Fail Strong!!!

OK, I'm loving this catch-phrase: "Fail Strong"! Today, I found that it applies to SO MANY different settings! But first, I've got to give credit to a local celebrity (in my mind, she's a celebrity, anyway) who I first heard this from. Ms. Wendy Arnold (aka "Garanimal"), a Crossfit Certified & NSCA Certified Personal Trainer at my local St. Pete Crossfit / Dammit Gym (and also a Professional Firefighter, former Figure Competitor, all around incredible and intelligent woman... - quality single guys out there: she's a catch!)

...anyway, sorry to digress. Wendy was "motivating me" through a workout last Friday (OK - she was yelling, but I loved it!) and I knew (and she knew) I was not going to get the last few squat reps in before the timer went off. She yelled out "Come on! Fail strong!". And since then, I can't get that phrase out of my head. What a great way to think when you just can't muster "I can do it". It is perfect for the way my brain works with some training sessions, and I've found it's absolutely perfect in other settings - as I learned last night helping with dinner in a friend's kitchen. We didn't have everything we thought we needed to make a few of the things we were conjuring up, and all of a sudden "Fail Strong!" popped into my head! It made me more resourceful. Instead of "we don't have butter", I thought "what can we use instead of butter". Instead of "I'm still hungry and we don't have dessert", I thought "What can we make for dessert from what I have", which was a bunch of dairy based, creamy things like cottage cheese, yogurt and ricotta...and with a little innovation - a dollop on honey, some chocolate and vanilla extract, a bit of almond butter...and whipped cream - not bad! ...satisfied the sweet tooth and didn't break the scale this morning. It all might have failed, but if it did, I was surely going to fail trying my best - with my best effort!

And then just a bit ago, my refrigerator is virtually empty! I fed my poor husband a smoothie for breakfast made with the last of the milk, the last of the chocolate protein powder, 1/2 of the last serving of pre-made oatmeal I had from the week, and a banana I stole from a continuing education seminar yesterday! Now, we're empty. But I have a lot on my plate today and want to be able to make a nice dinner without haphazardly going to the grocery and spending money on things just for tonight that I'll have left over and that may not fit into the rest of the weekend's or week's "plan" - once it's conjured up. So, what to do, what to do???...

Well, let's Fail Strong again. Surely there's not "nothing" (double negative, I know, but effective!) in the fridge/freezer. After searching, I found 1/2 bag of frozen scallops, about one and a half servings of "salad" in my spinner and a little fresh asparagus and cauliflower. My pantry is almost always stocked well - meaning vinegars, lemon/lime juice, olives, capers, etc. And I do have wine...I always have wine...what can I do here? Fail strong! Get resourceful, figure it out and if it sucks, I've tried really hard and the pizza place across the street is programmed in my phone! So, we're going to try for scallops-piccata tonight with a small salad and skillet stir-fried asparagus and cauliflower with a sweet ginger sauce. Not bad for an empty fridge. I think that Fail Strong phrase resonating in my head motivated me to search beyond what I knew was an empty fridge!

So, emboss Wendy's phrase in your head: FAIL STRONG! If you're unsure and can't muster the will to know you're going to conquer the task at hand, know that you're going down trying your hardest!!!