Lifting Weight

Once again, I apologize for erratic blogging...so much going on. I did manage to find a moment or twenty for quietness today and was rewarded with a minor epiphany. Don't you love epiphanies?

I was remembering (and not too fondly, I might add) yesterday's workout with Trainer Kevin, during which he introduced a couple of new exercises. The one I'm remembering, or rather, the one my body remembers, is the one-armed shoulder press. With one arm, you press the weight up from the shoulder, while the other arm is at your size as a stabilizer. TK increases the weight with each set, and by the time we reached the final set (20-lb. weights), I was having to resort to an internal chant, This makes me feel stronger, this makes me feel stronger, this....

You get the picture, but what does it have to do with my epiphany, you wonder.

Everything.

As I was sipping my frosty Diet Coke (no lectures, please) and feeling the sun on my back, my thoughts drifted to the job situation. Or more accurately, the potential lack-of-job situation. While I know I can handle it, the enormity of it all is swirling beneath the surface all the time and making me a jittery, nibbling mess. (Healthy nibbling, but nibbling nonetheless.)

Enter the epiphany, and while it may not make sense to anyone else, I feel better. :)

We all know that we have to lift weight in order to lift more weight. Taking on too much weight at one time can be injurious (is that a word?), but if we take it slow and steady--only the weight we can safely lift at any given time--and remember to breathe, we build strength, and with that strength comes the ability to lift more weight.

Life, as it turns out, is really just one long weight-lifting session. Handling life's burdens--small, medium, or large--is no different, really, than a one-armed shoulder press. Plant your feet, stand up straight, take on only the weight you can bear at that point in time, and lift.

Oh, and always, always, always remember to breathe.

So maybe that's only an epiphany for me, which would maybe make it a Camiphany, and that's good. I wanted to share it here, just in case anyone else is trying to lift too much weight--in the gym or out in the world. :)

Happy and glorious weekend to you all!

~