The Everyday Awesome Project

50. Play The Cards You're Dealt & Win

• Polly Mertens & Samantha Pruitt • Season 1 • Episode 50

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What would you do if you found yourself in the middle of a  140.6 mile Ironman race battling hypothermia, debilitating cramps and 25mph winds? Join us this week as Coach Sam shares her painstaking physical and emotional journey through these very challenges and more, illustrating the power of mental resilience and focused adaptability. Sam's race day mantra of "playing the cards you're dealt" became her guiding principle, pushing her forward through the unexpected and difficult journey of self-discovery to the finish line! 

Throughout this episode, Coach Polly and Sam explore the crucial skill of having 'mental game' when the going gets tough. Dive with us into the emotional landscapes that athletes face during such grueling competitions, and how self-awareness and adaptability become critical tools for overcoming pain and fatigue.
See how these same skills and traits become game changers to success for everyday life and overcoming all adversity. Coach Sam shares insights into the "pain cave," revealing how to draw strength from both your surroundings and your own internal motivation to stay focused towards your goal through life's big challenges.

Enjoy the suspense and unexpected twists as we reflect on Sam achieving her Iron Woman goal and both express the transformative power and fuel of vision, passion and purpose. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of life's messy beauty, emphasizing the importance of embracing change, stepping out of comfort zones, and finding personal fulfillment even when it looks like you have a losing hand. Playing the cards you are dealt is the only way to remain empowered and solution oriented so that a new win can be generated by your own hands. 

-Coaches Sam & Polly xoxo 
@everydayawesomeproject 

Follow Coach Polly @getbusythriving and Coach Sam @thesamanthapruitt

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Samantha Pruitt:

hey, superstars, welcome back polly here and a very tired samantha pruitt. What's?

Polly Mertens:

up beautiful humans. We are coming to you post iron man 2.0. You have completed yet another successful iron man and we want to talk about one of your key takeaways. As I was, you know, there for your race. We're calling this episode Play the Cards. You're Dealt and that's something you said to me a few times at mile like 105, 125, whatever. Tell us, what does that mean to you? Where did that come from in that race? Do you recall the moment?

Samantha Pruitt:

I do. It came super early on, which is sort of unfortunate. I was already like okay, this is what we're doing today, right.

Polly Mertens:

Right 140 mile point six right. That's the total.

Samantha Pruitt:

Swimming, open water swimming, road biking and then running. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah. So the day just didn't go as planned and, as we know, in life never mind ultra endurance sports it's common that things don't go as planned. So that's not the big takeaway, right? I mean, I did learn those lessons. By the way, when I started endurance sports 25 or whatever the hell years ago, I learned those lessons.

Polly Mertens:

You got that first lesson yeah, I got that one a few times. Wheels are going to go off the bus.

Samantha Pruitt:

University's like sending memos.

Polly Mertens:

Hey, remember this, yeah, Special delivery.

Samantha Pruitt:

This is different though. So, yeah, the swim didn't at all go as planned. I had, you know, mild hypothermia. I had some issues in the water. Swim out wasn't that bad, but just the long submersion in the cold water and then I ended up getting cramps. So once you get cramps like full leg and calf and feet cramps in the water, you cannot swim anymore. So I had that happen twice. I basically was stuck out there in the water just in the cold, sitting there freezing my ass off, shivering and waiting for the cramps to pass. Luckily there's kayakers and safety patrol out there, so I worked through that. I did get out of the water 20 minutes later than I had hoped, but nonetheless, and then recovered from that so very quickly once I actually got my brain function back. So mild hyperthermia. You can barely walk, you can't talk, your brain is not functioning because your poor body temperature is shivering.

Polly Mertens:

Yeah, you're just like. All your extremities are just locked up. You know ice, ice boxes and your hands and your feet and just trying to maneuver right.

Samantha Pruitt:

Well, you've totally had this before you. You had this recently in the Morro Bay Tri too Like, yeah, your hands lock up everything, so you basically become non-functional. And you're like I'm supposed to get on my bike now and you're trying to get through the transition area or whatever and you look like a total fool People are cheering you and you're like oh yeah, I feel like a dinosaur right now.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah and all me were like being helped and supported. People were like carrying them or whatever, and I was like, don't touch me, let me just get into the tent. But how I was explaining to you is like before I had this revelation of playing the cards that I was being dealt that day and really moving through it and self-coaching myself in that way, I was already doing it. So I got into the tent, people helped me get my wetsuit off and all that stuff. I couldn't do any of that stuff. But once I got into the tent and sat on the chair, they basically said you know, you're in pretty bad shape and most of the people around me were at that point. We'd been in the water a long time. You should go into the warming tent, which is next door.

