Modification and The "Easy Road"

As humans, our brain is wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and preserve energy. This wiring is what we needed to survive during ancestral times. But now in our modern-day times, that's not the case. Now we have to almost trick our brains into moving past our own thoughts and comfort.

Today while working out the following cue was given "modify if you need to, modification is a need, not a want."

This resonated so much in that sweaty, hard moment. I wanted to modify, let off some of the resistance on the bike, slow down my legs a bit. I wanted it to be more comfortable, less intense. In my mind, I was already really working hard, and if I just gave myself a little break, it would make the rest of the workout better. However, the reality was, it wasn't a need, my cadence was good, my resistance was right, I wasn't in pain, and my output was steady. I wanted it to feel a bit easier in my brain. But since I noticed this in my mind, I had heard the words in the way they were meant to be heard, I didn't make the modification. In fact, I stepped up just a bit. And that step up lead to me hitting a new personal best.

Often we want to take the easier road because it will offer us relief, but if we really pay attention and push past that reptilian brain, we can sense the difference between the want and the need. Driving past comfort can bring us to the next level. For me, that self-discipline is an area of growth. I've been working with my feelings to experience discomfort, knowing, and trusting that it will pass. The self-discipline that is kind, loving, and meant to serve my future self is a new muscle for me to build. And today it got a little bit stronger.