Barbell: (n) a bar that is used with adjustable weights in the sport of weightlifting.

Book: (n) a written or printed work consisting of multiple pages that have been bound together with covers to relay information to its readers.

What do they have in common? Nothing, you say? Everything, I say. While reading a book, you’re either on the prowl for information or reading a story. And that is exactly what weightlifting is: a story. From the moment the athlete’s hands grasp the bar, their story is alive. You can read an athlete by the way they lift. Whether they’re ferocious or timid, the way in which they carry themselves carries over into the bar.

What you think, you do.

My name is Katie and lifting and books are two of my favorite things. I’m often asked how my interests arose. Well, I’ve known for a while that I wanted to go to school to work in either archives or special collections ever since I helped create a library exhibition for my senior project as an undergraduate at, what is now, Stockton University.

Ever since I was younger, I knew I wanted to do something with reading and writing because I thoroughly enjoyed both of those things and growing up, my parents taught me to do what I love and to do it well. I carry that into all aspects of my life. Can you tell?

Shortly after graduating, I learned that there’s no sense in doing any of the things that you don’t like. Because why waste your life being miserable? I’ve learned that life is all about priorities and my priority is being happy. And I must say, since being laid off and starting grad school, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, probably in my entire life. I plan to stay this way.

The other thing that I love so much is weightlifting. I know. Crazy. I’m 5’0, I’m roughing 105 lbs, and I love weightlifting. I’ve been an athlete my entire life: from gymnastics, to dance, to softball, to cross country, to field hockey, to track, and lacrosse. You name it, I did it, besides basketball and soccer, because having huge balls flying at your head doesn’t seem fun to me, and did I mention I’m 5’0? I’ve already had the competitive drive before I started CrossFit almost four years ago. Time flies. And what is a huge part of CrossFit? You guessed it: weightlifting. So, I learned the lifts years ago, not well I might add, as I was horrified of dropping under the bar in the snatch and weights over my head just seemed impossible.

When snatches were programmed, I’d skip class. That’s how much I despised the Olympic lifts. But then Rob does this thing called coaching and, he does it really well. I backed off the weights, swallowed both my pride and my ego, and relearned the lifts from the beginning. Was it easy? Fail after fail after fail. No. I used to be a crier in the gym. Yeah I was that girl. There’s nothing worse than a crier. And then I learned how to MTFU (man the fuck up) and learned how to appreciate my mistakes and fail forward. This was a super difficult process, but I must say I loved every second of it. I still do. I mean that’s why we’re here right now.

The things I learn in the gym on a regular basis like learning from failure and welcoming challenges can be carried over into my everyday life. I tarnished my 4.0 this past semester, earning a B+, but I learned how to balance all the important things in my life. GOOD, I’ll get all A’s next semester. There were errors in my online exhibition for Princeton, GOOD. They won’t be there next time. Failure says a lot about a person and the way in which they handle it says more. Learning how to fail forward has made me both a happier and better person. And like I said before, I’m all about being happy.

This is only one of many blog posts, but I thought I’d start here, with two of my favorite things teaching me about life and how to be a better person. In the future, I plan to write more specific blogs about current issues involving library/CrossFit/weightlifting related topics, but for now, I just wanted to share why I loved these things enough to start a blog. Let’s be real, if you can name it, there’s a blog about it.

More to come next week! Have a nice weekend, friends!