A Catholic Sister, Madonna Buder, was getting fat.

True story, so stay with me on this one.

A mean rumor started going around her convent that she was pregnant, even though she was in her late 40’s and unable to bare children. Hearing of this rumor, Madonna Buder became angry and when she brought it up with another nun, the nun responded that she was only angry at herself, not at anyone else. And, until she remedied her problem, the rumors would continue and the anger would only accumulate in her heart. So, taking this advice to “heart”, Madonna Buder determined to walk everyday to lose this weight. After walking just two blocks the very first day, she was huffing and puffing and had to turn around. The next day she was determined to make it farther, so even though after two blocks she felt she couldn’t go any further, she pushed herself another block before she turned around and headed home.

From that day forward, she continued to push herself the extra distance. She became very good at walking, which gave her another idea. What if she started running? She would lose weight even faster. So, she did. And, each day, she ran a little farther. What if she entered a 10K race? She did and finished. What if she trained for a marathon? She trained for a year and entered into a marathon, finishing with a decent time.

What’s next? she thought. She didn’t know, so she started asking around and when she heard about a triathalon, she entered. And, the year after that, she entered again, beating her previous time.

Okay, so now what?

“IronMan!”

Yes, and she went year after year and by age 69, she was on her way to over 25 IronMans. Then, by age 70, and in a Hawaii IronMan, something happened.

As she was riding in the 100+ mile bike ride, a head wind started pushing against her. At first, it was slight, however, as she continued to peddle, the slight wind turned into a twenty mile per hour wind, then thirty miles per hour, and then thirty five. She lost balance and fell, breaking her collar bone and skinning up her face.

Immediately, the ambulance came and took her to the hospital. Hearing of this, IronMan didn’t want any liability for any future accidents from the “elderly” and banned anyone over 65 years old from participating in any events thereafter.

This devastated Madonna Buder. In fact, it pissed her off. She wanted to continually participate in that race in order to beat her old times, and when the next year came, she didn’t care about any silly ban. She was going back to IronMan to beat her previous IronMan times and no one was going to stop her. To help her case, she brought the media along with her and at age 71 and in front of the media, she was told no.

Wrong answer, IronMan.

Realizing these were public roads and a public beach and there weren’t any laws against anyone who wanted to ride a bike or run on a public road or swim in the ocean, Modanna Buder bypassed signing into IronMan, foregoing an IronMan tag number and simply swam, biked, and ran the IronMan race with the contestants anyway, finishing with a personal best.

IronMan, seeing her success, dropped the ban.

She is now in her 80’s and has participated in over 300 triathlons and 45 IronMans.

Why do I bring up this story? Because life isn’t about getting out of a box house, getting into a box car, driving to a work box, eating a box lunch, driving home in your box, back to your box house, then sitting in front of your box TV. No. Not at all. It’s about constantly improving yourself to make yourself better, which in turn makes everyone around you better. So, do what Madonna Buder did, and get out of that box — the box in your mind — and finally do what you love, no matter how hard it is. And, the harder, the better, because that’s how you grow, that’s how your soul develops, and that’s how you inspire others. It’s not about what makes you comfortable. It’s about what makes you uncomfortable, facing it, and mastering it.

Much Love,

Brandon Ellis

www.brandon-ellis.com

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