Your Body Is a Tool
Another note from past years can be pretty much summarised as…
Your body is a tool.
You can use it as a tremendous tool.
Or you can slowly turn it on yourself.
Stiff.
Sore.
Unfit.
Foggy.
Flat.
Same tool. Different use.
You’ve Been Given a Toolkit
Body.
Mind.
Emotions.
Energy.
That’s your kit.
You’ve been handed these tools so you can operate on the screws of life.
But here’s the uncomfortable part:
If you don’t learn how to use them properly…
you end up using the screwdriver on yourself instead of the job in front of you.
Your hips tighten instead of supporting you.
Your mind spirals instead of focusing you.
Your energy drops instead of driving you.
It’s not dramatic.
It’s gradual.
And I’ve felt it.
The Ontario Reminder
I’m writing this after a snowboard course in Ontario (with some rad people by the way!)… then I shoot to Quebec and then back to Alberta… The travel is making me realise…
If I let myself decline too much — physically or mentally — the climb back is brutal.
We’ve all been there.
You decide you’re going to “get fit again.”
You feel a spike of motivation.
It’s exciting.
You buy the shoes.
You write the plan.
You’re all in.
Then…
The first few weeks suck.
Because your base level is low.
Everything feels harder than it should.
You’re sore.
You’re tired.
Your brain starts negotiating.
And that negotiation is dangerous.
The Cycle Most People Get Stuck In
Here’s what I think actually happens:
You get motivated.
You start.
You improve slightly.
Life gets busy.
You become inconsistent.
You fall off.
Your base level drops.
You wait for motivation again.
You repeat the hardest phase.
The cruel part?
You end up repeatedly cycling through the most uncomfortable stage — the activation energy stage.
So your brain quietly builds this subconscious belief:
“Being fit means working hard a lot and feeling like crap.”
But that’s not true.
That’s just what the restart phase feels like.
Motivation Is a Visitor
Motivation is great.
But it’s unreliable.
It shows up loud and inspiring…
then disappears without warning.
If you only turn up when motivation is present, you teach your brain something subtle:
“We only do hard things when we feel like it.”
And the brain loves that rule.
It will start looking for exits when things get hard or you aren’t feeling 100%.
But when you turn up without motivation?
You teach your brain something else:
“We’re the type of person who shows up.”
That’s a different identity.
The Shift
The people who are in the best shape — physically, mentally, emotionally — aren’t the most motivated.
They’re the most consistent.
They don’t avoid the days they don’t feel like it.
They go anyway.
Not perfectly.
Not heroically.
Just consistently.
And something interesting happens:
You stop living in the hardest part of progression.
You stop constantly restarting.
Your base level rises.
The work becomes… enjoyable.
Not every session.
But often enough that it reinforces itself.
You start looking forward to it.
And that’s when your body becomes a tool again.
Energy Works the Same Way
This isn’t just about the gym.
It’s mobility.
It’s meditation.
It’s park riding if your little scared and park isn’t your thing.
It’s doing the boring reps at the gym.
It’s having the hard conversation.
Every one of those things has activation energy.
If you always wait until you feel ready —
you’ll spend your life starting over.
Don’t Turn the Tool on Yourself
When you neglect your body long enough:
Movement feels heavy.
Confidence drops.
Resilience shrinks.
And then the mind joins in.
“This is hard.”
“You’re behind.”
“You used to be better.”
Now the tool is working against you.
But that shift was gradual.
Which means it can shift back the same way.
Gradually.
Maintenance Is Easier Than Rebuilding
The hardest phase is not being fit.
The hardest phase is getting started from unfit.
If you can just keep a baseline alive —
even 60% effort on the days you don’t want to show up —
you avoid the wall.
You avoid the overwhelming restart.
You avoid teaching your brain to look for cop-outs.
And over time, that consistency compounds.
Final Thought
Your body is a tool.
Your mind is a tool.
Your emotions are tools.
If you don’t maintain them, they don’t disappear —
they just start working against you.
But if you keep them sharp, even imperfectly…
They make everything else in life easier to operate.
Not because you’re motivated.
But because you stopped starting over.
— Cam
