Fear of competition. Fear of failure. Fear of not living up to the standards I set for myself and the expectations others had of me. Fear of being humiliated. Being a great baseball player was how I defined myself for a long time. Playing poorly, and being found out to be not so great, or even average or bad, was not something I took lightly. It scared me. And the worst part: I thought this reality could come true almost every time I toed the rubber.
So why did I do it? That's easy to answer, because there wasn't another option for me. Pitching was more than just a game; it was who I was. I needed to be seen as a great pitcher, and the only way I was going to do that was to continually get the ball and prove myself time and time again.
The fear of failing on the mound, and the subsequent act of facing that fear consistently, is something I believe has shaped who I am today. Sports have immeasurable benefits for people of all ages, especially kids, but the one thing sports, especially baseball, taught me is how to be courageous. Pitching molded me into someone I was incapable of being otherwise. It forced me to look my biggest fear — humiliation — in the eyes and face it once and for all.
Today, I don't pitch anymore, but I still feel that fear of humiliation in plenty of things: big presentations, public speaking, dancing (I'm a terrible dancer), singing (even worse than dancing) — all things that could expose my weaknesses to the world, and it takes courage to willingly subject myself to them.
It's for this reason that I find ways to be uncomfortable as often as possible. I'm convinced that courage is a muscle that can be developed through practice — the muscle we need in those moments of fight-or-flight. The more I took the mound, the more courageous I became over time. So today, I've found ways to push the boundaries of my comfort zone to build that muscle. Whether it's a 200-degree sauna for twenty minutes, a 33-degree cold plunge for four minutes, a 50-mile trail run, an intense CrossFit workout, speaking in front of an audience, or dancing at a wedding, I find ways to induce the fight-or-flight response in a non-lethal way so I can be familiar with fear and exercise my courage muscle.
You don't need saunas or hard workouts to practice courage — that's just what works for me. But it is important that you find ways to be courageous, because without courage, you can't grow. Identify the areas of fear in your life and develop a training regimen to increase your capacity for courage, so you're never held back by what you're afraid of.
Slaying the Dragon
Since the beginning of time, little boys have dreamt about defending all that is good from evil forces that have come to take it all away. The dragon is a concoction of human fear, all rolled up into one animal, and the ultimate quest of bravery is to slay it — to overcome fear itself in defense of what we hold dear.
I love the concept of slaying the dragon because it requires everything. It requires having something worth fighting for, the guts to be the one to fight for it, and the physical ability to perform. Slaying the dragon is the ultimate act of courage, and only those fit enough (physically and emotionally) are the ones who can rise to the occasion.
There are no doubt dragons in your life that need slaying. I hope there are things in your life worth fighting for. I hope you have the guts to be the one to stand up and fight. Don't let someone else slay your dragons because you aren’t fit enough to do it yourself. Have the courage to be ready to perform, whatever may come your way.
A massive part of building the courage to slay the dragon is about physical fitness. I’m not talking about an actual dragon, I’m talking about life. Life is going to present you with all sorts of challenges and having the confidence that you can perform when those challenges arise is in direct correlation to how physically fit you are. We live in a physical world with physical demands and no matter what your life looks like, you will rely on your physical body to carry out whatever it is you are striving toward or against.
Have you ever met anyone who would rather be unfit than fit? I haven't. Stop allowing yourself to make excuses to get in better shape. Everything about your life will improve if you are healthier and more physically fit. It truly is a superpower.
One of the most obvious ways your life will improve with the level of your fitness is your confidence — the confidence to perform the physical tasks life presents you, to live longer and be there for those who depend on you, to defend yourself and others from outside physical threats. Imagine a world where you don't live in fear of the next sickness, or of being attacked and not being able to defend yourself or simply run away. Imagine a world where, when you're in your seventies and eighties, there isn't a second thought about running around with your grandchildren.
This is a world where you don't live in fear that your body will limit what you can do, but rather where your body is the great enabler of everything you're capable of. Our bodies are the vehicle that God will use to fulfill a unique mission during your time on this earth. Becoming physically fit is not just about aesthetics or vanity. Becoming physically fit is our way of ensuring that in this physical world, God has the vehicle He needs to carry out His mission and when a dragon comes to take you away from that mission, you are ready to defend against it.
