On Voluntary Hardships

affiliate • Jan 02, 2018

Once December was a month; now it is a year. – Seneca

Seneca wrote volumes of letters chocked-full of [Stoic] wisdom. And I am wont to describe the holiday season with a more befitting quip. It’s true, unlike any other season, the weeks preceding the calendar change are laced with parties and friends, food and family, and celebratory landscapes riddled with pitfalls (for health-minded people). As a consequence, we fall in. We crawl out. Then proceed as quickly as possible to the next bottom of the next pit. It is, this sort of self-defeating-yet-deliciously-rewarding behavior, almost as predictable as the local radio station’s 48-hour playlist from December 24th through 25th. In other words: it’s normal, it feels good and presents alongside a healthy dose of nostalgia.

From my vantage, the problem starts festering in the cold and gray weeks that follow. The epicurean fountain runs dry and we find the burning flame of the holiday hobnob snuffed-out, lickety-split. The habits developed in previous months are more challenging than they were before. The blandness of ‘healthy’ food, of a more muted social calendar, and the midwinter bleakness of January sits heavily atop our existence. It’s suffering (or the closest thing to suffering we modern Westerners experience) and feels as if we’re on the wrong side of a bad punchline. Now, isn’t this is the season for resolution? And, more, what’s the point of this unnecessary hardship?

In the 1930s, Victor Frankl, a man more familiar with suffering than any of us, developed a theory of logotherapy. Before he could apply it in his psychiatric practice or present it in book form, he and his family were hauled off to a Nazi concentration camp (his family didn’t survive, he did). Through his hardships there, he experienced the dramatic power of his logotherapy. In short, logotherapy is founded upon the idea that humans are motivated by the search for a purpose in life. In his case, brutal suffering ceased to be suffering at the precise moment he found some meaning to it.

* Let me assure everyone, I am not nor would I ever liken the challenges of diet and lifestyle to those of a death camp. Woe is anyone to make light the horrors of the Holocaust.

It’s from Frankl’s lesson’s that we might all better answer to suffering’s purpose. The upcoming Outlier Lifestyle Challenge is sure to present plenty of hardship. Some asks will certainly make you uncomfortable. It’s during these times that I simply suggest we choose to endure them both happily and voluntarily. According to Frankl, we can discover powerful meaning in life in three different ways:

  1. By creating a work or doing a deed
  2. By experiencing something or encountering someone
  3. By the attitude we take towards unavoidable suffering

In the weeks to come, you can expect challenges from outside the fitness box. We will ask you to make sacrifices. But we believe that gratification delayed is a sort of greater gratification. If nothing else, start by conceptualizing the highest good you can – fitness or otherwise. Then ceaselessly strive to attain it. Frankl calls that tragic optimism; beholding the best of our human nature – the ability to turn suffering into human achievement. An empowering concept, indeed.

Where is what you most want to be found? Where you are least likely to look.

(In sterquiliniis invenitur)

G-

 

Frankl, V. E., Lasch, I., Kushner, H. S., & Wnislade, W. J. (2015).  Mans search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Seneca, L. A., & Campbell, R. (1969).  Letters from a Stoic. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

 

The post On Voluntary Hardships appeared first on 10 Experience.

Previous Posts

By affiliateadmin 10 Feb, 2022
Disclaimer: This may not be for the novice reader/exerciser. However if you are truly looking to invest the time to learn your body, this will help you. Brace yourself for a deep dive as what follows is sure to lead you down the proverbial rabbit-hole toward better mobility and improved body mechanics both in and outside ... The post Mobility for Weightlifting appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliateadmin 02 Jan, 2021
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text] With each new year at 10 Experience, we aim to challenge our members and ourselves to sharpen our minds, our habits and our lifestyles. To whittle away at a #10exlife. The Outlier Challenge provides precisely that structure. Like previous challenges, this year’s version takes a fresh approach to the general blueprint we know ... The post 2021 Outlier Challenge appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliateadmin 20 Jul, 2020
Lessons from the Book of Our History The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding. – Will Durant In 2010, two bonehead kids leapt from a plane without much of a parachute or any real understanding of how to safely land. By a stroke of ... The post 10 Rules for Gym Life appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliateadmin 30 Jun, 2020
  If you’re familiar with the original ideas behind CrossFit (the idea that we as a business fell in love with), you know about hard work, community, self-improvement, acceptance and all things the like. Charging towards health and wellness via voluntary hardship and sweat equity is the surface level idea. Look one layer deeper and ... The post CrossFit at a Crossroads appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliateadmin 27 Mar, 2020
Hope Floats and a 10ex Rolodex What do you get when you combine a roller coaster, a cliffhanger drama, and murder mystery? You get the month of March 2020. And you can begin to encapsulate the last few weeks for planet earth. The emotional spectrum ran full-bore through all of us with a pulse. The ... The post April ‘s Outlook appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliateadmin 05 Oct, 2019
  SCENE: A local artisan donut shop buzzing with happy patrons. Sweet and savory smells fill the air accompanied by the grate of freshly roasted coffee beans. It’s a place engineered specifically for the sensations. It’s a foodie’s dream. Enter: HEALTH-MINDED COUPLE, DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE: (speaking to newest patrons) Hi! Welcome to ... The post Donuts + Decision Fatigue: A Secret Success Formula appeared first on 10 Experience.
By 321go 01 Jul, 2019
Most of us have an area in our life we wish we were performing better in. That part of us that doesn’t quite fit into our own skin. It could be a touchy subject that our spouse and friends know to steer clear of, the elephant in the room. It could be the promotion you ... The post Test Post appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliate 25 Apr, 2019
In the past, we’ve discussed the difference between fitness as sport and fitness as a life-long pursuit – these are starkly different end games. If you find yourself in the ‘fitness as sport’ camp, these following opinions of mine (and others) are of lesser concern. However, should you find yourself in the ‘live long and ... The post The Immortal Jellyfish and You: A Blueprint to Live Long and Prosper appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliate 14 Feb, 2019
You made it! Only a few weeks of Winter’s gloom remain and the end of the Outlier Challenge is already upon us. Wasn’t it a quick 6 weeks? With each year’s Challenge, we attempt to deliver a fresh package of full-bodied human (10) experience. Likely, that meant a bit of mental and physical stretching for ... The post The Threads of Ariadne: A Love Letter to End the Outlier Challenge appeared first on 10 Experience.
By affiliate 16 Sep, 2018
Whether you have dealt with this problem from a distance or up close, cancer has come up on your radar at some point in your life. Truth is, technically speaking, you have cancer right now. There are cancerous cells all in our bodies, that are only triggered/turned on when a fragmented version of our DNA ... The post Movement…The answer to Cancer? appeared first on 10 Experience.
More Posts

Ready to get started? Join 10 Experience now!

Schedule Free Trial
Share by:
Wodify Iframe