishing it away.
And maybe that’s where some of the biggest growth happens.
Think About Who This Is Building
When you’re going through something difficult, try asking yourself:
Who am I becoming because of this?
That last difficult set might be building resilience.
Getting to training after a long day might be building discipline.
Learning a movement you’ve struggled with for months might be building patience.
Starting again after you’ve fallen off track might be building confidence.
Having a difficult conversation might make you a better leader, partner, parent or friend.
Sometimes the reward isn’t simply getting through the challenge.
The reward is the person you become in the process.
That’s a perspective I’m personally trying to work on.
Instead of constantly wishing the difficult thing would disappear, try recognising what going through it might give you.
Gratitude Changes the Moment
There’s another part of this that I think is incredibly important.
Gratitude.
When things are difficult, our minds naturally focus on what’s wrong.
This workout is horrible.
I’m tired.
I’m stressed.
Things aren’t going my way.
But sometimes we need to remind ourselves just how much we have.
Think about training.
Instead of:
“I have to train today.”
Try:
“I get to train today.”
I have a body capable of moving.
I have people around me encouraging me.
I have coaches who care about my progress.
I have an opportunity today to become fitter and stronger.
That doesn’t make the workout easier.
It changes your perspective on why you’re doing it.
And I think we can apply that to so many areas of our lives.
Sometimes we become so focused on the difficult thing in front of us that we forget how much there is around us to be grateful for.
Four Things to Try When Things Get Hard
I’m working on these myself. I certainly don’t get them right all the time.
But the next time you’re going through something difficult, try these four things.
1. Smile
Especially when you don’t feel like smiling.
Let it become a trigger.
This is hard. Good. I’m growing.
2. Think About Who You’re Becoming
Ask yourself:
“Who will I be on the other side of this?”
Think beyond simply surviving the challenge.
Think about what it’s developing in you.
3. Find Something to Be Grateful For
Find one thing.
Your health.
Your family.
Your ability to train.
Your friends.
Your community.
The opportunity in front of you.
There is usually far more going right in our lives than we remember when we’re focused on the one thing going wrong.
4. Do the Next Thing
You don’t need to solve everything today.
Sometimes in a workout, all you need to think about is the next rep.
Life can be the same.
What’s the next thing you can control?
Do that.
Then do the next thing.
Keep moving forward.
Maybe We Need Difficult Things
The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve realised that perhaps we shouldn’t always be trying to make everything easier.
Some difficult things are good for us.
Because every time we step into something challenging and come through the other side, we build evidence.
Evidence that we’re capable.
Evidence that we can handle discomfort.
Evidence that we can keep going when things aren’t easy.
And slowly, we become stronger people.
That’s what Annie’s smile has come to represent for me.
It isn’t pretending the workout isn’t difficult.
It’s acknowledging it and choosing how to respond.
This is hard.
I’m grateful I get to do it.
And I’m going to grow because of it.
So here’s my challenge for you this week.
When the workout gets difficult, smile.
When life gets difficult, think about the person this experience could help you become.
When your mind starts focusing on everything that’s wrong, remind yourself of something you’re grateful for.
Then take the next step.
And the next one.
Because some of the moments we most want to escape might be the exact moments that are helping us become the people we’re capable of being.
