If You Hang in There, You'll Get Somewhere

I believe that the hardest part of becoming a person who exercises is simply starting. We are bombarded with so much information. For me, taking that first step became harder and harder as each day passed. We are bombarded with so much information regarding what we should do. Maybe it was just me, but for me, I had a lifetime of going to the gym on the first day. A lifetime of starting. So, I made myself do the hardest step, over and over and over and over.

In other aspects of my life, I am a very creative type. But, in the same way that I never exercised, I also never do art. When I make art, like exercise, it's in fits and starts and frankly, I never get anywhere. I'm trying to change that, too.

I've become a great admirer of the artist Chuck Close. I really love his art, especially his gigantic portraits. I am deeply moved by something he has said about inspiration.

Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’ And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you know what you’ll do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere.

I so wish I would have heard these words when I was younger, because I think it really goes against what we are told as children. In children, in our culture, we focus on "talent." You either have it or you don't. While I think there might be a bit to that, as I get older, I'm starting to think that it's work ethic that really helps you produce good work. I think this can apply to exercise and taking care of yourself as well.

Chuck Close has used his adversity to overcome obstacles and turned it into art. Though a catastrophic spinal artery collapse in 1988 left him severely paralyzed, he has continued to paint and produce work that remains sought after by museums and collectors. He is most famous for doing these extremely large paintings of faces.

What's interesting about the these huge portraits is that he suffers from prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. By painting portraits, he is better able to recognize and remember faces. Close has said, "I was not conscious of making a decision to paint portraits because I have difficulty recognizing faces. That occurred to me twenty years after the fact when I looked at why I was still painting portraits, why that still had urgency for me. I began to realize that it has sustained me for so long because I have difficulty recognizing faces." 

So, let's not look for inspiration to get started. The HARDEST part is just that. Getting to the gym, putting on the clothes, facing the equipment or the track or the sidewalk. It doesn't matter. But, if you do it every day, you don't have to worry about six pack abs, or that marathon or whatever. You simply do it each day and "if you hang in there, you'll get somewhere."