Lifting Weights (From My Heart, For My Body, and From My Mind)

I'm hoping that I can lift the burdens that have been weighing me down in my heart, and weighing down my mind.

And in the mean time, to mirror the transformation outside, I am hoping to lift weights to physically change.

If all goes well I'll be a whole new man.

So much has gone through my head this summer. I've ridden the highest highs meeting exciting new people, hiking thrilling trails and traveling to new places, but I've also been dragged through the lowest lows--suicidal thoughts, tears, frustration. Sometimes I swear I'm bipolar.

I've recently learned that while you can't always control what happens to you, you are always in control of how you react. Two people dropped into the exact same situation will learn different lessons, be wounded in different ways, or respond with different emotions.

Patience, love, faith, my friends. I realize how lucky I am that I have all these things in my life, all these people in my life, and all this love in my life. I know sometimes, when my heart is tired, it's hard to feel--but it's always there, and I'm working on recognizing it, capitalizing on it, to become a better man.

I hope I'm not boring you with my positivity drivel--but I've just been learning a lot these last few weeks.

Yesterday, I went out on a limb (for myself) and went weight lifting with my friend Aaron and his friend Patrick at Dixie State University. Normally, I would have made up some excuse not to go, but I realized that I have just as much ability to be successful in a gym as anybody else. So we went, I lifted, I leaned a lot, and now I'm convinced that I want to continue with a program when I return to school. I realized that all I needed was the right attitude and the support of a friend, and I could do it.

We can do anything we want to. The limitations in our lives are all self imposed, and I'm learning how be like Gorbachev--

and tear down [those] wall[s]!