The Everyday Awesome Project

69: Mindy Body Level Up

• Polly Mertens & Samantha Pruitt • Season 1 • Episode 69

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What happens when you deliberately choose something physically challenging and slightly terrifying? Samantha Pruitt reveals the extraordinary gifts waiting on the other side of difficult physical challenges.

From barely managing ten minutes on a treadmill at age 30 to becoming an ultramarathon runner tackling 100+ mile races, Samantha's journey transcends typical fitness narratives. The medals and finish lines only tell half the story. The true transformation happens in what she calls "the pain cave" - those moments when you're forced to show up for yourself despite every part of you screaming to quit.

Through progressively more demanding endurance events, Samantha discovered something profound: physical challenges aren't just about building bodily strength. They're portals to discovering who you truly are. When she completed her first 100-mile race - something she never believed possible when starting - she experienced a transcendent moment where her consciousness seemed to float above her suffering body, observing with wonder as she continued moving forward.

This podcast explores the unexpected side benefits of saying "yes" to scary physical challenges: unshakeable self-trust, profound self-knowledge, and a spiritual dimension that emerges when pushing beyond perceived limitations. As Samantha explains, "The world is our great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong" - but the strength gained extends far beyond muscles.

Whether you're contemplating your first 5K or wondering if something more audacious might be possible, this conversation invites you to find your own "Everest" - that challenging, slightly terrifying physical goal that will help you discover what you're truly capable of. Because as Samantha and Polly remind us: life is too short not to make it epic.

What physical challenge is calling to you? What might you discover about yourself by saying yes?

Follow Coach Polly @getbusythriving and Coach Sam @thesamanthapruitt

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Polly Mertens:

hey, superstars, welcome back polly here and sam pruitt.

Samantha Pruitt:

What's up, beautiful humans welcome back.

Polly Mertens:

Welcome back, I'm so glad you're here again. Last week was a solo, so it's so good to be doing this together again. Thank you, yeah. And today's, today's I know I was like I'm just gonna knock something out. You're out adventuring. I'm like, okay, I got something to say about this. Let's create our day. But today, my friends, yeah, leveling up your mind and body what is that what? Are we talking about? What do we talk? What do you?

Samantha Pruitt:

mean what that means for me, your version, and I'll ask you this question when it's your time.

Polly Mertens:

Oh, that's right, Because your answer might be a little different yeah.

Samantha Pruitt:

Exactly this one's about me. We're going to do yours next. But what that means for me is actually consciously choosing, which I have done. You do, lots of people do, and we want to encourage pretty much every human that we run into to do this over the course of their lifetime. Many times it's not a one-time deal, but choosing to do something very challenging, slightly terrifying that's my favorite part, yeah and just out of the box, not something that you'd normally do. I specifically love to impart on people to do a physical challenge, so some audacious physical challenge that you've never done before, as a way to commit to growing yourself, to evolving yourself. And I don't just mean a physical challenge that was hard, so I can get you know, ripped and get in shape or whatever, and then that's the end of that. It's about doing a physical challenge so you can build yourself emotionally, mentally, and really level up who you are as a person. A better version of yourself will be the outcome.

Polly Mertens:

You know, just as you were saying, that what I got present to was I don't, so I know where we're going in this conversation. I'm really excited because there's some things that you're going to share. I'm like, oh, I can't wait to hear all these stories that you're going to share and the takeaways and stuff. It's like when I was doing them, or you, the takeaways and stuff. It's like when I was doing them, or you I don't think I was.

Polly Mertens:

I wasn't doing them necessarily, for all the things I got, like this, like what do you call it? The, the side benefits, the symptoms, the, whatever you want to call. It's like I had no idea that, all of that, like this whole other world of who I am and got to know myself and stuff, and I wonder, was that present for you, like? Or it's looking back upon it? It's like, holy crap, look at you know, so we'll get to that in your takeaways, but I just want to say that in the beginning. So what? What I guess we're saying is like pointing the finger at like, oh, something scary to do physically. Um, while that seems on the front end, the thing is a race, a challenge, something, something that new sport, new adventure, whatever.

Polly Mertens:

Yeah, scary hard, whatever. Yeah, that's what you think it is, but it's like rap, it's wrapping a little surprise inside of it, sometimes many Right. So OK, we'll get to that.

Samantha Pruitt:

Oh, so many. It's like one of those boxes. You remember people used to do this at the holidays or birthdays or whatever. They'd get this teeny little present and then they put it in a box, and then another box, and another box, and each one would be wrapped, so you'd have to eight or ten boxes later, You're like my wedding ring or my necklace or my you know chocolate bonbon or whatever the hell was in the ultimate prize?

