Stronger Together

Have you been to a wedding lately? Pretty much every wedding I’ve been to has something publicly symbolizing the two become one – the unity candle (usually my favorite), the sand thing (which I really don’t get), and lately, ropes being twisted or braided together. I actually quite like the rope idea; first saw it in pictures of one of the wedding of a second cousin. The point is supposed to be that yeah, 2 ropes individually are strong, but when they are entwined, it’s a struggle to break it. (The 3 ropes braided together is supposed to symbolize the husband, the wife, and God; a marriage with God in every aspect is one that cannot be broken.)

Before getting to the fourth (and I think final) part of the 4 Letter Word series, I wanted to touch on this subject.

Accountability.

Partnership.

It is 100% possible to work out on your own, to motivate yourself or find motivation yourself, to hold yourself accountable. But it is so much better when you have others with you – literally or in spirit.

Partners don’t mean you do everything together or one person does everything; a good partnership is when two (or more) work together toward a common goal. You are strong where the other is weak and vice versa. You keep each other going.

At two different locations where I have or still train, I’ve worked with groups who were complete strangers before being paired together in group training. Now, they go on vacations together, join sports leagues like bowling or pickleball as a team, have met each others families, and continue to work out together years after first being put in a small group. Those groups are some of my absolute favorites! My job is made much easier when they challenge each other during the work-outs. Usually, I’m having to slow them down because the exercises turn into a competition. They hold each other in check; if one isn’t supposed to be doing a certain movement because of an injury or over-worked muscle but “forgot” to tell me, the others make sure I know. They have fun.

Regardless of your reasoning, either “misery loves company” or “the more the merrier,” you should consider being apart of a group. That emotional and mental health is just as important as physical health!