Earn that Sunrise!

“Earn that sunrise! You want it? Work for it!”

It’s the day before the Labor Day holiday and I go see a good friend of mine to help him clean his garage and load up some furniture to be donated to Good Will.

Anytime we see each other, we talk about how we used to be in shape. How we used to tear up the gym. How we cannot wait to get back in shape again. But, we just spend an hour or two shooting the shit, then go back to life as usual.

This day was different, though. We were both feeling tired after loading the truck. We were both feeling out of shape… and loading up the washer and dryer revealed a rack of hidden dumbbells that just stared back at us. Then, something miraculous happened; we started lifting weights.

After a couple of sets, my biceps and shoulders were waking up from months of dormancy. I felt “the pump” as blood and oxygen rushed to my arms to top them off with the nutrients I just used to get some reps in. 

I forgot how much it hurt. I forgot how uncomfortable you feel. I forgot what it felt like to have my pores open up to release toxins through my sweat in order to clean out my body. It sucked so bad. But… it felt good. It felt AMAZING! 

It felt good to feel alive again. It felt good to feel like an animal in that moment. And this morning, it felt good to wake up with sore arms.

But it wasn’t just the blood rushing through my veins that woke me up… it was my friend’s voice in my head. His father was a retired and rewarded officer in the army. This friend is the friend who always tells me to get over it. Get back to work. Get through it. And on this special day, he told me to “Earn that sunrise.”

In the life of being an entrepreneur, it is easy to sleep in. It is easy to stay up late. It is easy to bog yourself down with so much busy work that you don’t find time for the gym, your health, eating right, or going to bed on time. But not today. Today it was hard to get up early. But I earned it. I earned the ability to struggle one more time.

I woke up this morning before dawn. I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. I got through my emails and chats awaiting me from the night before, before the sun rose. I pushed aside all desire to sleep in, pushed aside more sleep, pushed aside taking it easy on this nationally recognized holiday. 

My focus today was one thing.

Earning that sunrise. And since I earned it, it will be with me all day. I just have to earn tomorrow’s, too.