Your Immunity to Imperfection

Carl Jung once said that difficulties are essential for human health. Hardship. ESSENTIAL. For our health. It’s a powerful thought. In a time when we’re typically told that mental health depends on comforts, it’s an incredibly comforting idea that in times of trouble we can harness it to propel us forward (horrific tragedy not withstanding). It’s one that I have chosen to believe for the better part of my adult life, knowing that every hardship I have had, and I am lucky that most of them are quite easy in the grand scheme of life, has shaped me into a tiny bit more resilient person each time.

There are times everyday during this pandemic where I become temporarily overwhelmed with panic and anxiety, the thought that we could very legitimately lose everything we’ve built over the past decade. Ask my wife how many times I leave the house to go on an hour long walk each week. That threat remains in perpetuity for the foreseeable future. The point is not to pretend threat isn’t frighteningly real and to see this mess through rose colored glasses. This isn’t about burying your head in the sand and telling yourself that everything is fine over and over until you believe it. No. Everything is not fine. It is most certainly, 100%, indisputably not fine.

And that is the idea. To embrace it, put it to use, and make it work for you.

Let me explain.

This will likely be the biggest business obstacle we have or will ever face as a gym, the greatest health scare for myself and loved ones, and the most divided we will ever be as a country. All in my lifetime most likely. All happening at the exact same time. Speaking personally, what an opportunity that is to build up my immunity to imperfection. If we can make it through this as a business, I know that there isn’t anything ever that we can’t endure. I know the same likely goes for you on some level and that is such a comforting thought to me. Isn’t it?

There was a time when I would obsess over a month we lost 10% more members than the previous month. Obsess over a loss we wouldn’t even feel. How ridiculous is that? Now, due to the past five months there is very little that shakes me. I am mentally equipped to handle much worse, and I have.

Quick, take inventory for yourself. What would used to drive you crazy that no longer does? Bet you can list off three things without even having to dig into your mind. Is that not pretty cool? That you’ve subconsciously mastered the game of adversity just a little bit better than you were able to do in February?

Ultimately, you can run from imperfection and you remain susceptible to perpetually throwing in the towel. Worse yet, you run from what it is to be fundamentally human. Or, you can re-frame adversity and pluck opportunity from peril. Build up your immunity to imperfection that’s thrown your way.
-Dave