“Be resilient.”
I read an awesome article recently by Laird Hamilton (big wave surfer and champion waterman) about his approach to fitness, failure and fear. The article was great, but part of it stuck with me long after I read the piece. It was the bit about treating his body like a truck:
I have friends who eat healthier than anybody, but it takes them all day. And if they don’t have their sprouted bread, they go into a seizure. I can eat a Big Mac. I’m not going to love it, but it won’t put me into toxic shock. It’s like if a car is too high-performance, then it’s sensitive to any kind of fuel. I like being more like a truck. If a little diesel gets in there, maybe a little water, it’ll cough and burp a bit, but it’s gonna get through it and keep running.
It’s all about resilience – to whatever life might throw at you. Laird’s approach to eating is to be resilient; his body will keep going even if it has a little junk food, just like the truck is resilient even if the fuel is a little impure.
I think one of the most defining attributes of anyone successful is their resilience to just keep going regardless of what gets thrown their way.
What is your resilience like? When faced with a challenging set of circumstances, do you go into toxic shock, or do you cough and burp a little, but keep on going?
With love,
Israel. xo