Samantha Pruitt:

I knew immediately and instinctively that was a hell no. So into the warming tent means you know you need to get metal medically looked at. It could be. This is not the right decision for you to move forward and you're going to be sitting here while we evaluate you for 20 minutes or whatever as you come back to full function. So that was a hell no for me.

Samantha Pruitt:

But I did immediately assess okay, what can I do? So I need to. This is a micro, micro moment opportunity for me to just be completely present in what is possible for me now. Okay, so, letting go of what had just transpired, I'm out of the water, I'm safe, okay. So now I need to do what I need to get these clothes off, which I couldn't. I literally had people helping me take off my sports bra and my clothes, and then I need to put clothes on and I'm asking luckily there's women volunteers in there my hands don't work. Can you help me get my socks on? Like it's these ridiculous things, and you feel like an infant at that moment but it's what you can do.

Samantha Pruitt:

It's what you have available to you, and so I'm so glad I have that inner strength and knowing of myself that A I still know that I'm safe. I'm not medically at risk here. I personally can assess myself pretty well at this point. I'm in such extreme situations and then asking for help and then just moving myself forward, one sock at a time, one small thing at a time. You know, having that person help me um, made my way out of the tent, got onto the bike and then, as soon as I was on the bike and moving of course I'm still freezing and I'm not feeling fantastic by any means, but but I'm just like oh shit.

Samantha Pruitt:

And I just took a deep breath and I said, ok, I'm about 30 minutes behind my projected schedule, which is not horrible. You know there's a big clock on this day, but this is definitely eating away at many of the opportunities I would have had later to stop at aid stations. Take my time, you know, be more methodical about this or that or whatever. So then I realized, okay, you have got to focus for the next 112 miles, not for an hour, not for a couple hours, but you need to stay completely focused on the task at hand and the cards that you are holding and you need to play those cards. What are they?

Samantha Pruitt:

And I literally just started going through in my brain and thinking through okay, what are the things I can do? What do I have power over now? What are my resources? Okay, well, I can totally dial in my nutrition, be incredibly diligent about getting calories back in now that I'm so depleted, about getting some warm calories in, about covering up every body of my part. You know, I had like my ears covered, in my nose covered, like things I normally wouldn't have necessarily done. I now had to be really detailed about that and that was me just kind of assessing the cards and then, realistically, you have to go faster than you had anticipated. You have to put more caloric and energy output and you have to stay on top of that. It's not going to be a lady of leisure ride through the desert, samantha Pruitt. It's just not going to be that.

Polly Mertens:

And I just want to frame this for people. So your first Ironman or your last Ironman was a little about 14 hours, let's say a little more than 14 hours, just take that in for a moment. People like doing hard exercise for 14 hours, like that's. You know, that's basically kind of the hours that you're awake in a day and you're going the whole time, yeah, moving the whole time, and just you had not slept the night before, because I remember that you know like you got crappy sleep the night before, whatever you know. La la, la. So I just wanted to frame that as we go into this day, you know, and into these, these experiences, how two hours into a 14 hour day, or two plus hours into a 14 hour day, how some people, as you said, around you were losing hope already, right, oh, totally.

Samantha Pruitt:

Many people, of course, didn't make it out of the swim, or once they made it out of the swim, they decided that their day was over. You know which that happens. That's their ride. They can do, you know, play their cards however they want, yeah, except I would beg to say that they didn't review the cards in their hand at that point. Right, like, there is still time, there is still opportunity. You don't know what's going to happen next. You don't know what's going to happen, yeah, right, so stay in the damn game.

Samantha Pruitt:

So, anyway, I got out there, I did the ride. It was way more effort than I anticipated because, surprise, it's a three loop course and you do a big climb at the back and then you turn around and you get all this great downhill. And so I was planning on averaging 17 to 18 miles an hour for the whole ride, which means heading out 15, 16 miles an hour, coming back at 22, 24 miles an hour. Well, as we turn, headwind is coming at us, 20 plus miles per hour, and I'm doing 10 miles an hour, 12 miles an hour on the descent, when I should be going about 20 to 22. So that's slightly ludicrous and of course this is happening to everybody. So people were just so pissed off and it was just crazy.

Polly Mertens:

And of course, you're not like, you're not like, well, like you don. You don't give up number one. You said there's a lot of people just on the bike ride who are like what's happening here.

