Get more callouses

As part of my commitment to my health (and inspired by my daughter Danielle), I have recently taken up crossfit.  I have loved the community aspect of it, and I have enjoyed watching my mobility and strength improve. But lifting barbells, hanging from bars, and doing endless amounts of push-ups, burpees, lunges and squats… all of it has been a bit tough on those parts of me that haven’t been the subject of intense effort for… let’s say a long time. And to be honest, with the kind of work I do for a living, I have “soft hands” that don’t see much physical labor.

So I am starting to get some serious callouses. 

Callouses, those spots of thickened skin that develop after repeated pressure or friction, only happen after constant repetition. In other words, you don’t get a callouses by doing something once. You need to do it again and again. You need to do something consistently.

Oh, and the other thing about callouses?  They can hurt too, especially when they bust open.

The other day a new friend at the gym showed me his calloused hands as a source of pride. Over a year in the making, in fact. But he didn’t show them to me to share his pain. He showed them to me to share his strength.

Sometimes in our work, we like to keep our hands clean and avoid the unseemly appearance of callouses. We shy away from the work and repetition that might thicken our skin and make us uncomfortable. It’s not that we don’t WANT to get stronger. We just don’t want to grip that bar over and over again. We don’t want the pain.

I have been thinking about all of this recently, because in addition to crossfit, the work of building Applied Optimism hasn’t been easy either. I have had to use some skills I haven’t used in a while, and I have needed to ask for help (and for clients) in ways that I haven’t needed to for years.  Sometimes I don’t feel strong enough to do certain things, and like at the gym, I look around and see how other people are seemingly lifting much more than me with much less effort.   And when it gets really tough… and it has recently… it feels like the callouses are bursting and I think about quitting and trying something easier that won’t be so painful. 

But then I grip the metaphorical barbell again and keep lifting. I keep thinking to myself: even if I can’t handle the weight now, I know if I keep working at it eventually I will.  Callouses and all.

Because, sometimes we realize that it’s important to get more callouses. To optimistically work through the pain. That’s how we learn and how we grow. 

I mean, you can still have a soft and open heart with calloused hands. 

But you can’t get stronger without a few callouses.