This blog post was actually taken from my facebook pages. With RKC Vienna up in 2013, I am getting more mentally prepared than I am physically prepared for the certification. Due to the popularity of this note, I am releasing it to the general public. May you all grow strong in your mind and spirit after reading this. We are all stronger than we know.
The unthinkable has happened. I have become stronger than I ever thought possible. I have become so strong that the tiny me (standing at a whopping 5’3”) has reached a level of strength that has impressed some seriously strong men in the kettlebell community, not to mention the super strong women as well in that said community. I can clean and press a 24kg kettlebell (that’s 53 pounds) with one arm. I can perform 16kg weighted pistol squats (that’s 36 pounds). I can one arm swing a 28kg kettlebell (that’s roughly 60 pounds) and the next item on my strong chic agenda is to swing the 48kg (that’s 106 pounds) kettlebell. I say that not to brag, but to reiterate a point about strength training. After all, I am an HKC instructor at this point in time. I should know something about strength training, right? 😉
You can become stronger than you ever knew to be possible by simply having faith.
Faith. That word used to irritate me to no end. The word “faith” used to bring back memories of the time I spent studying Theology at the graduate level just a few years ago. So much stress was placed on my exams, my portfolio, my field work and then suddenly, I found myself leaving the entire program because my heart was not in the line of work. I was devastated, depressed, and on the verge of losing what little faith I had left in myself, let alone God. For a while, I did nothing but what every other 20 something does when they live in the South Side of Pittsburgh. I partied. I partied hard. It was my way of saying “**** you world! I have had enough of you!” I had no direction to follow at that time. I had no plan of action for what I was to do with my life. I was lost, living in the chaos of the real world. Hell, I nearly lost touch with reality all together. I cannot stress enough how horrible I felt at this time in my life. An entire career change can be heart-breaking, but in my opinion, it’s even more heart-breaking when your original career was heavily invested in a set of personal beliefs. I might as well have gone through a divorce. Seriously!
But then something happened. Something changed in me one day while I was nursing a violent hangover at my apartment. There, before my eyes was my only kettlebell at the time. The 12kg kettlebell I purchased from Dragon Door when I was 23 years old. I stared at it long and hard. I had somewhat of a flashback to the time a friend of mine suggested that I do an RKC certification workshop. At first, I thought the idea was ludicrous. How on earth would I ever find the courage to sign up for something that brutal? But that day, that day I stood in my apartment staring at my 12kg, I decided to take what little faith I had left and put it to the test. That day, I said a prayer that became my mantra. And that prayer was simply this:
“God, show me how to eat smart, how to train hard, and how to enjoy life with what I have right here in front of me, because the way that I am living right now is killing me.”
Within a year of saying those words, I became a health coach and an HKC kettlebell instructor. Within a year of saying those words, I met every single person who inspired me to follow my heart. I met instructors who became close friends. I met friends, who decided to become instructors. I met the musicians in my favorite band. Hell, I even met the author of one of my favorite books on nutrition! Within a year, I was doing podcasts. Within a year, I found myself training for the RKC, a dream of mine that has now become reality.
You can become stronger than you ever knew to be possible by simply having faith.
While I may not be the most religious person anymore, I can at least say this about what I believe now. I can tell you that I have found a new faith, a faith in myself that has grown over the course of a year. I believe now, without a shadow of a doubt, that anything is possible the moment you lay your life down and follow your heart. I believe that God really does answer prayers, because I have no other explanation for all the opportunities I have been given over the year. I believe that life is worth living, and that no matter how bad circumstances may seem, there is always a way out of them. Most of all, I believe in miracles, because the life I have now is just that. A miracle.
In 2013, I will travel to Vienna, Virginia to complete the Russian Kettlebell Challenge. I have spent the past year training for this event. I have overcome some horrifying obstacles and made certain that no matter what happened, I would do what I needed to to become an RKC. There is nothing now that is standing in my way of this certification. There is no single person out there that can convince me that I will fail. I have put in the time and sacrificed a lifestyle to make sure I am ready for April 20th, 2013. And to think that this all happened in a year…well..that just goes to show you that the Big Guy up in the sky hears us when we cry out for help. The impossible is possible when you have faith.
My name is Janelle Pica. I’m stronger than you know.
