Stopping to Smell the Roses

Stopping to Smell the Roses
Written by Jaimie Bougie

My challenge to you, fellow Invicti, for the month of March is to simply stop and smell the roses.  And by roses, I mean all of those awesome PRs that you’ve been achieving, both inside and outside of the gym.

The reason I am bringing this challenge to your attention is because it’s something I’m very much guilty of never doing.  I’ve had a pretty productive month; not only did I PR in the gym (242# Back Squat), but I’ve also PR’d outside of the gym as well – I got my first ever article published on the CrossFit Games site.  Both of these accomplishments were big goals of mine and brought me much joy; however, I found myself rushing past the appreciation stage.

What do I mean, exactly? Well, I can tell you that as soon as I stood up with that 242# Back Squat and re-racked that bar, I immediately started thinking about hitting 245# and how I was going to get to that new goal.  I didn’t actually stop and say to myself, “Woah girl! Congrats! That’s awesome! 242# is a lot of weight! You should be super proud!”.

The same happened with my Games article on Lauren Fisher; as soon as it was published, I immediately rushed to start writing my second article and researching my third!

In a way, I blame CrossFit for this bad habit of mine; over time, I have adopted this mindset that in order to be the best athlete that I can be, I need to constantly chase the higher numbers and the faster conditioning times.  I call it ‘chasing the PR high’, and I am constantly doing this both inside and outside of the gym. It’s fine to have goals – as long as you remember to fully appreciate the journey.

Ways to Stop and Smell the PRs

- Share your PRs with your family! You never know who you may inspire!  When I first started lifting, I would occasionally send my father videos of my PRs.  Not being a man of many words, he usually didn’t comment too much back, so I didn’t think he really understood how awesome it was to PR.  I soon found out that every time I sent him a video, he would proudly forward that email to every single person in his address book!  (Such faux pas, Dad!)  It turns out that I not only inspired my father and other members of my family to start working out, but also the poor suckers who get spammed by his bad email etiquette as well

- Share your PRs on Social Media. I use to be shy about posting my PRs on my Facebook or on Twitter because I would worry that people would think that I was bragging too much or even that my numbers weren’t even worth posting about.  Then my best friend reminded me that the basis of social media is “community” and it’s perfect place to share your success with all of your (online) friends.  Again, you never know who you will inspire; I have actually inspired almost a dozen friends to sign up for CrossFit because of all of my PR tweets.

- Share your PRs with fellow Invicti – and ring that PR bell! I can tell you that all of the coaches absolutely love hearing about the progress of all of our members.  At least once a day, I’ll stop by the whiteboard and marvel at the amazing PRs that our members achieve on a daily basis and I’m proud to be a part of such a supportive community.

- Create a Dream Board or start a journal. This is also an awesome way to not only write down your future goals, but to also document the journey to your destination.  I’ve started taking the time to do both a dream board and a journal, and it has forced me to stop and reflect on what I did right and what I did wrong on my way to achieving these goals.  It’s a great way to make these memories that much more permanent in our minds.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” – Greg Anderson