A lesson in life...

I think it's safe to say Hurricane Irene impacted everyone. Some more than others, but nonetheless, everyone. If you were fortunate enough to not be in the group of people who had property damages and/or power outages, you more than likely spent plenty of time and money preparing.

Although no one wants to be preparing for hurricanes all the time, a lot of good did come out of this experience. You see, it's easy to take things for granted and let complacency set in. It doesn't matter the situation, overstaying your welcome in your comfort zone is not a good thing. Even worse is being comfortable with staying in your comfort zone. Now that's just dangerous!

Irene reminded many of us that we like comfort, and will do anything to remain comfortable. Am I saying that I believe we should remain in a constant state of being uncomfortable? No. What you should avoid is overstaying your welcome when it comes to comfort.

If you are never faced with adversity, you will never grow. Instead, you will become complacent, which is like being luke warm. If you are luke warm, you are just mediocre...and no one pays for mediocrity! We should strive to stay hot in whatever we do, not luke warm, or even cold.

You were not put here on this earth to serve yourself, but to serve others. From the most to the least, we were all meant to help others. Irene helped us get back to that mindset because all over the country people were pulling together to help whoever needed it.

Comfort can sabotage any area of your life. One classic area that we tend to get comfortable with is the most precious gift we can have...our health. In our country especially people are overweight and de-conditioned more than ever before. I blame part of that on the media because it just feeds the people lies and deception (no pun intended). Part of it is because of technology, and part of it is because we are just way too comfortable with being in pain, both physical and emotional. But pain without purpose is just torment.

After every storm there are sunny skies and after each sweat dripping session there is a personal victory. So the next time you feel like putting your health off until tomorrow because you don't "feel like it" or it's not convenient, just remember the lesson lovely Irene taught us: Even though the storms come, a little inconvenience and adversity will keep you out of that dangerous comfort zone and you will be in a better position to help others more effectively.

Have fun, train smart, get strong,

Nelson