Get busy living…

Anyone who has seen or read what is perhaps one of the greatest stories ever told – The Shawshank Redemption – would be all too familiar with the words that make up the title of this Blog.  Last Sunday our Summer Challenge members were asked to complete this quote…I have always thought that everyone knows this legendary movie quote, but from our members’ reactions I learned that my assumption was wrong, and I thought, this calls for a Blog post…

I love “The Shawshank Redemption” for many reasons.  First and foremost, it’s simply an amazing movie about the timeless themes of redemption, hope, and the triumph of the human spirit.  Secondly, it’s a movie that works on many levels, that is relevant to all of us.

On the surface, the movie is about Andy Dufresne, sentenced to a life in prison for killing his wife and her lover, a crime he didn’t commit.  In prison, Andy develops a friendship with Red, played by Morgan Freeman, and they dream about one day being free again.  (The movie is on Netflix, watch it, it’s mind-blowing!)  It’s a story about the human struggle to overcome adversity, move beyond whatever limitations we face and realize our dreams and aspirations.

The line “Get busy living, or get busy dying”, really speaks to the simplicity of making life choices.  In other words, we’re either moving forward, or we’re not.  It really is that simple – we wake up every day and get to choose whether we get busy pursuing our goals and making things happen, or we get busy finding reasons not to excel.

Each day you and I can choose to stay stuck in our own metaphorical prisons.  Or not. We can choose to stay overweight and out of shape, or we can choose to put on our gym shoes and start working out.  We can choose to stay victims of whatever is imprisoning us, or we can choose to plot our escapes.

Whatever is holding you back in life, you can choose to overcome.  In the movie, “The Shawshank Redemption”, Tim Robbin’s character, Andy, serves 20 years in prison.  During the 20 years he served, he never gave up hope of one day reclaiming his freedom, despite suffering years of imprisonment and multiple setbacks.  Andy’s story is about persevering against all odds, and never giving up.

Andy Dufresne tunnelled out of the worst prison in history, one handful of cement at a time.  Each morning he would stroll along, whistling softly, hands in both pockets, while the concrete grit trickled out of his pant legs and onto the earth.  Andy literally toted his wall out into the exercise yard, one handful at a time.

“Get busy living, or get busy dying…”  Andy’s words illuminate clearly two separate paths, every individual faces in life – on the one hand, the choice of becoming an active participant in one’s own life.  And, on the other hand, passive resignation to the dictate of fate…

His story is my favourite allegory in all of film.  Sure enough, we may not have been wrongly convicted and forced to serve time in a maximum-security prison, but in our lives, we are all sometimes faced with situations that may seem just as hopeless.

Andy reminds us that there is always a way out.  It may be a slow, long, and incremental journey, but there IS always a way out. 

If, each day, we take a small step toward change.  If, each day, we progress shovelful by shovelful with each practice.  If, each day, we figure out how to do something so small and gradual, that it almost looks like we are doing nothing.  If, each day, we keep chipping away at even a little bit of the mass in front of us.  Short and slow steps are okay – patience is the most underrated strategy for achieving almost anything.  If we can train ourselves to be satisfied with each bite of the carrot, chewing just a bit more than we had before, then not only will we reach our destination, but we will enjoy the hell out of the journey!

As Oscar Wilde accurately observed many years ago, “To live is the rarest thing in the world.  Most people exist, that’s all…”

Get busy living or get busy dying.  We have 86,400 seconds each day -and it’s our choice what we do with them.  The best way to do really big things is to start with deceptively small things.  If your frustration is ballooning beyond containment, then grab a handful of rocks out of that wall.

It might just lead to the way out…

Yours in fitness

Mirna
082 779 0507

PS (If you are a Summer Challenge member, complete the following in a WhatsApp to Mirna before 20.00 – “The best way to do really great things…”)