You trained hard. You tapered right. You visualized the race. And then... it didn’t go as planned. Things go sour. Maybe your legs felt dead, maybe the conditions were brutal, or maybe your mind wasn’t in the game. Whatever the reason, you crossed the finish line feeling disappointed, and that frustration lights a fire in you.

There was a torrent of rushing water pouring through maybe a fifteen-foot channel that I had to swim across to a slick boulder that I would then have to climb on top of and swim back. My mind swirling with ‘what-ifs.’ What if I get pulled under at the strong eddy line. What if I get swept down-stream to the bigger rapids? What if I get hypothermic?

I was frozen

Think for a moment about a time when you had a workout scheduled that you just didn’t want to do. You felt tired. Your mind was pushing you around so much so that you thought of just giving in to it, laying on the couch and watching some Netflix. But… you didn’t, you went out for the workout and executed it perfectly, you were focused and engaged. The noise in your headed quieted down a bit and sometimes it was non-existent. This is a great example of acceptance and commitment in action. You committed to doing action in spite the stuff coming up for you and pushing you around.