Burpees, Hamilton, Tigers, and Flowers
/When I told my friend that I decided to quit CrossFit, she told me that I could join her in a burpee challenge.
She has a deal with another friend that everyday for month they would hold each other accountable for doing whatever their burpee goal was.
I'm all about accountability so I was in.
I had decided to start with a reasonable number and then increase by 1 each day. In order to make it easy for me to calculate, I'd start with 11 on the first of the month and then go up from there.
At the end of yoga today I realized that it was the 5th of the month and I'm already behind by 5 days. So I told myself that I'd make it up today. Adding up 11+12+13+14+15 got me to the number of 65.
So I made the crazy decision to do 65 burpees before taking my shower.
I knew I wasn't going to count them all so I took out a sharpie and wrote out the numbers of sets of 5 on a piece of paper. Underneath I wrote, "You are awesome," to give myself encouragement. Then I put in my headphones and pressed play on the soundtrack to Hamilton. The first three tracks are my favorite workout motivation music.
As I set to chip away at these numbers, I had a text from my friend encouraging me to not push it. But I'd already set my mind on completing my own burpee challenge for the day. In between sets I jammed out to the music and caught my breath. Halfway through I realized that 5 burpees in a row wasn't so bad, so I started to double up on the sets going up to 10 a few times.
Before I knew it, it was the final chorus of "My Shot" and I was crossing out the number 65. I even threw in some kettlebell swings because there was one there.
In all honesty, I'm going through a rough time personally right now. Without going into details, I will say it is one of the most challenging times of my life.
But knowing that I can do things I set my mind to, things that make me feel stronger, more confident, and proud of myself, that's something worth celebrating.
On my way to get coffee at Cafe Hey, I stopped to admire this new mural by Michelle Sawyer, and incredible local artist and one of the most genuine people I know. I don't know about you, but the tigers juxtaposed with the flowers remind me of strength and beauty.
There's power in both strength and beauty. I want to create a life filled with the same.
Art and music really do transport up to the places within that we need to go. Thank goodness I have both in my life.
I want to know:
What music do you turn to to motivate you in your movement practices?
How have you been able to let art (of any kind) take your breath away recently?
