4. Accept Reality

When I was a volunteer for Tony Robbins Events, I always crewed the fireteam.

It was, in my opinion, the hardest job possible. The Fireteam is responsible for building all the fire lanes that the participants storm across to have their breakthrough.

It’s hot! It’s uncomfortable. And you are doing manual labor for 24 hours straight.

The first time I crewed, I huddled up with the rest of the volunteers around the fire captain who was about to make his big empowerment speech. I got ready to hear, “This is the most impactful experience you will ever have.”. “This will be the best experience of your life!” Ans instead, he said, “Embrace the suck.”

“Huh? Come again?”

“Embrace the suck.”

You see, here’s the thing. When you expect something to be anything other than what it really is, you run into trouble, known as disappointment, frustration, and anger.

But if I know I’m crewing the fireteam, and it’s going to be hot and tiring, and sucky, than I am not disappointed or angry. In fact, I am happy, because my experience matches the level of my expectations.

When we break up, we don’t embrace the pain. We medicate it, numb it, or rush to fix it with a quick Facebook stalk.

But if you’re willing to sit in the pain, it will burn off like the sun in the absence of resistance.

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