Carrying Baggage

Who hasn’t carried baggage?

Whether you’re traveling by plane, train, or car, you’ve packed a suitcase or three. If you’ve ever been late for a flight and had to dash with your baggage, you know how much fun it is.

Baggage, we all carry it.

But it’s often the internal baggage we carry around that weighs the most, slowing us down when we try to run. It’s not like we carry it constantly, but there are times when the load becomes heavy.

Like the anniversary that brings memories flooding back.

Someone calls you something uncomplimentary, and it takes you back to your high school days.

Something reminds you of a failed relationship or friendship, turning your melancholy.

When watching first aid videos on how to treat burns, I am reminded of when my one-year-old child touched a ceramic space heater and suffered second-degree burns.

Sometimes, if I listen close enough, I can still hear his screams.

Let’s see if we can unpack some baggage to lighten the load and connect it to your health and fitness.

How to Carry

We can hand our baggage to the airline attendant and retrieve it upon landing, but this isn’t possible with our internal luggage. Although it stays hidden and weighs nothing, it doesn’t take much for it to become heavy.

Let the carrying begin.

We can’t escape the internal baggage because life doesn’t always go our way. Some memories and reminders are buried, but our baggage has its own way of digging itself out. Memories resurface, like the memory of my child’s burning hands.

If I had only paid attention, I would have stopped him from touching the space heater.

It’s easy to beat ourselves up, so how can we distribute the load and prevent it from becoming too heavy? I’m no shrink, but when my baggage overwhelms, I’ll remind myself of two quotes, one from Maya Angelou and the other from Precision Nutrition.

“Do the best you can until you know better.” Then when you know better, do better.”

“ Failure is feedback.”

It’s a mindset switch that prevents me from wallowing in my self-pity; hopefully, it will work for you, too.

My mother had this saying when my pity party broke out.

“Get off the cross, Shane, Jesus wants it back.”

I suggest you don’t use that, but please feel free to chuckle at my expense.

Health And Fitness Baggage

Farmers Carry has arguably the most functional crossover to our daily lives. There’s no need to make this exercise any heavier by bringing our own load to the party.

What do I mean by that?

When your fitness isn’t going as planned, whether due to a lack of results, inconsistent progress, or old or current injuries slowing you down, it adds extra stress. Then add to it the beauty of social media nitpicking the shit out of health and fitness, telling you you’re doing it all wrong.

It can leave you dazed, confused, and questioning the moves you make.

That’s what I mean by extra load.

I could tell you to ignore social media, but that’s easier said than done. It’s difficult to ignore the injuries and lack of results that scream at you when you look in the mirror. When the load becomes heavy and getting down from the cross is necessary, I remind myself of three things.

1. Simple is best. Focus on the basics of health and fitness. Fundamental human movements, such as squats, presses, and pulls, are crucial. Drinking water, getting your heart rate up, and eating enough protein are also essential.

2. Work around injuries and not through them. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t. Doing something always beats doing nothing.

3. Remember why you take care of yourself in the first place. My reason is to stay alive long enough to torment my children. Kidding. Or am I? Sticking to your reason will help you carry the load in tough times.

Health, fitness, and life are already difficult enough without bringing extra baggage to the party. Let’s lighten the load so you can keep crushing both.

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Whether you’re just beginning or tired of assembling random YouTube workouts, I’ve designed my online coaching to help you succeed with:

Customized workouts you can do at home

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