It’s been a few years now since I first met Rudy Reyes. For months I had heard stories about him from a mutual friend who was one of his workout buddies and also attended the reputedly grueling bootcamp workouts Rudy lead down at the beach on Saturday mornings. Every week I’d hear about how someone had pushed it so hard they got sick and threw up, or sometimes my friend would show up at my house hobbling from an injury.
Now you may not get my saying this, but nevertheless, at that point in my life I have to say that I just didn’t get it. The throwing up, the injuries… this was being healthy?
Yet, there was my friend smiling wide and talking about how the workout classes Rudy was teaching at the boxing club were quickly filling up with more and more people. So even though I’d never even met him, I nevertheless kept thinking to myself, “whatever… just another machismo rompin’ stompin’ meathead.” Yes, I know, very judgmental and unfair on many fronts, but…
After awhile of hearing all this my curiosity was picqued, so I said yes to go with my friend and meet up with Rudy for a drink. We arrived at the bar first and were sitting there when out of the corner of my eye I caught a golden bronzed Adonis breezing in, and I thought, “Well, I guess I ‘get’ that part now.” Because even with his shirt on, which I’ve since come to calculate at about a 50/50 chance of on/off, Rudy is a strikingly beautiful man… I mean who has muscles chiseled like a Greek god statue?? Seriously!
But as we sat and talked, and as I have since come to know him, there’s more to Rudy than the phenom superhero good looks. Just like there is to every one of us. Including you, including me… even if we don’t look like a superhero, or feel it, or perhaps even act like it at times.
And that has been a lot of the food for thought in my life the past while as the universe gifted an opportunity to write a book about “Hero Living”… a potentially idealistic and lofty topic. Because although Rudy’s not perfect… just like every one of us is not… simply by being himself in pushing past limits he freely inspires others with his “give it all you’ve got” mantras and as a living breathing embodiment of those iconic images that naturally tap into our subconscious “knowing” of what we archetypally understand as hero.
And we love that. Because there are times we simply need those cues of inspiration.
But here’s the thing that can be easy to forget, or even negate if tempted to compare ourselves to something that’s an idyllic bigger than life superhero image… that someone’s looks has little to do with being a hero. And that’s good news for those of us that don’t look like a mythical god of rock.
So remember, when you look in the mirror, if any self-deprecating thoughts start to chatter, shut down that stream of negativity knowing that BEing a hero is not the same as LOOKing like one. Then smile, because whether you realize it or not, you were just BEing a hero to yourself in that simple act of not discounting yourself. Cool! Now that’s a great hero moment from which to step onto your hero’s path for the rest of the day “knowing” there’s a hero inside us all.
Is there someone who’s reminded you of the hero inside today? If so, give them a shout out here, or better yet tell them “thanks”. -Angela