Why Me?

If you have been alive for more than a few minutes, you have probably either uttered or thought these words: “why me?”  It usually follows some form of “bad luck” or unfortunate occurrence. You are driving back from a friend’s house in the rain and your tire goes flat.  Why me?!  What about that Christmas-time flu?  Gifts are being opened and you are trying to keep your eggnog down.  Why me?!  Since this blog is dedicated to things related to training, I feel compelled to provide an example from that facet of life.  Last November, I was poised to lift in a weightlifting meet that I had been exclusively training for, for almost a year.  Six days out I was doing some light lifts and strained my hamstring and had to sit it out.  Why me?!  I think you get the point, so I will move on.  There are some fundamental flaws in this line of thinking.  The first mistaken notion is that you have it worse than everyone else… wrong.  We are all engaged in this relentless push through life.  Do some have it worse than others through no fault of their own, sure.  But it is not you.  You were probably not born in the concentration camp that is North Korea, or had to fight off sharks in the Pacific with just a toothbrush.  Someone always has it worse than you.  The second flaw in this mindset is that it is typically used as a one-way street.  Have you ever had something that is “too good” for you?  Have you ever gotten the lucky parking spot, or just missed being in a wreck, or caught Smokey and the Bandit right at the beginning?  Upon seeing Burt Reynolds lying in the hammock, or swerving out of a car accident, did you ask, why me?  You probably did not.  Most of us don’t think this way, but it is a good practice.  You see, in this life (to use a cliché) you have to take the good with the bad.  Unfortunately we all get to share both of them.  Do you deserve the good stuff more than the bad stuff?  Probably not.  So try it on for size, the next time you don’t get a flat tire in the rain, or don’t get the flu, or do get to lift in the big meet, try asking the question: why me, why am I so lucky?