16 Feb Blood, Sweat, and Tears (The Making of Elevate)
“The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself…That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right.” – Neil Gaiman
Construction is wrapping up at the gym, and I wanted to sit down and write about the process and what it means for the future of the gym. Next Sunday everyone will get the opportunity to come and see the gym in all its fresh completed glory. We got the keys to the space on Dec 1st and now 83 days later the gym will be ready to roll. People are going to see a great final product, happy smiling friends and family, and a great experience, but that moment will not show how this came about.
Blood: The first week we had the gym as we were ripping carpet out I had to ground my hand against the wall over and over into the wall trying to get the edges of the carpet and my knuckles started bleeding. The spot where the blood hit was luckily where we had pulled out baseboards so luckily it would be covered. More importantly it sets the tone. We will always endeavor to train in an intelligent manner, but a little blood every now and again is part of having a good school.
Sweat: The sweat took care of itself over the hours, days, and weeks. Besides the cable guy, and the person who installed our audio equipment 100% of the work was completed by myself, my wife, family, and friends. So many people gave so selflessly of their time and effort and it shows in the final product. Rather than laying the mats on the floor we built a raised platform. We built the front desk from scratch. All the benches were constructed from raw materials. The carpets were ripped out and the floors and baseboards were laid in place. The same hard work that built the gym, the attitude of doing more with less will be the foundation of how we train and operate going forward. The same love that went into this task will be part of everything we do.
Tears: Don’t let appearances fool you. This project was hard. My wife Lauren and I have a plan of what we want this gym to accomplish and the truth is the reality of that scares us sometimes. The self-imposed pressure to succeed, especially to make the effort everyone had put in worthwhile. We replaced our leisure time with constant work on building the gym, we took time out of enjoying the first year of our daughter’s life and as a result the question that hangs over the project is will the cost we pay to live this life be worth the rewards for our family and others in the future. There are moments we were overwhelmed and broke down because we both were worried of what we might lose along the way. Our smiles on opening day are only part of the story, just as much of the story is told by us hugging and crying the utility project one afternoon thinking we might never finish the project
This is where the future truly comes in. I’ve asked so much of my wife and family. They have put in so much time and effort. There is no choice for us going forward but to give everything we have in order to make the gym validate all the heartache that went into it.
There is a school of thought that it is better to never show the difficulty in achieving a task. That it is more impressive to make onlookers think it was effortless and they hold you in higher esteem. This project has not been easy, but it has been worth it. Before our first class I am already so proud of what we have accomplished in bringing this school to life. I don’t want people to think there was some special unattainable magic in making this happen. Instead, I just took steps that committed me to a course of action and removed the option for retreat. Much luck when Cortes burned his own ships before battle you would be amazed at what you can withstand when you remove all other options. Among my multitude of hopes is that this gym inspires others to take the same leap of faith in their own lives in whatever form that takes, and in that way we continue to Elevate the community as a whole.
See you on the 21st.
-Cody