There was a time, not that long ago, when doing 100 consecutive push-ups felt impossible. To refresh I woke up on January 1 and did ten push-ups. After that I added five push-ups each day until I got to target 90. At that point I hit a brick wall and as it happens when one beats their head against a brick wall it is not the brick wall that breaks.
I started to dread getting out of bed and facing the push-ups. I knew that I was going to fail and that this entire challenge was more than I could handle. I had to find a different path. In finding that different path I first headed back down the mountain. The next day I rose and did 60 push-ups and then increased by two each day after that. Since starting this way I have yet to experience failure and have skipped ahead a few times.
Today I had a terrible thought. I had woken up and done 122 push-ups. I wondered if I could do another set of 100 so I tried and succeeded. A bit later I wondered if I could do it again. I did. Then driving home from picking up the children I had the thought that doing 100 push-ups is easy now. It is no challenge anymore.
I had a kind of revulsion to this thought. 100 push-ups is difficult. I do not know who many people can actually do 100 consecutive push-ups but I doubt it is a lot, and here I am minimizing my own accomplishments as well as diminishing anyone that cannot do that same.
The next thought that crossed my mind was how many things that are difficult to others find easy. Everyone has a routine. a heart surgeon has routine surgeries they perform. To them those are easy, but it takes years and years of work to get there. A concert violinist has symphonies they perform that would be behind the comprehension of the average person but those performances are their routine.
I am not able to do 100 consecutive push-ups because I woke up on January 1 and did 10 and had a plan. I did 100 consecutive push-ups because of a lifetime of work. I may have let things lapse over the last couple years but that doesn’t diminish the past efforts.
I must meditate on my accomplishments. I must transfer the planning and effort of the personal push-up challenge to other areas of my life. So much of me is lacking. I am a flawed person in so many ways, but this, this I can do. Now the real test is how long can it be done and what happens when adversity finds me once more.
David Huzzard Writes 