The other day I had a conversation with a friend. I have found myself reflecting on it a bit. She was expressing to me how challenging it was for her to be overweight. I’m sure it is really hard for her.
I sympathize with her.
But there was one phrase she said that took me back a little. She said to me, “You don’t know what it feels like to be overweight. You will never understand how hard it is!”
And although she may very well be right, there was this part of me that wanted to reply back, “Friend, I may not understand being overweight, but I do understand hard.”
Waking up to workout at the crack of dawn year after year after year can be hard. Working your body til your muscles ache and your hands bleed can be hard. Disciplining yourself to fuel your body efficiently day after day (and even weekends) can be hard. Each choice every day, every hour, every minute adds up and there are a lot of hard choices along the way.
No matter what we choose, there will most likely be an element of hard.
But it should never be about who has it, “more hard.” We all make choices that serve us and choices that don’t. The key is to distinguish between the two.
And instead of looking outward and saying, “You will never understand me!” Perhaps we could look inward and simply say, “I’m choosing my hard. And I’m here to help you with yours.”
