I am experiencing this “STORM” now. When the “STORM” arrives it is either a complete surprise and we are caught totally unaware and unprepared. Alternatively, we kinda know that there is the possibility of a “STORM” so we have done some preparatory thinking and acting to be ready. However, I submit that in either situation we will find ourselves inadequate, inept, and very much struggling to do the right things in the face of great adversity and turmoil.
In bodybuilding and in our families there is a reality that requires acute and decisive action. Training has to be done and it has to be done daily. Loving you wife and kids has the same schedule—-“DAILY.” If you’re in shape and you are in love nothing be taken from you. Your body and your heart are inextricably attached to your attitudes, your goals, and today’s well being.
A couple of ‘STORM” examples for us to ponder. The first is an unanticipated injury that is severe enough to end your bodybuilding career and it happens with in a few days of the show. Wow! All that work and no place to go except to return home without competing. I heard a story once about the great Tom Platz. He was favored to win the Olympia but as “THE STORM” would have it, he tore his biceps muscle literally the night before the show. He had severe pain and a large rolled up biceps muscle on the front of his arm. This “STORM” came at him from nowhere. The story goes somewhat like this: He gutted it out doing all he could to lessen the damage, the pain, and the new unwelcome lump on his bicep. He competed the next day and gave it all he had as he was in obvious pain. He did not win the Olympia but he finished 5th despite “THE STORM’S” damage. This “STORM” was perfectly designed to break him. Instead, he through tons of grit made the “STORM” make him. By all accounts he was viewed as a hero. Millions of bodybuilders learned a great lesson in playing and continuing while injured and overcoming the devastation.
On a personal note. “MY STORM” was when my 11 year old son got Leukemia. Nothing in the world prepared me and my wife for this challenge. It was a “PERFECT STORM” that had all the makings of total wipe out of my son, my family, and me. The war was bigger than anything we had ever faced in our lives. I had to continue working and my wife stayed as long as possible with my son each day. Without belaboring the journey, “THE STORM” that could have defeated us totally was overcome after years of hard treatment, set backs, recovery and return to normalcy. After five years he was declared a survivor. He is a wonderful son, a great friend, and we are eternally grateful for him still being with us. This “STORM” did not break us. It made all of us a little closer and He was extended the precious gift of “LIFE.”
In any weathering of a “STORM” there has to be a change of focus with preparation if it’s possible, or sheer determination with a hint of divine intervention. To win means being prepared and/or disciplined enough to do the best thing under the circumstances.
Bottom Line: Nothing is wasted! Injury begets suffering, rehab, and rejuvenated focus on your goal. Calamity begets being driven to our knees to implore God to help while we dig in to do anything to limit the damage and hurt it bestows upon us.
Both types of “STORMS” have to strengthen us and “MAKE” us or it’s just a destructive force that ‘BREAKS” us. Get up! We are still alive and driven to excellence.
Six Pack and Senior 