It’s not a great handstand, but it’s important and let me tell you why. A year ago, I never would have done one. Handstands scared the piss out of me. I was okay with front squats, overhead squats, snatches, working for CFHQ, running my own affiliate, and just about anything you could throw at me in life but kicking up into a handstand? Negative, Ghostrider. I had deployed to a combat zone in my life but I couldn’t throw myself upside down. I would have rather covered myself in honey and rolled on a red ant hill.

So what changed? My attitude. I decided I could run scared the rest of my life or I could stop being a f***ing p**** and sign up for a CrossFit gymnastics certification and go.

So I went to Tucker’s cert and I spent two days being horribly uncomfortable and, for one of the rare times in my life, being the worst at everything out of everyone in the room. For a kid who loved school and found it easy, being in that kind of classroom really sucked. There was no ego gratification, no self-love, no puffing up my chest and braying about being king of the jungle. I was wounded prey in the gymnastics world.

But they didn’t eat me. And I never did run from the gym. I survived. And I learned.

So why am I telling you this? Because there’s something you’re scared of too. Something you’ve been dreading. Something you don’t want to do. An act you must perform or words you need to say to someone and you’re not sure how they’re going to react. So, go and do it. The fear is much worse than the actual experience. Throw the fear to the howling wind in your brain and step over the edge. You’ll fall for a while but then you’ll catch yourself. Springsteen said it best: “You wake up in the night with a fear so real. You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don’t come. Well don’t waste your time waiting.”

The perfect moment for anything will never come. So take these small moments and make them as perfect as you can. Act now. Don’t waste your time waiting. Kick up into that f****** handstand and own it.

(By Lisbeth Darsh/www.crossfitwatertown.com.)