When life throws you a curve ball….

Do you ever play the sport baseball? You know exactly what a curve ball is. The first time you get one of those thrown at you, it’s either coming at your head, your shoulders, your body, your somewhere, and you know that this little ball moving at a high rate of speed, if it hits you, it’s going to hurt.

So you can do 1 of 2 things: you can jump out and get out the way, and basically let it freak you out and say I’m never getting back up to that batter’s box again. Or you can take the risk and let it hit you. It’s going to sting, it’s going to suck a little bit, but you learn your lesson. You know, okay, I lived through that, it’s okay, and you can get back up at the batter’s box and move on, take the next swing and possibly belt one out the park. You don’t know unless you stay in that batter’s box.

Every single day, if you’re anything like me, you go into your day with a little bit of a plan. And when life just says “no, that’s not the way it’s going to go today”, it drives you nuts. Again, we can do 1 of 2 things: I could let that derail me completely and just say “you know what, forget it, I give up, I quit, I don’t want to do this anymore.” I could let it ruin my day completely, which really serves me no purpose, it doesn’t benefit me, it doesn’t benefit anyone around me. I can get mad, take my toys and go elsewhere, or I can keep going. I can redirect and I can move on.

What I see a lot of in health and fitness with people on their own journeys is that they have a bad day, maybe they have a bad weekend, maybe they have a bad week, and they allow that to get them discouraged, they feel basically worthless. I know because I used to feel this way. If I had a bad weekend, I’d feel like I can’t do this. I’m a complete failure, because maybe I missed a workout, or had some kind of meal that just wasn’t good for me, or that just felt that I really messed up my goal or something. And I felt like “you know what forget it, I’m just done. I can’t do this.” And I’d get all down on myself. But what I learned is, that did no one else around me any good, whatsoever.

Yes, stuff happens that sucks. Stuff gets thrown at you. Curve balls get thrown at you, but we have to learn, acknowledge that pain, that inconvenience, and say “yes, it sucks.” But I’m going to keep going. I’m just going to redirect, I’m going to find a way to get through or around this, and I’m going to make it happen.

You have the choice to say “I’m NOT going to let this hold me back in regret…” You can set yourself free from it and move forward, and find that thing that you can do, that matches up with your passion. That thing that you can bless many other people with. But that will not happen if you let the curve ball freak you out and keep you from getting back in the batter’s box and taking a swing.

So again, you can do 1 of 2 things: you can freak out and go away, or you can stay and get back up, get back in that batter’s box, take that risk in getting hit and it sucking. But you can also take the chance of belting one out the park, hitting a homerun, and blessing many people through it, including you, because you are worth it.

Pursue your dreams. Pursue what you are built for, what you are made for. Go do it. Trust me, it’s worth it.

I’ve had many curveballs thrown at me in life. I had major plans of being a martial arts instructor, opening up schools all across the country and things like that. That was my passion, that was my dream. But I got thrown a curve ball. Life just happened, without going into details, it just happened. And it set me on a path that later on, that I just really didn’t want to be on. Instead of staying on the path, and saying this is just the way of life goes, and pursuing a career that was basically making me miserable, I found this great thing that I’m now extremely passionate about. Something that I love, and I’m pursuing with everything that I’m worth, and you know what, it’s paying off.

We just recently were able to make a major milestone in this business that we love so much, and we’re about to make some other great jumps in this business. Because we love it. Because we chose to get back in the box. Because we chose to keep going.

We still get curve balls thrown at us today, but we continue, and we keep getting blessed from it. Whatever curve ball life throws at you today, whatever curve ball life has thrown at you, you do have a choice. Whatever it is, if you are still alive on this Earth, you still have a choice to keep moving forward. Because it’s not just about you, it’s about who you can bless, and the difference in the lives that you can make.

Bryan Martin