Polly Mertens:

Yeah, totally chocolate, bonbon or whatever the hell was in the ultimate prize. You know, yeah, totally yeah. It was kind of like you unwrap and each one is like, oh, I didn't know I was going to get that, and then I got that. And oh my god, I got that too. So all right, well, here we go. All right, so what was so? I think that the things that you have done in your life, some of them would be called a calling right, or I've heard you describe that before. So tell us us what like the calling is. Or was it a calling? Or was it like an impulse? Or was it somebody, you know, knocked you upside the head and said, dude, you're, you're, you're lame, like like, come on, get off it. And it wasn't a wake up call. Was it a calling? What would you call it?

Samantha Pruitt:

Well, I mean my fitness and health journey when I started doing bigger things. First of all, I wasn't a healthy fitness person up until almost 30. So I got the opposite. I was a couch potato. But health crisis, of course, is what, and mental and physical health crisis is what kind of catapulted me into understanding holistic health, my physical body, the correlation between my brain, my emotions, my thoughts and the results that were happening within my body and how my body felt. So, navigating that not gracefully whatsoever. I eventually found my way towards exercise and fitness and stuff like that. So I don't think that was my initial calling to do big, hairy, audacious physical challenges by any means. I literally could barely walk into the gym, you know, and do it 10 minutes on the treadmill?

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, it was not pretty, but it doesn't matter. I showed up, that was the thing. So that's part of the path. But most of us dare to say all of us have some physical capabilities. It might be different, it looks different for everybody, but we're in a physical body during this lifetime experience that we're all having together. So through that physical body, there are a lot of different opportunities. Anyway, I found health and fitness. I started to get into it a little bit and take care of my body and get healthier and, through that trajectory, started to expose myself to new people, new places and understanding that world. It was basically like I was transported into a different world at that point. Huh, what was going on here?

Samantha Pruitt:

And you know especially when I looked outside of the gym environment, because my initial foray was into gym activities and classes and then some strength training and then, you know, it was spin, and then it was aerobics or whatever the hell. It was all that old school stuff, right, and women weren't really lifting weights. So I was doing a little bit of machines and stuff, but not much. But once I looked outside of that space and I did that actually through one of my own clients who had a curiosity about triathlon and I'd never done triathlon. I really didn't even know what the hell it was, but we dared each other to do our first sprint triathlon. So in signing up for that, and my joy, I didn't have a bike and I didn't know how to swim and I had barely learned to run. So it was. I was, I don't know, a year into running. Maybe Sound like a good idea.

Polly Mertens:

Let's do this, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt:

So again, like sounds crazy, um and scary and all the things that are exciting. Yeah, I didn't think it was going to go great and I was going to be some stellar triathlete. All of a sudden I just wanted to try something new. So the first calling, the first whisper, if you will was try something new outside of your normal everyday routine that you currently have developed. Learn new skills, learn how to swim, borrow a bike and learn how to ride a road bike. Right, like, figure some shit out.

Samantha Pruitt:

And the curiosity in me and also the person that is part of my DNA that wants to know more about myself and learn more about myself, just said yes and then we'd figure out the rest later. So that was kind of part of the journey. And then I progressed over many, many years into what would be the next thing I could learn, what could be the next challenge, and at first it was just going longer, going farther, right, maybe trying to do it a little bit faster, maybe trying to do a little bit better, whatever basic progress in the physical way you know, but very early on I learned that that's not at all what was waiting at the finish line of these races.

Samantha Pruitt:

What was waiting at the finish line was definitely a better version of myself, and that wasn't because I had become healthier or more fit. It was a knowing. I began to know thyself right, and that was through the miles, through the, the time, through the commitment to myself, through the dedication, through the many, many moments of this fucking sucks. But I'm doing it anyway and I know you know exactly what I'm talking about. That's where the magic is. Yeah, that's where the magic is.

Polly Mertens:

What I'm pulling out of that is you showing up for you. It's like those moments when you show up for you, you're like check me out, you know. Or like you, you know, like I can remember, like you know, like old swims, you know, or exhausted runs, or your legs are so tired and you just don't want to bike anymore, you know. Or you with all those days in the freaking heat, I mean just you know, like the why am I doing this? And you, just you do it anyway and you just show yourself to yourself.

