I have this picture on my fridge -- the "Water Wall" -- that represents what I work toward and fight for.
The "water wall" is a moment in my workout when my body has reached complete exhaustion. At that moment, my brain begins to hum, my body digs deep to find the power to keep moving, and, when my body quits, my mind takes over and I push even harder past any point I thought possible. I can feel the change when this happens. Though a rare moment, I crave the feeling like a drug and strive for it each workout. When I'm lucky enough to arrive there -- the place where I feel the concerns of life, such as image, money, and responsibility, melt away -- I'm a new person; I'm empowered, free, and successful. At that moment, it's just me and my willpower. I can't hear the people around me or see the clock, only the bar, the burpee, or the kettle bell in front of me.
To me this photo represents that rare moment in a workout when I reach the limit or "water wall" of what my mind and body can do separately. Moving past this threshold requires a harmony between the two that leaves me with a self-awareness that is second to none. Before this moment, the world is the same mundane, confusing, organized, disorganized, and worrisome place. It's what I am used to, its the place I live in every day. But after that point in the workout, when I've moved beyond the barriers and am pushed beyond the mental limits, the stresses of life disappear and my mind is completely in-tune with my body. It's a type of survival mode. And once I breakthrough the "water wall" of things that hold me back -- my inhibitions, sadness, insecurities, exhaustion, rage, anger, frustration, and tiredness -- the weight of the world is washed away. Those other concerns are left on the box floor, with my sweat. Some people scream, some cheer, I cry. I'm not the same after these workouts; they bring out the real me, a raw version of me, an empowered me.
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