Choosing Your Support System
Written by Holden Rethwill
In my post, Strength Made Possible by Vulnerability, I discussed the importance of having a strong support system and how having one can increase confidence, help you stay on track to achieve your goals, and can pick you up if you ever fall off that path.
Now we will take a look at how we choose people for our support system, and why I believe that everyone has the opportunity to have one.
I’m sure some people read that and think I’m crazy. There are some people who come from too much struggle to have a strong support system. Well I disagree. Regardless of where you come from, what your background is, or the life choices you have made, we all have the opportunity to have a support system. Some people simply make the choice to isolate themselves from this opportunity. There’s nothing anyone can do about that, they have made their choice. These people could have just as easily made the choice to allow others to help them along the way, and that is what I’m getting at.
We can all choose to reach out to others for help. We can all choose who we allow into that inner circle; that true support team we trust has our best interest at heart. No matter where you are at in life, unless you have chosen to isolate yourself from this opportunity you have the choice to find someone or others who will support you.
How do I choose this support system?
Just like when I discussed the importance of having a support system, there are a multitude of ways. However, rather than go on all day, I will give you my top methods for determining if someone fits your support system. In no particular order, they are:
1) Choose people who acknowledge your goals, dreams, passions – whatever it is you may have – and have expressed similar interests. Someone like this will help you stay on path because your goals are essentially one in the same.
2) Find people who genuinely have your best interests at heart. They may not necessarily have the same goals as you, but they will always be there when you need them.
3) Surround yourself with those who understand your goals. People who understand and can see your belief in yourself and your goals will always be there to support you along the way.
No matter who you are or what path you’re on, you have the ability to choose to allow others to help. This translates to the world of CrossFit in the means of finding people who will hold you accountable, support you in your goals, and be there on the days you PR as well as the days you fail.
Finding like-minded individuals, to me, is a giant pillar of success. I truly believe it has helped me to where I am today. I have chosen to surround myself with those who I know have my best interests at heart, and those whose goals and aspirations align with mine. This makes life so much more enjoyable; knowing you always have others there to not only support you, but who allow you to support them as well.
“For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
-Rudyard Kipling