Samantha Pruitt:

You know lots of bailing, yeah, lots of frustration and bailing. They know they're not going to meet their time goals, right. And then they know that now I'm going to be chasing cutoffs and that doesn't feel good, it isn't. I mean, I really have never really chased cutoffs like that, except for like once or twice ever, and it is a different place to view the world from, but it is what it is. So, during that bike, staying focused, staying really aware and continuously like reviewing my cards, if you will like am I on top of my nutrition? Am I warm enough? Can I go faster? I mean, obviously I need to stay in aero position, which I didn't anticipate. Riding for a hundred miles in aero position, it's incredibly uncomfortable. I don't care who you are and what your private parts look like. It is not a good position for people to be in. I mean, I'm not racing for money.

Polly Mertens:

And aero just means, instead of like sitting up on a bike, you know like in a chair kind of thing, you're tucked over in like a, like a pike, you know you're. You're like over the top of your bike, just hunched over.

Samantha Pruitt:

Trying to get aerodynamic is what you know, yeah, right, right, and your arms are in a different position and you don't have access necessarily to your shifters and your brakes, so you're in a much more vulnerable, intense you know position to be riding. It's not comfortable, but did that for three laps and until the third lap I really was still kind of. I think I'm going to make the bike cutoff. There's cutoffs all the way along each of the courses, so I made the swim cutoff. Am I going to make the bike cutoff? I did make it and I had just over 20 minutes to spare, but I knew I had to work incredibly hard to get all the way back to the finish, start the run to make that additional cutoff. So again, just staying super tuned in to what in the heck is going on with me not in the world, in the places I can't control and trying not to get distracted by distracted by what was going on around me with the other humans, which is hard for me.

Samantha Pruitt:

You know I'm a very compassionate type, so I want to, you know, therapy and counsel all the people out there that are just having, but I couldn't, I like didn't have the bandwidth really, you know. So, focused, focused, focused. What can I do? I can continue to fuel. I can be stretching now, you know, as I'm turning corners and changing position with my legs, at least you know I maybe I can't get our arrow, but like I can stretch my calves that were cramped for 30 minutes in this way, like I can start doing some things that will allow me to hopefully run when I get off this damn bike and the bike is like seven hours eight hours, was it?

Samantha Pruitt:

No? No, my goal was just under seven, but it took me over eight hours. Eight hours, though, again an additional hour to be out there, um, yeah I did, of course, make the cutoff.

Samantha Pruitt:

So then I transitioned to the run. Yeah, and that's a relatively easy transition for me and I generally look forward to running, but I had I had hoped to run the whole thing and I had a certain pace in mind and the run ended up taking me about an additional extra hour, also than I'd anticipated, and primarily that was because I was in pain. So my lower back and my abdominal region were completely inflamed from being in that crappy position, and so by the time I came to stand up and have good form to run forward, to propel my body forward for an entire marathon, you know my entire pelvic structure and hips and low back and everything and my gut um, they weren't really interested in this marathon, they weren't really up for that. So I had to just again assess what are my options here? What do I have you know, do I? What are my options here? What do I have you know? Do I have some pain management resources? What do I need to be doing with my fuel? Can I change my position?

Samantha Pruitt:

So, for example, I had a pack on for the first loop. This is a three loop course and I had to take. I had a waist pack. I had to take it off. I had to eliminate 100% of the clothing pretty much that I was wearing or any of the things, and expose my abdominals. I mean, hey, you know, whatever it's not attractive, but I had to like relieve the pain from things. Even the fabric of my shorts and skin or that pack, that fanny pack thing touching me, was too much, you know, it was too painful.

Samantha Pruitt:

So, making these choices and continuing to kind of review and assess what can I do next, how can I handle this, how can I process it, and sometimes there was nothing I could do, it was just going to be what it was going to be. But I did know I could keep moving forward. So I ran, you know, a good chunk of it, not as much as I would have liked to, but I saw you guys out there cheering for me and of course that totally helped and was wonderful. And that helps a lot, by the way, when you see people and they're supporting you and sharing you, like that is a whole. You know energy source, that is a resource.

Polly Mertens:

Oh, when I hit lap two, or did I have two laps at my Ironman? Yeah, when I came in after my first lap of running and you had pulled some people out of a local restaurant and I was coming in and I was like just fading, fading, fading, and you're like, yeah, oh yeah.

Samantha Pruitt:

And they were all screaming your name and you're like, who are these 12 people? And you had your own personal cheerleading squad and they're all like Polly, polly. It was so fun.

Polly Mertens:

It's true, I just went, okay, I guess I'm going back out, I'm not giving up. You know, I was like, okay, they think I can do this right. And it's true, you know. And so that's why it's so, just as a spectator, not only witnessing you and supporting you, but being able to give love and energy to all these racers.

Polly Mertens:

I mean, you know, dave and I were out there, you know, for hours and hours on the sidelines just you know high-fiving people and this one guy started spanking people's butts and we were just trying to make it light and love and whatever. So having those people around you, right, having your biggest fans around you, can make such a energy. It can like revive your energy. So I get you.

