Time Under Tension Builds Strength

Time under tension builds strength.

This truth goes beyond the weight room. This truth applies to every aspect of life. If you’re looking to grow mentally or emotionally you have to put yourself in a situation to do just that. Sometimes life has a funny way of putting us through situations where we’re lacking strength to get through. Yet this is often the place we can look back and see that our strength grew. Fortunately too, when we’re building strength in one area of life, it leads to greater strength in another area and therefore you become stronger on all sides, from all angles. 

If you want to build strength physically, you have to put in the work. You have to lift heavier than you thought possible. You have to put in the extra reps or extra steps. You have to exert yourself beyond what is comfortable. This challenges your both your body and your mind. The desire to grow physically is a commitment to growing mentally.

If you want to build mental strength, the ability to better execute your day to day agenda, you have to put in the extra work. Yes your job may challenge you and allow for you opportunities to develop but do you take advantage of this and allow it to flow beyond your work day? Use the advantages your job offers and all additional pockets outside of those hours to grow in mental strength. Knowledge is power, get yourself around people who can encourage you and teach you, listen to speakers in your field, and read. Read until you fall asleep. Read until you can write your own book. Putting yourself through these types of tension will allow you to see you can accomplish your dreams because likely there is already someone out there doing what it is you want to do. Not only will you be encouraged, you will build the knowledge, support and strength to accomplish it. 

If you want to grow emotionally, begin by reflecting on those experiences you’ve gone through that pushed you in that way. Look back on what helped you navigate that hard time, realize you’ve made it to the other side, and identify what you learned about yourself and about life by going through that situation. The majority of emotional growth is built under tension, is built when we see ourselves overcoming the hard times and knowing that there are more hard times to come. Life is full of the unpredictable but we can be build emotional strength when we pursue growth. 

Lastly, if you want to grow Spiritually, you need to apply the same work ethic as needed to grow in any other area of life. You need to spend time reading, listening and seeking wisdom and knowledge about our Creator. You need to step into hard moments with trust, no matter what you see or believe and allow God to show up and move in your life. You need to spend time in prayer and in worship and giving and the other spiritual disciplines He sets for us. The work needed to gain Spiritual strength, is the cost of a relationship. How desperate are you for building a new relationship anyways? This relationship, with God, is like no other. The benefits are never-ending, the battles are always fought for you, and the miracles are real. 

Time under tension builds strength. Don’t stay in a place of weakness. Embrace the suck because it’s not going away, BUT it can get so much easier to overcome. Run your race, start that business, overcome that fear, and trust the Creator has you in His hands. 

See you on the other side, 

Savanna