Freedom

What a great workout to kick off July #GRIT, and what a perfect day to get started.

July 4th.

Independence Day.

Freedom.

Although she still refuses to outright join the group, my wife Julia Price is going to shadow me this month. We just finished and, without a doubt, she put up her best effort ever.

I’m really proud of her. Ever since her health took a nosedive following a botched surgery in 2017, she’s been really good at making excuses for not exercising. That, coupled with a high-carb, high-sugar diet, left her carrying extra pounds and out of breath after walking uphill.

That all changed back in January when she cut sugar and started doing burpees with me every day plus a couple of GRIT workouts each week. Last week, we went old school and pulled out one from the first round last year that involved sprinting up a hill for 20 minutes.

In October, she'd said, “there’s no way I could ever do that!” But last week, as a sudden storm cleared out the park we were in, she found the inner strength to keep going. Despite the rain, thunder, and lightening, she stuck it out - including the finisher when the downpour was such that water was washing over the tops of our shoes.

What a difference mindset makes!

Last year, she was finding ways NOT to do it.

But this year, she’s finding a way.

And along with it, she's finding freedom.

Freedom from being trapped in a body that doesn’t feel like her own.

Freedom from a mind that says she’s not capable.

Freedom from a voice in her head that tells her she can’t.

We live in an incredible country in which many great men and women have come before us, paving the way for us to enjoy incredible opportunities. Yet so many of us never fully reap the rewards because we succumb to the voice in our head that says we are incapable, undeserving, or unworthy.

Today I am thankful for those people who came before me. And I am grateful that our parents weren’t lying when they said we could do anything we set our minds to.

That’s true.

And that’s freedom.