Samantha Pruitt:

And being the athlete which you know I've been the athlete, the fan, the spectator, the racer all the different roles right In this realm. Being the athlete, you tend to put your head down, enter the pain cave and then never come up for air. That's a big mistake Many of us fake. There were very, you know, many moments where I entered the pain cave and I just was hunkered down in it just grinding, basically Um, but by the time I got to the run, there were still those moments happening literally where I had to force myself to run, basically like you are fricking running and the only time you'll be walking is if there's a hill, and there's only two hills on this entire marathon course. So you're not gonna get a lot of that opportunity. But looking up and like forcing myself to bring my chest up and take deep breaths and look around and see what was going on around me at the aid stations and stuff like that, that's an energy, energy source.

Samantha Pruitt:

You know there's fuel there. That's a card that you can play.

Samantha Pruitt:

It is always in your hand, right. So I eventually saw you guys. I was watching the cutoffs and I was like, okay, now it's, it's getting sketchy, this is not looking good. There is a midnight cutoff, which is a 17 hour race clock for this particular event, and I said to you guys highly unlikely, I'm going to make the final cutoff, but I will continue no matter what, and I will finish 140.6 miles of swimming, biking, running, today on my own watch. However that looks, I don't care if they make me take my bib off and I go running a different direction. Whatever, I'm committed to that goal. I'm here with great intention as to my why and I will be getting that done today. So you guys are in for a long night.

Polly Mertens:

I was educated. You're going to be here for a while we were, and that was so I was about, and you might have to become my only aid station. And that was like 10, 15,. You came by us and you're like I'm still, I'm going to do it, I'm going to finish. And you had like another lap, a whole nother six or something miles to go. And seeing the pace that you're doing, you know like up until that point Dave and I were like, oh, she's not going to make it.

Polly Mertens:

You know, she's not going to make it. But kudos for you saying I'm still going to do it, I'm still, I'm not going to like bow out now, Because right there, where you passed us, you could have bowed out and said oh, you know, I'm close to the car, let's just call it a night, I'm going to finish. Finish what I started. You know that's how I saw this, as like, and I, and after I saw you do that and I was like man, I'm going to keep giving energy to those people behind you. And I said, man, you came here, finish what you started, finish what you started, you know. Finish what you came here to start, you know. And just all that, yeah, Just reminding people like why you are in this right.

Samantha Pruitt:

So yes, exactly Like. Why did they do all this training and pay for this and travel here and tow the line and all?

Polly Mertens:

that A year of their life or more?

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, exactly, yeah. So it didn't go as you had hoped. Who the hell cares? I mean, it's just an unpredictable game called life. You just don't know what's going to happen Again. Whatever the cards are that you were dealt that day, play those cards. Yeah, play those cards. Stay in the game. I mean, this is your life, right, this is what you've invested. No external judgment, anyone else's idea about how fast I was going, how slow I was going, what was all? Have give a shit. What does that have to do with anything? That's not even real life.

Polly Mertens:

They're just made up stories, you know I think when people get up to you know amazing things, whether it's a business relationship, you know ultra type things or whatnot it's like it's yours to own, like this is your race to run, this is your challenge that you've put before yourself. Right, you've started a business. You've, you know, started this race and it's like I'm going to keep going. Right, and one of the you know and we'll talk in a minute, we'll like kind of hit on our key points, but it's like finish what you started, like you got into this for a reason. Remember that.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, and it's not just finished what you started, because that can be a thing right, like that's important You've made a commitment to yourself and you should finish the things that you start, but, like so much, shit's going to go terribly wrong in your life. I mean, come on, we're having a human experience here. It doesn't matter what it is. It's going to be messy, it's going to be chaotic, if things are going to happen that you never predicted.

Polly Mertens:

Very little goes according to plan. Right Right, right, right, right. What is it? They say? The space shuttle is off track 99.9% of the time. It's just constantly taking. You know, when they shoot off a missile to go to the moon.

Samantha Pruitt:

Okay, that's hilarious.

Polly Mertens:

Oh, I don't know if you knew. Yeah, it's off course constantly and they're just making little micro adjustments to keep it on track. So it's like constantly shifting, shifting, shifting as it makes its way to, you know, landing on the moon, if you will. It's off track a lot.

Samantha Pruitt:

That's a really great analogy of exactly what we're talking about, right, and we have had businesses, supported businesses, you know, had relationships. We've done a lot of different things. All the people listening have done a myriad of things and are doing a ton of different things right now. You know, the idea that going a certain way, as we originally set out for it to be, is laughable at best. For sure, for sure. So we'll just end that story and move on to what we're really here to talk about today.

