Copyright © 2024 BEO Strength & Fitness | Powered By 
One of the big goals BEO has for every single one of our members is to make it easier for them to do hard, scary things in and especially out of the gym. We love hearing about you running 5k's and marathons, doing mud runs and competitions. We also love hearing how you got that promotion, bought a house or started a business. Doing bad a$$ stuff within our walls frequently translates to doing bad a$$ stuff in daily life.
Here’s how you can learn to lean into the scary stuff, embrace stress and live a better life:
First thing? Understand that your body doesn’t know the difference between fear and excitement. They feel the same. When you start getting anxious before an event, ask yourself: “Am I actually scared, or am I just excited?” My advice? Tell yourself you're excited.
As adults, we don't get excited that often. Our body’s default response to increased blood pressure, elevated heart rate and surging adrenalin is fear and anxiety. That leads to a downward spiral and get scared when we should really be excited.
Try this: the next time you're staring at a very heavy barbell before a max-rep lift, get excited. Think about how you felt opening a Christmas present when you were a kid... you couldn't wait! That fear you feel? Turn it into anticipation and excitement. Practice getting excited.
Second, know that anticipation is worse than the event.
Our fear of what might happen is usually WAY out of scope from what actually happens. Our survial-centered brain takes over and our minds go to the worst-case scenario. We run at full anxiety for days before the event. When the event actually starts, we’re exhausted from replaying the possibilities over and over! We’ve already done the whole event—including every worst case senario—a bazillon times!
Waiting, deliberating, anticipating—they’re always worse than doing. If you can choose when to start The Hard Thing, choose to start it right now. "Worrying means you suffer twice" -some philosopher guy. Don't do that.
Third, put the event in perspective: Will you actually remember this in a year? Will it matter?
If not, it’s not worth stressing about.
If you WILL remember the event a year from now, it’s REALLY worth doing.
Life is a series of moments. Those big moments, the things that matter, not the mundane day-to-day, become your story. Any story without these moments is boring. Every time you go through a painful break-up, every time you try something scary and new, every time you choose the difficult thing- these are the things that matter most. Get excited about them.