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Giving 110%

I have been thinking about this concept a lot over the last few days as my "I don' wanna" starts to kick in:

I don' wanna...go outside and walk. It's too cold.
I don' wanna...get out of bed. It's warm here.
I don' wanna...get up and work out. I'm tired (or warm in bed, or not in the mood, or...fill in the blank).

When I was at Rescue Swimmer School in Pensacola, FL (during my time in the Navy), I had a stint where it was just me and the instructors for a week while I waited for the next class to build up. This school is the second most physically challenging Navy school; second only to BUDS training. All day long, all the instructors did was work me out. Push-ups and sit-ups and flutter kicks and jumping jacks in the sand/dirt by the O-course and pull-ups and chin-ups (which I couldn't do at the time). Runs along the beach and through the forest to the lighthouse with a guy who was really a runner...which I was not...I was a SWIMMER! LOL! And then to the pool where I could stay all day if they would let me. Swim side stroke on your left side for a million laps, now on your other side, now sprints...REPEAT! The only thing I hated in the water was the underwater swim--75M end-to-end--and if you came up before you hit the wall, you had to come back from the deep end. I never had to do that, though, because I would have aspirated water just to NOT have to do it again. SERIOUSLY! It was that daunting to me that it would have been worth it!

When the instructors first used to yell at me to give 110%, I remember thinking, "There is ever only really 100%. Where are they getting this 110% bullshit from?!" And then I found it. It was there all along. I never had to use it before then because no one had ever pushed me past my limits. Now, when I had nothing left, my mind had to force my body. My mind had to believe I could. And I DID! So, now, when my "I don' wanna" comes out and is encouraging my underachieving, I remember that anything before me is nothing compared to what I have done before. So, Jillian, bring on your best and let's show pain where it can go!

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