Polly Mertens:

But wait, you have to tell them the finale or I have to tell them from a spectator's point of view. There was an ending. What do you think happened? So I will say so for Dave and I as the spectators, and I would love to hear your where it, how it was feeling for you in the last few miles and hour, or whatnot. So, dave and I, you know we've been out all day. I think total, we put like 40,000 steps on that day. It's like OK, like okay, she's got. We won't see her until the end when she comes in. It's about two hours is what we were picturing with your. You know your current pace. Okay, let's go in the car and warm up, cause it's like 1030 at night and we're freezing, you know. I mean, you know you're running around with like shorts and half dressed and we're you know totally.

Polly Mertens:

And so we go into the car. I was like, okay, we'll just get warm for a little bit, and I felt totally shameful for that. I mean, you're out running your little heart off and we're like in the car getting warm, but it's like we're taking care of ourselves, you know.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, you, as you should be for the next couple of hours. You can carry me at whatever point I stopped moving.

Polly Mertens:

So, come an hour later, 1130 rolls around. We're checking where you are because you got this little tracker and we can see where you are and your pace had picked up. And we're like what is going on right now? Wait a minute. And we started calculating. We're like, wait a minute, she might actually make it like make it in the 12-hour cutoff. We're like no freaking way, so we sat there. We're like, well, freaking way, so we sat there. We're like, well, well, I mean, we're definitely going to be there at the end. But it's like suddenly it's like, oh, we might need to be there earlier. You know, instead of 10 minutes or 15 minutes after the cutoff, you might make it on time. We jump out of the car. We're like, holy cow, this is you know. And we're like excited you know all these emotions at one time like holy cow, what's gonna happen? How's this gonna go? You know you're. You're like, how's this gonna end up?

Polly Mertens:

just like walking to the finish line going. I have no idea if she's gonna do this it could be two minutes under, two minutes over. My mind is blown away anyway. Just that you're doing 140.6 miles. Whatever you, you getting to the finish line of that race is just like amazing.

Polly Mertens:

We're standing there on the sidelines watching your tracker. I'm like, oh my God, she's like coming up on it. Oh my God, I think I think she's going to do it. She's going to do it and you get. And then we, you know and this tracker wasn't exactly accurate all the time Like at one point it had you finishing the swim like an hour earlier than you did. We're like where's she at? Why isn't she coming? You know, so it had been off. And we're like, is she there? You know, is she where we think she is? And all of a sudden I see you like come up and it's like like 11 or no. I think you had like eight minutes and you're within a quarter mile or you know a tenth of a mile. I'm like, oh my God, she's doing this and we just were like bananas, like she's. You've done it, you've done it and you crossed before. Well, I gave the story away, but you crossed in time. It was absolutely spectacular.

Samantha Pruitt:

I had just over seven minutes to spare on the clock. I could have gone slower. That's like a mile a minute you took off.

Polly Mertens:

I mean no, you took off like two miles a minute, two minutes per mile from what you had been doing. It was just like at the end you can do that, Just absolutely superhuman, superhuman, so great.

Samantha Pruitt:

It was an interesting journey out there in the abyss, because when you're that far at the back there's not a lot of people. Luckily, the aid stations stayed open and that was miraculous Not that I really needed aid at that point, but it just meant there was humans on the course. So you just feel like there's some signs of life every mile and a half.

Polly Mertens:

You know people are at least just running in the dark or whatever.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, yeah, and there's a little bit of a music or whatever they've got going on. Um, I mean, I just wanted to not leave anything on the table. I didn't actually know whether I was going to make it or not. I hoped I could and I was willing to see if I could and charge forward as fast as I possibly could, you know, and do what I could do, like dig as deep as I could dig and leave nothing on the table. But there was absolutely no guarantees. You know, until I got within like a quarter mile and I was like, well, there was another gal and she was walking and I was running.

Samantha Pruitt:

At that point I ran up on her. You know, who knows how slow I was running, but nonetheless I was running and she's walking. And I said do you want to run? Because you're in front of me and I would love for you to finish in front of me, so I don't share the finish shoot with you, but, but you need to run. And she said I just can't and I won't. And I was like, okay, I'm going, I'm going. So I got into that shoot and, yeah, it was. It was amazing. They had like fireworks and fireworks. It was so cool, yeah, and all these people were like you're an iron man. I said iron woman, iron woman. I was in high-fiving all these random people telling them iron woman, iron woman, and yeah, I finished.

