Mind Over Matter

Mind over matter. This is what Vishnu tells me every time I talk about doing something physically difficult. Or when I complain about how sore/tired I am. In fact, this phase was said a lot leading up the Tough Mudder and a few days afterwards as well.

And every time he said it, I wanted to scream. I get the whole concept of mind over matter – how the mind is more powerful than the body – but the last thing I wanted to hear was, “Par, it’s all about mind over matter.” AHHHHHHHH!

Up until the Tough Mudder, I never put any real thought into the phrase. It was just something my husband said that annoyed me. But after putting my mind and body through “torture” as some people have described it, I have a new appreciation for what Vishnu was trying to tell me. The mind really is WAY more powerful than the body.

There were lots of obstacles (at least half) during the Tough Mudder that made me so nervous I wanted to throw up. I had zero clue as to how I was going to get through them. Like I said in my recap post, I almost got away with skipping a few. But what kept me going, aside from my awesome teammates, was the conversation happening inside my head. Because trust me when I say that my body was ready to stop multiple times. While I did train for the race and gained some strength in the process, I was not the strongest person on my team physically. Staying positive and pushing away self-defeating thoughts is what got me through that four hour adventure! My mind prevailed when my body wanted to walk and skip obstacles!

So here I am publically declaring that Vishnu was right! It really is all about mind over matter.

With that in mind, I’m successful tackling my Focus T25 workouts every morning (I’m only three days in but still…). Even though they’re only 25 minutes each, I need all the mental power I can get to keep moving. The exact words I tell myself are “you can do anything for 25 minutes/it’s only 25 minutes.” It’s been working so far!

And finally, I’ve expanded the definition of the phrase to go beyond physically demanding tasks. As an example, I mumbled “mind over matter” when I didn’t feel like unpacking and cleaning up on Sunday night when we got back from Amelia Island. All I wanted to do was sleep but I sucked it up and spent 30 minutes putting things away. And while it wasn’t fun at the time, I really appreciated my efforts the next day. Not sure if the right phrase is “mind over matter” or “don’t be lazy and just do it.”  Either way, it worked!

Lessons learned:

1. Sometimes Vishnu is right. Emphasis on the sometimes. 🙂
2. The mind is a powerful tool. Use it!