"They can't hurt you unless you let them"

Pain is my friend. The pain of sore, tired, aching muscles. The kind of pain that screams "You're getting stronger!" with every strain. I've always been a fan of the phrase "No pain, no gain". But I'm probably a bigger fan of this phrase: "Mind over Matter." Whenever I run or swim, and get to that point where I feel like my lungs are either going to shrivel up or explode...or when my legs are burning with tiredness, and thoughts jaded with the idea of stopping..... I push harder. There's some kind of twisted enjoyment out of physically and mentally watching myself burn out until I crumple to the ground. The funny thing is..I have yet to find my limit. How far can I take it? How far can you take it? I've been surprised to find that many times when I perceive I've discovered my breaking point...I breach it. And just keep going. And then I find a new breaking point. And then I'm forced, either by a coach or my dad, to push harder. You'd be surprised to what the body can adapt to. The truth is, our lazy minds love to tell us that we're done. They shriek, they call on our human nature and remind us just how weak we are. That we simply can't go on. When, unwittingly, we actually can. But because we never try, we'll never know just how far. I for one have yet to find that point of no return. And you know what's more? I don't think I ever will. I kind of think the breaking point for me would be...well...death. And I don't really want to go that far. I'm surprisingly determined and hard willed...in other words, stubborn. ;)

So let loose all Hell.

I want to take it on.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
-T.S. Eliot