Samantha Pruitt:

I mean, I felt immediately horrible the minute I crossed that finish line because I pushed so hard I thought I'm gonna poop myself or puke, so I need to immediately go to a bathroom and make that happen. Um, you know, that's the glamor nature of the sport, or whatever. Yeah, yeah, but I got it done and it was incredibly powerful. Yeah, to meet my goal. And what I said is I was coming in and you took a video of this, which is classic. I think I posted it on social media. But I said I closed deals. That's what I told you. I effing close deals. I made a deal with myself and a deal with this race course and I freaking close the deal.

Samantha Pruitt:

That's it. It's just personal commitment to self. No one else is affected by whether that happens for me or not. Okay, you guys were there and bearing witness and you were part of that. But you know what I'm saying. Like, if I did or did not make it, you would still love me. I would still be the same person. Like there's no harm or foul or judgment around that you know.

Polly Mertens:

It's you and you dude you and you.

Polly Mertens:

And so let's. So what that reminds me of is one of the key takeaways that I got and I wanted to share is like extreme ownership. You know, I know there's a famous book about that. Now you know self-leadership, extreme ownership, whatever you want to refer to it it's like you took ownership for the outcome, the race that you were going to have. Every single moment, you're like what can I do? What is within my realm? I can't put my socks on, but you guys can, okay, put my socks on, but you guys can, okay, put my socks on for me. Like asking for help or, you know, watching your nutrition, or staying in aero, even though it was uncomfortable, whatever you needed. It is never just like I'm bouncing out people, you know. You're like I'm doing the most and the best that I can do. I'm having ownership of my result, my outcome, my experience, my mindset, as best you can right. You know, sometimes the body's doing what it's going to do and you're just like, hey, body work with me, you know.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, I mean the amount of focus. I think that's what I'm most proud of, not just playing the hand. I was dealt that day as shitty as it was playing it anyway and staying in the game. I knew I was going to stay in the game. I was shocked at myself, the amount of focus I could deliver for 17 hours physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, all of it. I could deliver the damn goods and stay focused and stay fully in it, like moment by moment. And that a little bit blew me away about myself and my own. Like biggest takeaway for my personal growth is that like damn, what if you were to channel that over here or on this thing or on that project or with this other mission in your life?

Samantha Pruitt:

And it really for me was like game changer Wow.

Polly Mertens:

It's cool Because I think, as you've gone through other hurdles, that you've passed in your life, extreme things that you've done adventures, experiences or whatnot it's like a capacity Like when you started to say that I talked about our capacity. Like a capacity like when you started to say that I talked about our capacity, I was like your capacity for focus, your ability to dig and find a new level within yourself of focus, was tried that day. It was like, oh, if this race had gone quote as planned, it would be Samantha 1.0. You know it would be. You know it would be like pre whatever, this race was there to give you and one of the things we talked about is you know, I texted you on the race. You probably didn't see what it was like. This is where you find out who you are right. This is, these are the moments, this is where we we talked in your pre-race interview was like why do you do these things? It's like to find out more of who I am.

Samantha Pruitt:

And this was a day in the life into so many ever-changing circumstances, right? So if we're trying to achieve anything with our lives, with our livelihoods, with relationship, with business, with personal performance, whatever it is, you really have no idea what's about to go down. So, first of all, just accept the reality that you don't have any control. Get a grip. All of you control freaks and, by the way, I'm one of those people that's always been, you know be prepared and then expect anything. Expect anything and then expect anything from yourself.

Samantha Pruitt:

So the toolbox is something you have created and you carry around with you. It's your toolbox. I didn't expect and I don't expect someone to walk up to me in my moments with their toolbox and be like let me fix all the things for you that are going terribly wrong in your business, samantha, or in your relationships, or in your finances, or in your whatever the hell. Fill in the blank. No one else is coming along with the toolbox. The toolbox is yours to build and only then can you fully access those tools that you have built and crafted and skilled and, like that, you have mastered.

Polly Mertens:

It's unique to each of us and I think you know what's beautiful about how you go about life, and I just want to shine a spotlight on this. I heard Alex Ramosi, a YouTuber guy, say you know, like a philosophy he has is the things that we are up to in life, the challenges that we face, whether it's death of a loved one, a relationship that ends, a career that doesn't start, whatever it is right. That's growth moments Like if you want to, like. He said something like do you think that the universe contrived this scenario called life? And if you want us humans, spiritual beings or whatever to evolve and to become more patient, focused, clear, self-empowered, whatever you would just Compassionate.

Polly Mertens:

Compassionate and all these things that we could become more of or get more in touch with ourselves. Would we make it easier? You know, more comfortable it's like no, to learn patience. You get put in situations that teach you patience To learn. Focus you, my dear. Put yourself in situations, maybe not knowing that was what Iron man, you know Iron Woman 2.0 was going to do, but you don't know. But you know.

