Since I last wrote it
definitely has been a struggle. My body just doesn’t have the energy to keep up
with everything I want to do. With the body not being able to keep up the mind
slowly wanders and it’s hard to keep things positive. After researching on the internet I learned that fatigue is one of the main complaints with AS. The body uses most of the energy to counteract the inflammation.
I’m a big fan of “The Art
of Manliness” and they had a good article that showed a lot of the emotions and
feelings that I was having. It is called “The 3 Obstacles to Doing Epic Deeds
and How to Overcome them”
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/05/29/the-3-obstacles-to-doing-epic-deeds-and-how-to-overcome-them/
If you ever feel like you want to do something out
of the ordinary I encourage you to read it. It’s super good. So the background
to his article is a man who decided he wanted to do something, but didn’t want
to just do something he wanted to do something epic so he could push himself.
He decided to do what is known as the 4 deserts grand slam. It’s races where
you run 155 miles across most brutal deserts. The runners carry everything they
will need on their backs. Crazy race. So here are the obstacles that most of us
will face as we try to do something beyond the norm of what we think is
possible for us, whether that be the 4 deserts grand slam to running a
marathon.
The first obstacle is going from “I’m just an average guy to
I’m destined for greatness.” I have many feelings about this, but if someone
has a goal that they want to achieve, I say go for it. The other side to this
is the gospel standpoint. That is the first thing I thought of when I read,
“I’m destined for greatness.” Here we all are on earth trying to live a life to
make it back to our Heavenly Father. What a daunting task. It is achievable depending on the mindset
that we have and the amount of perseverance that we put into our efforts to
accomplish that task.
The second obstacle is a social issue. Some possible friends
that we have would rather us come spend time with them then allow us to prepare
for or train for are goals. Doing something epic is going to take extra time
and we might loose those so called friends who try to distract us, but in doing
this we attract friends who want to help and give support. It’s a leap of faith
on this one, but comes out good in the end.
The third obstacle is in the trenches. It is overcome with
those you have surrounded yourself with who are willing to lift you up and
motivate you. The article talks about the man getting his luggage lost and
having to run in two sizes smaller of shoes. He was starting to complain, but
then realized everyone was limping and in the same boat as he was. He changed
his attitude from complaining to helping others out. This last obstacle has
been my trouble for a long time. It always seems like if it can go wrong, it
will go wrong. I see it now as there are just some things that we don’t have
any power over and just have to make do with what comes our way. I learned this
lesson while I was in Africa. It’s hot. There is nothing I can do about that
except learn to enjoy the heat. Now I love it. The pump to the water well
breaks. Only thing to do at that moment is to get a bucket with a rope and
fetch it the old fashioned way.
Another thought that came to my mind this week had to deal
more with my body’s energy. Even after getting 8 hours of sleep after working
out for a while I would come home and fall asleep for an hour or so. I was
physically exhausted. My workouts weren’t that hard either. The thought came to
me of the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane. I heard it during General
Conference, but for the life of me couldn’t find the reference. Anyways ita
talks about it in Mark 14 and Luke 22. As a recap the disciples go with Christ
to the Garden and they become sore amazed at the feelings of sorrow and the
heavy gloomy feelings that they are having. They succumb to these feelings and
fall asleep. They state, “ The spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak.”
A lot of people bag on the disciples for sleeping in the
Garden while Christ was suffering, but I don’t think we have much room to talk.
I feel I would have done the same. These last couple of weeks I truly have
experienced the spirit is ready, but the body is weak. I know for a fact I would
have fallen asleep just as the disciples.
I think of them later as they were able to overcome those physical
limitations. Truly the body can be trained and conditioned to overcome many things.
