On Weights

Resilient maxim on the perception of resistance.

Everyone knows that strength training with weights causes one to get stronger. Resistance is needed for growth. This mindset, however, often doesn’t translate to other areas of life. Perceptual weights outside of the gym become detrimental burdens to productivity, freedom, and ability to thrive.

Getting married and fully committing yourself to another person is undoubtedly choosing to add resistance to all areas of life. The old ball and chain is an ever-present consideration requiring constant management. Exponentially compound your “burdens” by having children. No amount of strength can fully prepare one for parenthood. Daily challenges of raising children feel like a loaded barbell whose plates are continuously being changed by God. Dynamic uncertainties of life provide countless forms of resistance from all directions. Buying a house, having a job, or essentially being accountable to anything outside of yourself is a weight.

Weight management is a choice.

Throw on a weight vest and just wear it around the house. You’ll quickly find out this stressor progressively feels heavier over time. When you take off the vest, you’ll feel incredibly light and strong. The stimulus from the weight vest objectively and subjectively strengthened your mind and body. After adequate recovery, throw it on again. You may find your ability to manage this weight has improved because you know the benefits, your limits, and what it will feel like when you recover. Furthermore, you’re choosing to wear this weight so your perspective is oriented toward resilience. The intention in wearing it is growth. Any form of theoretical weights can do this in our lives. They’re either burdens or opportunities based on perspective and actions.

Weight management can either lead to burnout or thriving. Perceived constraints either discourage or provide confidence.

How do you view your weights?

Do you have adequate recovery protocols?

Are the various forms of resistance in your life adding to or detracting from your mindset?

There will be times where our weights will feel heavier for various reasons. The phases and challenges of life will require spiritual strength in many ways.

Are you training the mind and body to respond or waiting to see how you’ll react?

Perspective and subsequent function relating to adversity greatly influence the kind of lives we live.

Adversity is neither good nor bad. It just is.

Life weights are mental states.

Acknowledge and fairly evaluate the various forms of resistance in your life. Mental, physical, emotional, social, financial, spiritual, etc. Find ways to improve, reframe, or get rid of the unnecessary baggage. Draw perspective and strength from the subjectively necessary weights.

While my life has “slowed down” since getting married and having children, my orientation toward improvement and fulfillment has grown significantly.

I am better because of my weights.

Instead of preventing growth-related pursuits, my weights have added purpose to the most important ones. My weights have enhanced my ability to adapt in order to consistently show up while managing a dynamic load. Ultimately, my weights have shifted my perspective regarding how I want to live and the kind of man I want to be.

I love and am grateful for my weights.

You decide the weights you carry and how you carry them.

Choose wisely.

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Kyle Shepard, a man whose life embodies the very essence of resilience and Stoic principles. As a military Resilience Instructor and father of three, Kyle doesn't just teach mental toughness – he lives it. He's a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt, former world record holder for burpees, and has spent over a decade teaching warriors how to stay strong under pressure. But what truly sets Kyle apart isn't his impressive credentials. It's how he's transformed personal struggles into wisdom, combining Stoic principles with real-world experience.

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