Samantha Pruitt:

You show yourself what you're made of, but in the process you're developing a better version of yourself. So it's not so much like what am I made of, it's what's possible for me, what is a potential here, how can I continue to explore this internal space called my own mind and use my physical body to do that, to do that? So to me that was the hook, like continuing on the process, and it's now been 25 years of doing these kinds of activities and a variety of different, you know, experiences that we can talk about, but staying in it, whereas a lot of people will do a couple of these things and then they'll pack it in and, quote unquote, go home. What the hell does that mean?

Polly Mertens:

So you didn't feel it so much like you know I think we had. We had a similar, you know, routine of getting into the gym and getting more fit and getting more healthy. Let's say, um, would you say that that first race, that first triathlon that you described did like a light bulb. Go on at that first one, or what was it like 10 into it and you're like, oh, I think I'm onto something here, or did you?

Samantha Pruitt:

notice the very first one. First of all, it was a disaster, but it was hilarious, it was funny, it was fun, we were lighthearted about it. Nice, you know, she had her struggles, I had my struggles, so she was a swimmer. Both of us didn't know shit about biking, both of us were barely learning to run, so it was, and we didn't stay together the whole time, but we saw each other enough and in transition and whatever, and just to be there in celebration with each other, witnessing each other's accomplishment. You know it was huge. One of the big takeaways also was wow, there's a community of people doing this. Who are all these nut jobs? I love them?

Polly Mertens:

Yeah, because they're out doing it. They're out doing the thing. And then you guys all get together on race day and you go oh look, there's a lot of me's Right Like, oh, here we all are.

Samantha Pruitt:

Well, the interesting thing about triathlon specifically is there wasn't a ton of women. I mean, there was some, but we were definitely not. We were the minority. Um, so my next level there was to go, become a triathlon coach and build a triathlon club myself, and I first started with the women's only team, and it was specifically to encourage and train women who had never been on a team and never done a triathlon, and so I used my own personal experience and then gained the knowledge, obviously, and got certified and all the things that were required, and then I built that women's community that I wanted and I needed for myself also. So so many things were birthed out of that. Let's try this, let's try this thing called a triathlon, and then boom, boom, boom.

Polly Mertens:

so many things were birthed out of that. Let's try this, let's try this thing called a triathlon. And then boom, boom, boom. Look where it goes and you never know. It's not like everyone not everyone who does their first triathlon goes. I'm going to become a coach and create a community and stuff like that. But yeah, never know.

Samantha Pruitt:

Right. So that's you know what a lot of people say, because I hear these things, because I hear I talk to a lot of people and I've talked to a lot of people about, especially about, things like this. Um, they think they're on their own. Yeah, like I currently have this REI project and I've got a bunch of people in there now hiking and running again, and I've got a couple people interested in triathlon and one guy's training for triathlon and they're like these lone warrior soldiers out there doing the thing and I'm like, okay, that's cool, I love that and I have done many, many years of that kind of thing too, if that's what you need right now. But there's also like a ton of community around this, if you want that, you know. Or I could meet you at the pool or whatever. Like you know, figure it out. So there's just there's so many, like we said, unpacking of these gifts, opening up the boxes as you continue on the journey.

Polly Mertens:

So I would say whether I just want to click on something here to remind anybody that's listening, it's like I don't really have a calling for it. You know, it could be something that interests you. It could be scary. I love scary, like you know, and I love scary for other people because I, like, I think about me and my RV. You know little me. You see me in my big RV, like 32 feet, never driven an RV before going across the Western U S and my RV I've never even like hooked one up or whatever you know. So people are like are you what? You're going by yourself? You're about, what are you? You know all this stuff.

Samantha Pruitt:

A curiosity. It could start with a curiosity. I just had a woman yesterday this is a complete side note. I met like five amazing humans just yesterday in a couple hour period. I love it. This was the REI.

Samantha Pruitt:

But people come in there, they're having adventures and they want to talk about their adventure, and of course, I'm there to help them facilitate the success of that adventure. And so I want to learn the story. But one woman, over 60, single female, was going to Everest base camp. Wow, what? Because she wants to, is she terrified, terrified? And I was like I think I need to go there. That wasn't on my list before, but I'm like, okay, tell me all about it. Why'd you pick it, whatever? And so these stories happen over and over and over. People all over are doing really cool, epic shit, and I do not believe that nobody has a calling. I'm not buying that story. I think that the energy within you, especially when it gets around like-minded people or there's a vibe that starts to be created in different environments, you know, if you listen to it and follow it, it will fire you up.

