Hard Things Are Hard

by Kris Pitcher

I'm going to just come out and tell you something you might not have realized, or you might have forgotten. Hard things are hard.

That's right. They are hard. If hard things were easy, we'd just call them...easy. But we don't, we call them hard. So, hard things are hard. Like contest prep. You might have gone into this thinking it might be difficult. It might be a challenge. It might be a push.

It's hard. If you were told otherwise, you got the big old bait and switch. If your trainer/coach/guru led you to believe it would be anything but hard they were a lier, con artist, magician, illusionist, idiot, crook, cheater, a shark, swindler...you get the idea.

The truth is, prepping for competition is HARD. You need to get over the idea it will be anything but. You'll feel hungry at times. Hard. You'll feel tired. Hard. You'll feel like crawling under the covers. Hard.

It's not easy taking your body well beyond the limits of "normal". It's definitely not normal, or even (strike me with lightning) healthy, to put our bodies through this kind of stress when not done the right ways.

As you progress and your contest date comes closer...it gets harder. You're running on less energy, putting your body through increasing deprivation. It becomes more difficult to sleep thus you're not getting the required recovery. It's. Hard.

Not everyone makes it. This breaks the weak at mind. The ill prepared. The ill informed. Those who forget it's going to be hard. Those who whine and look for an easy way. There is no easy way. And that's why such a small percentage of people compete.

Your coach will remind you it's going to get difficult. They will guide you through the difficulties and hopefully have the fortitude to coach you mentally around the dark corners toward the stage. A great coach can help you.

Ultimately, you need to dig deep to find it within your soul to become a competitor. Keep your goals in front of you. Limit the affect of "what everyone else is doing", meaning pictures of other competitors on fb and comparing yourself to others on your mental process.

Focus, and keep yourself in this game. It's going to get much more difficult. And in case no one else told you, hard things are hard.