Adversity - how bad do you really want it?

Staring down the barrel of my first 100km run 6 days out, exactly 3 weeks after my first ultra 80km. Training has stayed tapered to ensure my body is completely healed and I’m strong ready to go.

On this mornings run, everything felt normal as usual then about 3 km’s in I felt my calf tighten up this has been an ongoing battle over the past 3/4 months coming and going. Simply changing shoes for a day can flare it up. I continued running until I felt it start to lock up and prepare to potentially give. I stopped.

Walking back to the car all of a sudden it wasn’t panic that rushed my body but more so awareness.

I was reminded I’m not invincible and need to continue preparing my body in absolutely the best way I can the next 6 days. Including rolling out, stretching, massage, magnesium, wearing running shoes throughout the day, everything to alleviate and loosen up my legs.

About 8 months ago this would have been a completely different reaction. The emotion would have flooded my body and quickly turned to panic and fear which I’ve had mentors mention to me for years that they also have the same thoughts flow through them as we all do, it’s the decision whether to react to them or not thats the difference. If it doesn’t resonate with you it will simply flow straight through us and we can get on with what we need to get on with. The minute we buy into the thought we now go down the rabbit hole of trying to predict the future and what this means, coming from the state of panic and fear this is never going to end well for us. It’s a tight calf……

That’s it, from there I now have the option to react to it how I want.

Ok, well let’s do everything we can to get it back to full force. Now we go to a state of creating the future we want, I want to run 100km as pain free as possible and have my body as ready as possible.

Let’s go!!!!

What else do we dive into in our lives which isn’t a big deal at all or even something relevant to us. Why would we let this take us completely off track? Again it comes back to our perception of ourselves and our belief of what we’re creating. Remember as a good friend and mentor said to me

You’re remarkable now be accountable for that shit! -Peter Crone

The growth is in the fiction, in those uncomfortable moments of life. The great barrier reef stretches 1800 miles from Australia to New Guinea. Interesting enough the coral polyps on the inside of the reef, where the sea is tranquil and quiet in the lagoon is pale and lifeless. While the coral on the outside of the reef, subject to the surge of the tide and the power of the waves thrives and multiplies because it is challenged and tested every day. And so is it with every living organism on earth including us.

I’ve witnessed it over and over again with myself that when my back is against the wall and there is absolutely no other way to go but forward, I’m at my absolute best! There’s nothing more dangerous than a man with his back against the wall and no way out but through you.

It’s in the decimals between 0 & 1 I’m charging and feel most alive.

Like now, as I’m writing this, I’m going through an emotional roller coaster internally as I said good bye to my 3 year old son about 6 hours ago not knowing when I’m going to see him again due to all the Covid travel restrictions etc.

You talk about an all time gut check, have your 3 yr old come in to your room and say “Daddy I don’t want you to go bye bye, why you leaving” Hard to even repeat those words as the feelings and emotions come flooding back.

Crazy thing is I now find myself in this pain and pressure diving into these chapters, writing goals and preparing myself to shift into an entirely new gear a soon as I walk off this plane. I’ve always been able to take pressure and adversity and use it to propel me.

My question to myself is why does it take a trauma or heart break or completely falling on my face having to put the pieces back together for the wake up call to hit to kick me back into gear? What if I could work with this determination, focus, grit at all times day in day out 7 days a week in every arena of my life as a dad, mentor, business owner, endurance athlete, friend, investor how different would my life be?

Holy shit, it would be on an entirely different stratosphere!

Lets keep diving in here, this is great.

Why does it take extreme adversity for you to kick it up a level Trent?

It’s in the pain or feeling like I’m not living up to my expectations or standards or vision for myself that I simply can’t sit with.

The thought of not leading a life to my full potential is what scares me the most and drives me.

At the end of my life I want to look back and leave a legacy I’m proud of. When my kids or friends speak of me I want them to have amazing things to say and know that I left the world and the people around me in a better place.

Ok, so why do you slow down once you get through one adversity, speed hump in the road and find your footing again? I get comfortable, I’m back to my standard or expectation level and start to take my foot off the pedal ever so slightly which all of a sudden before I know it creeps up on me and I’m right back to square one once the next curve ball out of left field hits surprisingly. How do you prevent this? How do you keep charging with the same work ethic, intensity and determination as you do when your backs against the wall?

My answer to myself is

• Time/Space
• Recovery, look after myself
• Hydrate, nutrition
• Sleep
• Inspiration
• Surrounded by people playing way larger than myself
• Raise my standard, set new heights beyond what I’m currently capable of with action plan
• Flow state access daily

Lets continue to raise that bar in all aspects of our life!