Jake’s Post: Confidence

It’s time for you to meet my workout buddy, Jake. He’s a stud. He’s taken though, ladies. I know, I know, I’m sorry.

Ok, so Juli has started asking her friends to write these guest posts on her blog, and now its my turn.  Honestly, i have no idea what I’m going to write about, well thats not true, i have ideas, but no real plan even as i begin to type these words.  I spent ten years pursuing my undergraduate degree, which is in History with and English minor, so i have plenty of experience writing papers and I’m hoping that experience pulls me through, so…..here goes.

First off, I told J-Boww, that’s my name for ol’ Jules as she’s bigger than life these days, what with her ridiculous online celebrity and all, that i wouldn’t sing her praises like those sellouts Laura and Sergio( or Baby Kat) did, but thats a lie.  Juli is  as genuine a person as it gets.  I love her, i mean that, i honestly love her.  Over the past year she has become my little sister, which i have none of, Im the youngest of three boys.  I’ve listened to her whine, I have seen her cry and heard about her surfing the crimson wave far more than i ever would have liked.  I’ve been there for a lot of downs.

Whats great about our relationship though, is that I have been there for a lot of ups as well.

I’ve tried my hardest to be there for her  when her personal life has seemed to be in disarray.  I was there, when close to a year of work we put in together was proven to not be in vain when she smoked the muscle ups in the 12.4 WOD in the open.  In one of my personal proudest moments, i was there when she hit a PR in front of a screaming crowd, that was totally behind her, because she’s so wonderful to everyone, on snatch and then felt like a proud father/brother/coach/friend as she pranced around and giggled with joy like a child. There is a fantastic picture of the exact moment she hits it, and you can see a guy in a gray sweatshirt with his arms higher than anyone else’s, Im gonna let you guess who that is.  Im extremely grateful for the moment after, with tears in her eyes she hugged me and told me she loved me.  That was what makes it worth it.  To see pride and confidence flow from someone who doesn’t always exude all the confidence in the world.

I guess as i’m rambling, Ive decided thats what this post is about, confidence.  My message to all you is to not worry about how your jeans fit, or how many almonds or grapes you ate last night, and how bloated or fat you think you look.  Don’t worry about whether he likes you or not.  Just enjoy the ride.  Do your best, let things roll, close your eyes, and hope for the best.

Lately Jules and I have decided we are going to attack butterfly pull ups, which doesn’t always go well.  We cant let it get to us.  Our workout partner, Wodface, one name like Madonna, has been giving us great tips and we just have to do our best.  Wodface by the way is our buddy Hunter, he would be sad if he wasn’t mentioned.  Honestly thats the only reason for this paragraph, he actually used the sentence, “I will be sad if you don’t mention me.”

At its very core, life is a game.  And in the famous words of Tom Selleck’s character Jack Elliot in the vastly underrated film “Mr. Baseball”, “Games are supposed to be fun!”  Listen to Tom, he’s a cool dude…with a mustache.  Why is it that our generation is the first to reject the mustache as a good look? i wonder if theres any correlation between that and the fact our societal values are crumbling? But i digress….

When Jules is having a bad day and whining about it, she’ll tell you, i literally tell her to stop it, and go pick up her bar.  Theres nothing some heavy clean and jerks cant fix.  When Im feeling blue, I say to myself “Eeeeeeeasy Big Kat,” and I do some squats.  Just pick something heavy up and forget your troubles. You could also try growing your mustache out, or watch Point Break, it works for me.

Enjoy life.  When a session at the CrossFit gym has you down, sit back and remember, its really just working out, competitively, which when you think about, is pretty stupid in itself.  When food has you down, eat some ice cream, and get back to worrying about your diet the next day.  My tattooed girlfriend (thats what I call her) Krystle, will tell you i try my best not to let anything bother me, maybe to a fault, but thats the only way to keep your head above water.

Ok, so i sat at the computer and this dribble is what came out, I hope it makes some kind of sense and some of you can take something from it.  Ill leave you with this: A wise man once said, a flute with no holes, is not a flute.  A donut with no holes…now thats a danish.

I pray that some of you get that.