Polly Mertens:

Situations like this, like life's moments, life's experiences, teach us more about what's inside of us and what we have capacity for, what we are good at, what we can do, not what we can't do. And it's like the beauty of these races that you do. You know we talked about like why would you do a hundred miles? Why would you do something for 17 hours? These are just like insane extremes for some people. Right, for you it's more like normal. Now you know it's you don't love doing, you don't want to do it every day. You're not the Iron Cowboy. 100 of these back to back, like that's pretty right. He learned some challenging things on that. But you're like I'm not. I'm not going to just go through life blipping along at ordinary, right. I'm choosing extraordinary, I'm choosing awesomeness, right. And so you find those moments, you find those things that light you up to push yourself further, farther. And in those moments that you do, you get the gifts. You walk away with the gems, not just the metal, but the gems about who you are.

Samantha Pruitt:

To me it's continuous self investment. So I want to explore my full potential, physically, emotionally, spiritually, like in all aspects of Sam Pruitt, developing who she is as a human being, in this one precious body, in this one precious life. Like I want to have the full experience. I'm not here to get halfway through the ride and then, you know, become a retired person sitting on the beach with my feet up in a lawn chair just staring out at the sunrise. Okay, people, if that's what you choose to do, it's great. But there's so much to experience and I'll never fully be able to experience it all. But I want to at least give it a shot because I think I am totally worth it. And the amount that I learn about myself and the world, not just self-love and acceptance, personal belonging to my full expression of self, but to humanity the more I give that to myself, the more I can express that out in humanity and feel that for others.

Samantha Pruitt:

I mean it's incredible, it's incredible.

Polly Mertens:

And you know, I just want to give people permission to not need to sign up for a race or something that that. That is your, your mode of um uh, pushing yourself to find new areas of yourself, but there's already probably areas of your life that maybe you're on your heels, not on your toes about, right. You're waiting for somebody else to make a decision about or life to get easier. For, instead of you getting on your toes and going, I'm going to get into some action about this. I'm going to take a step, make a change, make a decision, say yes to that person, say no to that thing, whatever you need to do so that we learn and continually evolve, instead of like, ah, you know who I was at 20. I'm cool with that. I'll be that until I'm dead. I don't think any of us signed up for that and if you're listening to this, I know you did so.

Samantha Pruitt:

I'm working with some business owners right now and I'm also working with another group that's creating an event. So both of these instances, when you were explaining that, were immediately popped up in my brain field the people that have a vision for a particular community event that will absolutely raise money and change lives. You know there's a little bit of this. You know what do you guys think and what do you want to do, and all that. So there's a collaborative approach, which I totally love.

Samantha Pruitt:

But really they have in mind these two individuals, an experience that they want to create, to change their community, and for them to come into that and create art through a human experience, through an event, is an experiential art. I mean, whether people get a grip on that or not, that's what it is art. I mean, whether people get a grip on that or not, that's what it is Like to me. It's so fun to be part of that and listen to them and help pull out of them what their vision and mission is. But it's so funny because I did say to them well, you know, you kind of think it's going to look like this, but I'll tell you what, by the time we get over here, it's going to be completely different, open to the evolution of this piece of art that you're creating, and just know, just know, because there's a lot of fear of will it be successful. Can we do it with? Who the hell cares?

Samantha Pruitt:

First of all, of course of course, all the things will happen, you know, and it'll be deemed a success based on how you feel about it, not metrics. And you know, views and money and whatever things are like that's not what's going to make that a success. Same for this small business owner over here who has taken a big leap of faith and purchased a business and is growing a business very rapidly and immediately wants to expand and has an incredible passion and vision for this business, these business opportunities that lie ahead. However, he thinks these things are going to be and this path might be, and you know we talk strategy and all that. That's not at all what's going to happen.

Samantha Pruitt:

So the most important thing I can impart and be part of is helping those individuals like bring their full toolbox to the project with all of the tools, their entire lifetime of experience not just what they've learned in the last five years running a business or whatever a lifetime of talent and skills and different value systems come with them to that project and they're all resources just waiting there to be utilized. And, by the way, you're going to use most of them and it's so cool to have that kind of open idea and I wish more people would give themselves this permission to just say yes, stay in the game, move forward, hold agency over your life and just start playing the cards. Just start playing the cards.

Polly Mertens:

It reminds me of that beautiful. I think it was Martin Luther King who said it. You know, you don't have to see the whole staircase to take the first step. And it's like just know, there's a staircase to the sky right of your dreams, this vision you have for a business or whatever. And it's like, oh, I think the stairs are going to go in a little circle up to the left, right, and as you take the first step, oh, it doesn't. You know, even the first step teaches you something about the staircase right. Or you know, even the first step teaches you something about the staircase right. Or you know what might happen and whatnot. So it's what you're saying is take that first step, okay, take that next step, okay, take, and then be prepared for the direction that the staircase goes to evolve.

