"What Lies Within" - Stronger, Clearer, Unbreakable

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Doing hard things makes us stronger in body, clearer in thought, and more resilient in spirit. It's how we discover "what lies within us."

At a celebratory steak dinner after our Grand Canyon adventure last week, I exhorted the young men from our group to intentionally choose to do hard things throughout their lives.

Our team ranged in age from 18 to 68, with five of the eight well into our second half of life. The young'uns could reasonably expect to enjoy another 65-75 years, God willing. They are looking out at life from that enviable vantage point of youth.

In our elated attempt to put the experience into context, we kept describing it as a "once-in-a-lifetime adventure."

But, as I heard and used that phrase repeatedly, it got me thinking... I sure hope the hell not!

I want to go back and do it again! My bucket list is long and endlessly growing, and I pray for the opportunity to undertake many, many similar adventures.

All of those will be hard. They'll test my mettle. By choice.

They will help me learn from and move past "what lies behind" and worry less about "what lies before." With that perspective, those things become "tiny matters" because I'll know "what lies within." 

I will be stronger in body, clearer in mind, and unbreakable in spirit. Priceless gifts.

So, I encouraged the boys to choose a similar path and design a life of regularly doing hard things.

And I offer that same challenge to all our MidStrongers - to put their sweat and strain at the gym to good use by attempting and doing hard things. They too will uncover that "what lies within" is a deeper well of strength, clarity, and resilience than they had ever believed possible.

We'll explore the links between body, mind, and spirit in our upcoming webinar, next week, Thursday April 13th at 5:30 PM. See the box below to learn more and to register.

Until then, let's work it and live it because when we do, we get to keep it.

MidStrong is for life.