One of the paragraphs from Lisbeth’s “Face the Fin” essay:
Anyhow, my point is: Face the f***ing fin. (I love alliteration.) For too long, you have sat in the boat, worrying and waiting . . . and wondering. Wondering what life would be like if you just said, “F** it. Let’s do this.” If you just decided to throw down and go for it. If you just opened
your heart and soul and body and just laid everything on the line, whether it’s in CrossFit, in your job, in your family, in your personal relationships. What could happen?
Those words hit me high and low, knocking me down… and had me looking up into the sky!
Why?
Because that sums up my plunge into CrossFit. When you lose your job and have a 3 year old and another little girl on the way, it is hard to “throw down and go for it”…. but we did. When you are surrounded by athletes better than you (the coach), you can only “open your heart and soul, lay it all on the line”, and hope that respect comes from your ability to program, rather than from your physical performance…
We lay everything on the line, everyday, to create what we are… the shed.
I don’t need to wonder what life would be like if I just said “F** it!”, because I did. My noble decision to not live off of the government may have created some problems for my family, but we followed the letter of our law. We never gave up on the shed…. why? Because we had a plan… and we have a plan… and it doesn’t involve walking away from our dream to provide our program to you, and anyone who wants to be part of our family.
When you “open your heart and soul” and “lay it all on the line”, things seem to work themselves out. We never structured the shed to allow us to drive fancy cars and take vacations every year… so there is no wondering! We know what we got… and you know what you get…. it’s not about programming for the masses, and shuffling people in and out the door every hour. It is more than that… it is deeper than that my friends.
Janine and I do what we love. Yes, it takes a bit of sacrificing…. but how many people get to do what they really love? It is an ongoing cycle that we want to impart unto you. Seeing your success cannot be equated to a dollar amount. An athlete who can recognize the value of a coach who can “open his/her heart and soul, and lay it all on the line”, will be more likely to work harder and reciprocate the effort.
So when you look at the blog, or the whiteboard, and you see something you don’t like… or you know that at some point in your WOD the pain is gonna come… FACE THE FIN! LAY IT ALL ON THE LINE!
Strive to be better today than you were yesterday!
Rock On ShedHeads!
We Love You!!