Polly Mertens:

The rocket ship leaving the earth, it's like I'm, you know it has an arc to it, whatnot, but it's constantly off. You know it's just like correct, correct, correct. And one of the things I love about you and what you know, you and I believe in coaching people, is, if you have the toolbox and the resourcefulness as you, let's say, we're out on a backpacking trip it's like, well, I got these pieces of equipment, whatever it's like the backpacker is probably the most important thing in that trip. Being successful or not is are they resourceful? Do they believe in themselves? Can they get themselves out of trouble? Can they troubleshoot?

Samantha Pruitt:

when you know whatever and exactly. Take self-assessment. Did the adventure fail because the backpack broke or they didn't have the wrong equipment? Absolutely not. Give me a freaking break. It was the backpacker in that instance who didn't strategize and wasn't nimble enough to adapt and couldn't problem solve and whatever, whatever All the other skills that were required to get the length of the PCT done or whatever their goal was. So let go of expectations that were not reasonable.

Samantha Pruitt:

Oh well, I was going to do it this fast and it was going to look like this, and it's no longer Instagrammable. Now it's a disaster train wreck and I'm embarrassed to tell anybody. So that's when it's just getting good.

Polly Mertens:

It's interesting when it's not as you expect it right, because if it goes as planned, hey, it's like kind of boring. You're like, well, check that off the list. You know it's more Like well, check that off the list, you know it's more enriching in so many ways. You know, if you view it that way, if we have the paradigm of curiosity and discovery, and I wonder how this is going to go when we look through that lens- it's okay how it goes right.

Polly Mertens:

You know, like one of my favorite teachers says, you know, if you start in your home and you go out on this thing called vacation let's say you're going to go to like three different locations, or you're going to take a road trip across the US and then back at your home, that's called vacation. You go. Well, my starting is home and I'm going to end at home. Well, well, why go?

Polly Mertens:

No you head out on that vacation or that road trip or that journey, that experience, so that you can go and bump along and see what's along that path, not just to get home, because you're already home, but for the path, the journey.

Samantha Pruitt:

So you know what drives people to do all of these things. Take these journeys, if you will, whether it's any of the examples we've shown. Shouldn't be the curiosity to see what's outside, but instead to see what is inside? Well said, well said. I mean the biggest journey we're on is the internal journey of knowing thyself, and so as many things I can do, as many miles or experiences, or as much time as I can put in or energy and effort into knowing my inner self better, my true self, oh hell yeah, that's freaking priceless. Oh priceless, that's so good.

Polly Mertens:

So what's our, what's our wrap up takeaway? Do we do. We have a one thing that you feel is strong. What are you?

Samantha Pruitt:

Stay in the game. Yeah, yeah, that's my big thing.

Polly Mertens:

Because there's gold for you, there's gold in the experience, there's gold in doing it taking the first step, taking the next step. So many good things. So know your strengths, you know pull out your toolbox, stay in the game, stay present in the moment, like you had some things that you were able to do, some things you weren't able to do, your body could do, your body couldn't function, but you're like I can take this next step, I can get some help in this warming tent, I can stay focused, I can manage my nutrition, own your decisions, extreme ownership, leadership just you know doing a lot of this. You know, while we definitely believe in collaboration and support and community and stuff, what we're talking about here is you doing the best you in your daily life and in your moments of extremeness that you can, and finding out more of who you are along the way.

Samantha Pruitt:

Exactly, exactly, and looking at all the cards, playing all the cards, I think a lot of times people won't really look at them because they might think that some of those cards that are in their hand maybe they're not worthy of or capable of or whatever mental block they have around. What's it going to take? Yeah, what's it going to take to do? Yeah.

Polly Mertens:

Yeah, for sure, for sure. But play it, step into it. Fear is going to show up. Ugliness, mistakes, lackluster, you know, surprises, majesty, magic, serendipity is also available too. Exactly, exactly, all right, exactly, exactly all right. My dear beautiful congratulations on your win, on your success, on completing another one. Can't wait to watch you in oregon. You've got another one on the books already, so yeah, and really it's just adventures.

Samantha Pruitt:

This is who we are in the world, you and I, and we wouldn't have it any other way so what do you want to remind our beautiful humans today as we? Oh, that messy, messy life. How it looks is not as important as how it feels.

Polly Mertens:

Every day is your opportunity to find your awesome.

People on this episode

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Polly Mertens

Co-host
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Samantha Pruitt

Co-host