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It is said that there are 5 topics that no one should discuss in the company of others. I'd be lying to you if I said I knew what all of them were, but I know for fact: one of them is religion. Since I have no problem being controversial--I'll pretty much talk to anyone about anything--I decided to talk about this after someone brought this to my attention: the name of my blog is Eat.PRAY.Wod. And the remark was, "Aislinn, it's so weird to me that your blog is called eat.pray.wod and you're, like, the least religious person I know." And she's right. Breaking news: I don't follow a specific religion. I was raised Catholic and I find comfort in the consistency and artifacts of Catholic church and I find good lessons and morals of the story in the Bible, but you will not find me there every Sunday. You won't find me at anyone's bible study or Wednesday night service. In fact, the place you'll mainly find me any time I'm not at work is in the box. I was raised by my awesome parents to believe that every place is as good place as any to worship. Any time is a good time to thank God. And that if you wake up everyday and do good things and try your hardest to always do the right thing, then, in God's eyes, you have succeeded. Of course, you will always fail to live perfectly, because no one is perfect. But if you do your best to do right by yourself and do right by others, ultimately, you'll be just fine. As a kid, my mama used to remind me (and she still reminds me every time we talk--which is everyday) to say my prayers to God and St. Jude (and, since 7th grade, my grandma) for myself and others. Everything else will fall into place just where it needs to be. And I've learned, growing up, that a lot of people don't agree with me. But that's okay. This is the part where it's going to get controversial. Since I found CrossFit and started this journey, when people ask me what my religion is, CrossFit is my answer. But before you get all nuts on me and start imagining that I've got a shrine to Coach Glassman and I pray to the CrossFit gods of Thrusters, let me explain. Before I started this thing, I wasn't taking care of myself. I was way overweight and my health wasn't good. Here I was with this whole body and health, given to me by God and I wasn't taking care of it! And because I wasn't happy with the way I looked, it was taking tolls on other parts of my life, too. I was depressed, I was angry, I was all kinds of things. Things that didn't make my life good. Then I found the box. And never in my life have I been so convinced that I am doing good with the tools God gave me. As I changed my body from something I used to hang clothes on to an instrument of strength and movement, I also started changing psychologically. I started building strength mentally. I started thanking God at random for all the good things-no matter how big or how small. I learned to pick my battles, not sweat the small stuff, and help those who can do nothing for me. When I start a WOD in the morning, I say a prayer in those first 5 seconds of the countdown. And throughout my day, as obstacles come my way (and sometimes they hurl themselves at me) I remember that prayer and I remember everything I physically accomplished. And suddenly, that obstacle doesn't look like such a big deal anymore. Yes, I still make mistakes. I get frustrated. I get aggravated. I get mad. I don't perform the way I feel like I should. But it doesn't stay. And I do my best to find the lesson. And do better everyday. So, no, I'm not religious. Yes, I am spiritual. No, you probably won't find me at church. Yes, I have tremendous amounts of faith. Yes, I believe that if you put good in the world, you will be repaid with good. Have faith in others. Have faith in yourself. Do good things.
