If you’re an 80s kid like me, all you have to hear are the words “wax on,” and your mind will finish the next two.
It’s “wax off” for all you non-80’s people. It’s part of the infamous training regimen that sweet little Mr. Miyagi put skinny and bullied Daniel though in The Karate Kid.
He had Daniel wash his car, and then told him to wax on with his right hand before using his left hand to wax off. Of course, Daniel didn’t get it until later in the movie when he found his muscle memory kicking in to block the punches thrown by his opponent.
Repetition is so important, but not just repetition of the work. If we want to get stronger, faster, or healthier, then we’ve got to learn how to repeat rhythms.
Instead of wax on, wax off, we need to practice being on, and then being off. Work and rest, run and recovery, focus and relaxation.
When we repeat things, our muscles learn what it feels like to do them, and find it easier to do them consistently. I’ve found this to be true this year with my running. When I look back at my running logs, I can see that I’ve more than doubled the duration of my weekly long runs, not because I run every single day, but because I have recovery days built into the week.
We just weren’t created to always be on, which makes it all the more important that we give ourselves fully to what matters most: family, relationships, faith, spiritual and emotional health.
It also means that we need to learn how to be fully at rest when it’s time to rest. It’s the rubber band principle. If it’s always stretched, then it loses its flexibility, but if it’s never stretched, it gets dry and will crack when it’s pulled to bundle something.
If it’s time to be stretched, allow yourself to be pulled beyond your comfort level. But if it’s time to rest, give yourself the freedom to do nothing.
After all, you aren’t really doing nothing; you’re recovering so you’ll be ready when the next something comes along.
