The Axe

Random Acts of Kindness

I have been going out of my way to do something nice for others for the past 5 days. The idea is to keep the trend going for the duration of the rest of the year.

I was walking out of the shop the other day and saw an axe that was sitting next to a toolbox. It had clearly been left out in the elements by previous employees and neglected for God knows how long. I looked at it and uttered the words “what a shame” and went about my day. The next few days I saw it there in the same position and same condition; I decided to see if I could clean it up and restore it back to working condition.

When I returned from our outdoor cardio session this evening, I started working on it and within 30 minutes I had the tool looking respectable again. In an additional 30 minutes, I had a new edge on it and was beginning the last pass with the wire wheel.

Sometimes it takes a bit of time and attention to care for something that will serve us long term. Since I relate everything to physical fitness and our bodies, I was thinking of how removing the signs of neglect from our physical body, cleaning ourselves up and staying sharp will serve us for years to come. With just a bit of maintenance, our body will serve us for as long as we live, very similar to this axe.

If I take it a step further and compare it to our mind, I think it may have a larger impact. When we neglect the mind, we have the same result. The rust manifests in forms of depression and self- loathing, lack of confidence, motivation and so on. It is important that we take the time to care for the tools that we have. If we don’t care for them, they simply rot and decay and ultimately become useless. Luckily even if things have gone on way too long, a bit of daily consistent work can move things in the right direction and get things back into working order.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

-Abe Lincoln-

Take the time to sharpen the axe my friends.