Neat quote from stumptuous.com →[More:]Many of us in the fitness field (and outside of it) are well-acquainted with pain, fear, tensions, failure, and stress. The challenge, argues Sonnon, is how to overcome these things and keep coming back to take another kick at the can, not only from stubbornness, but as part of the natural process of growth. As part of competition, athletes have a unique opportunity to experience failure as a productive part of progress. Years ago I had a student who I'll call Mark. Mark did quite badly on an assignment that I had given him, but unlike many students who whine and bitch about the unfairness of my grading, Mark simply said to me respectfully, "I thought I did my best, but obviously it wasn't what you wanted. Tell me how to do better next time. I am willing to put in the work." I looked at Mark and said, "You must be an athlete." And so he was, a national-level hockey player who was well-used to the rigours of meeting life's challenges and learning from them. He sat down with me and went through his work piece by painful piece. If I'd been able to spend more time with Mark, I have no doubt that he could have become a very skilled writer, because he was willing to face his mistakes and work towards correction. Mark has stuck in my mind since that day as a shining example of how to live and approach one's work, especially when I hear of "road rage", "air rage", and various other types of rages that North Americans seem unable to control when faced with tiny obstacles and frustrations. Could it be, as Sonnon might suggest, that this is, in part, because we are collectively so tense, inhibited, and blocked up from our years of physical constraint and impediments to natural human movement?