I recently took a Krav Maga class, which not only kicked by booty but taught me just how important it is to turn and “face the fight.” There were all these great safety statistics about the benefits of fighting back when you're in a dangerous situation, but the one that stood out the most was the ability to set my own terms. When we’re threatened, our first instinct is to turn and run away. I’m a runner and I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking I could run away from difficult or scary things. Yes, I’m talking about actual physical threats but also the things I don’t really want to feel. It’s a way to escape, to get out of a situation without really taking care of the actual problem. But then, you spend your precious time, looking over your shoulder in fear. Did I do enough? Should I have tried a little harder? Did I give up when I should’ve stayed to fight? For example, the dreaded DNF or even better, the "Did Not Start."
It’s a part of life and it’s also a part of training. What are the things you know you should do, but just really don’t want to fix? For many folks, you get in the same routine and there’s this glaring weakness right in front of your face. You’re riding high and everything’s great…until the bottom drops out and you’re not. That's when the brain starts going into overdrive -- "what in the world went wrong?"
This is a call to action of sorts – figure out what scares you most and TURN AROUND AND FACE IT, don’t wait until the fight comes to you. If you fail, you gave it everything you had and you’ll learn a hell of a lot in the process …oh…and you’ll probably get a few cool battle scars to carry with you too.