The following article features emotional fitness and endurance and is the third and final article in a three-part series written by Samantha Pruitt. The series entitled, “Emotional Fitness: How Mental and Emotional Strength, Flexibility and Endurance Will Take Both Your Game and Your Life to The Next Level,” is published in part one and part two.
Hello there beautiful human,
In the first two installments in this ATRA series on Emotional Fitness you got a taste of both STRENGTH and FLEXIBILITY, two of the three pillars to full potential living. I shared my own mental and physical transformational journey and empowered you to take inventory of your own life to see what areas you have yet to fully invest in. I hope you will connect with me and share your story on this subject directly through my podcast channel – @everydayawesomeproject – here.
Now let’s dig into the term Emotional Fitness! In my work with humans and businesses we use this term to express, teach and integrate ideas and actions that will transform. Becoming Emotionally Fit (having Emotional Fitness) means that the individual has BOTH mental and physical health – fitness in order to reach their own life goals, so that they can then contribute at the highest level to the success of the team (work, sport, family, community).
We’re all about endurance
As a fellow trail and ultra-runner, you and I are all about ENDURANCE. Frankly it is our jam and so we think of it in terms of how we build, maintain, and then use that deep well of cardiovascular endurance fitness to run, run and run some more! If we lack that endurance then we pay, pay, and pay for it by either not being able to build through the variety of zones/efforts required to maximise our training cycles or we simply will not be able to sustain the desired effort/distance to achieve our race goals.
OUCH! And truthfully the same is true of life! Humans evolved to sustain hardships, both physical and mental, in order to get stronger and to survive as a species. Now here we are in modern day society and our everyday lives no longer require us to endure much at all. In fact, as we saw during the pandemic, enduring the discomfort of prolonged stress and long hard bouts of grinding ‘through it’ many people broke.
They then fell into addiction, a mental health crisis or became dysfunctional within their personal and professional lives. I believe that all humans need endurance of the body and the mind in order to not only fully function each day (over the course of their ever-changing lives) but to reach their full potential in love, work and play.
Go the distance
Building emotional endurance means that we invest time, energy and attention towards experiences that challenge us and force us to grow. Having a mind that can work through the discomfort of suffering, and not wanting to quit is truly invaluable. Planned or unplanned learning opportunities about yourself that push you out of your comfort zone and into new emotional territory are total game changes. Similarly, staying comfortable, stuck, or powerless will have the opposite life withering affect.
Lacking the endurance to keep showing up, believing you are worth the effort and doing the work towards your personal goals is a crime against yourself. Secondarily, that trickle down affect you then have upon all the lives you contribute to (team, family, work, community) is just as damaging. No one can be a valuable teammate and help win the championship (at work, home, sport) if they themselves cannot bring all their skills to the game and then go the distance.
Life pillars
ENDURANCE is one of the three foundational life pillars of Emotional Fitness. Having endurance of both body and mind allow each of us to do hard things and grow through it. Being invested in your own ability to endure the storms of life, keeping your head up and heart in the game, lets you do the same for others. We humans are a team. None of us are alone on this planet and if we want to reach our personal and collective potential then we need to have the endurance required to overcome.
I hope you take away from this series a few nuggets that inspire you to take inventory in your own three Emotional Fitness pillars then act towards their development. Just as you would examine, strategize and then train the weaknesses of your running game, your personal emotional fitness is just as important.
Connect to me and share your story so that I can support you or your crew in the exploration of full potential living. Follow the podcast for weekly jam sessions between myself and Coach Polly, where we take you on the journey through your self-limiting beliefs and undesirable outcomes- into a new sense of purpose and possibility.
Remember my beautiful humans, how your life FEELS is more important than how your life LOOKS.
About Samantha
Coach Sam just launched a new podcast and transformational program for communities, teams and organizations full of beautiful humans who are ready to build healthier brains and bodies! Learning from her own ex-couch potato to Ironwoman then Ultra Woman transformation, Sam deeply believes each person has massive untapped potential and that by training their mindset and physical health simultaneously, they will build not only an awesome life, but go on to create empowered communities and thriving companies. Learn more here.
Editor’s Note: You can read some more articles about Pruitt and her past events here.
