I have neighbors with
small children. I like small children in
general; I used to have some myself. One
of the kids who lives nearby, however, deals with pretty much everything in life
by screaming. Life, for her, is one long
insult/catastrophe/struggle. On one
hand, I have to admire her persistence.
She is not going to take the insult/catastrophe/struggle lying
down. She is going to protest.
On the other, maybe she
could think about other ways to cope.
(Or, you know, maybe someone could help her find other ways that involve
less volume…)
She, unbeknownst to her,
is a metaphor for all of us. When we are
faced with Hard Things, we certainly can scream our heads off. Sometimes that is even the appropriate response,
particularly if it results in positive change in our circumstances. So yes, when working out it is entirely fine
to swear at the lunges/burpees/personal-least-favorite-exercise. It may release our tension. It may spur us to find another way to work
the same muscle groups that is less horrible or to get enough better at the
exercise in question that we come to peace with it.
We can also accept that sometimes
life and workouts have Hard Things in them.
Hard Things come to us all, inevitably.
We can choose our coping mechanisms.
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