Life Lessons from Super Mario Bros.

"You'll never reach a point in your life where everything is solved, all neatly tied up in a bow.  That's the point.  There's no 'final scene.'  Only the ongoing adventure movie, forever unresolved." -- Jeff Foster

Life is messy.  It is constantly changing.  And it is completely unpredictable.

In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm often reaching for a moment when my life is finally fixed.  When I've solved the puzzle.  When all the chaos has finally subsided.

But this is it.  The ecstasy, the agony.  The joy, the pain.  The boredom, the bliss.

This is life.

And I feel like it's completely the same way with fitness.  

There is no finish line.  And along the way, we have our wins and our losses.  Our successes and our failures.

Sometimes we need to take some weight plates off.  And sometimes we need to add more.

And yet we're always so hard on ourselves when we don't quite achieve true fitness enlightenment.

But is that really the point?

Can we ever pat ourselves on the back, and say "we did it!"  We beat Bowser!

No.  We can't.  Because then Nintendo comes out with the next edition of Super Mario Bros.  And you've gotta learn how to get the whistle or turn into a statue.

Sorry.  I played a ton of Nintendo as a kid.  My thumbs have permanent button-shaped indents.

My point is.  Fitness is a way of life.  And even if we think we'll finally be satisfied when we can do a clap push-up, or we an run a 7 minute mile, or our abs are a little more washboard than keg.....there will always be ups, downs, highs, lows, celebrations and disappointments.   

"Getting there" is not the be all end all.  

I mean come on.  Have we learned nothing from incredible sex?

The joy is in the journey.

And even though we should absolutely celebrate our successes along the way, we should also recognize that the struggles are all part of it too.

Happyily ever after is for fucking fairy tales.

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