Polly Mertens:

So if there's a little fire igniting, pay attention, ask questions and ask yourself like, oh, what if I, just what if I, you know, did a little bit, what you know? And I would say the one of my favorite words is like it's something that like tickles you or excites you. You know it's like, well, that's you're just like I mean you have definitely a go like you're like, okay, I'm a hell yes for that Right. And then you have like, try that I'd be interested in that you dance, this could be in music, whatever. You know the leveling up of you, your inner soul, right Like you and I have a lot in the physical body right, or physical movement, let's call it right, but maybe this is through sound or art or something like that, so something that excites you, it's growing and expanding of you, your soul you it's it's growing and expanding of you.

Polly Mertens:

Your soul and the physical body is attached to us.

Samantha Pruitt:

Last time I checked. I mean, I'm just bearing witness to a lot of people that seem to think they're two separate things the body is just either coming along for the ride and they're totally trapped in their freaking head and they don't even know that the rest of this isn't working.

Samantha Pruitt:

They've totally stopped listening a long time ago. Or the reverse. People are super obsessed and also trapped in their body and they're not giving a lot of time to their thoughts and their emotions and their mental process. So you do see some detachment there, right? So really, when we think about doing something very physical, it requires 100% of your spirit, your mind, energy to come along, your emotions to come along and allow the process to happen. You know you can't. They're not separate.

Polly Mertens:

I love it, I love it. So you talked a little bit about a little bit about you know, the arc of you know, from couch potato to you know we didn't talk too much about the ultra running that you do. Now you talked a little bit about triathlon, but break it down Like what was the drink Cause a lot of times people look at like oh, samantha, she's, she's running these hundreds and two hundreds of miles in multi-days and like how do you? That's crazy. Whoever can do that, right, she can do that. I can't do that. But there were stages. Can you see the stages for yourself? Or this evolution? Tell us so that people go, oh well, you got into this and then you grew up to that. What was that like?

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, so I explained the you know, kind of getting to 30, physical, mental health crisis, finding health, wellness, holistic health. Started to literally study it, you know, like really just to heal myself, not to become you know some guru in the health world or a doctor or something like that. And then found triathlon, like I explained, and started with a sprint triathlon in a pool.

Polly Mertens:

Sprint being the shortest distance.

Samantha Pruitt:

I think that's like the shortest distance. I'm not going to swim. You're not throwing me in the freaking ocean or some lake or something. What the hell? That's how you die. You know, I don't know what the hell's going on. And the pool? I can just stand up.

Polly Mertens:

Oh, there you go, I'm alive, I'm not drowning.

Samantha Pruitt:

So that was my, my gateway into endurance. Okay, and then moving progressively through that, you know, becoming a coach and then getting certified and starting a club and then being in community, I started to experiment with longer distances. So then it's Olympic distance. So next thing you know, I am swimming in the ocean Holy hell, that was fucking scary, by the way and I am doing a longer distance. You know, double the distance. And then next thing you know, I'm doing a 70.3 half Ironman and I did that as a 40th birthday celebration with a bunch of friends. And then it was like, well, obviously next I need to do a full Ironman, double the distance. Right and obvious for me I get. For many people that's not a goal.

Polly Mertens:

Like a hell. No, yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure sure.

Samantha Pruitt:

So I worked my way through triathlon is kind of the moral of that story and experienced many different things. I did so many races, traveled all over with this club and these friends and built just an amazing life around it. It was fantastic, but there were some things about it weren't really that satisfying. So it's a very competitive sport tends to be, um, and people are pretty oriented around their gear and certain experiences and that's just not part of my personality. I just never really got totally into all of that. And so, through that community and doing more running, training for Ironman, you know, trying to get myself up to marathon distance Next thing you know I'm did some marathons and all that jazz I found a group of people that were trail runners and ultra runners, which I didn't even know what the hell ultra running was at all.

Polly Mertens:

Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt:

But I liked the idea of trail because I had an IT band issue and it was really becoming a problem for me running on the road. So then I went to the dirt as just a way to be able to get in miles slower, do some. But when I met these people and went on some runs with them again community out in the freaking mountains in the backcountry of Arroyo Grande, behind Lopez Lake, you know, you're familiar with it Because I would go there for triathlon training but I would never run on the trails All of a sudden I was like wait, we're going up that mountain, what the holy hell, what the. But it was. And in particular one person that mentored me, who was total old school ultra runner. You know, he's quite a bit older than me and all these things Just brought a whole fresh new way for me to feel about running and about moving my body and about building endurance. And he said to me if you can do an Ironman triathlon, you can run a 50 miler.

Samantha Pruitt:

And I was like get the no, well, I mean you're doing 140 and 50 miles I know, but that's swimming, hiking, yeah, yeah and yes, that's gonna take me all day, basically time wise right now, but at this point I'd only run up to a marathon. So to go from a 26 to a 50, again doubling the distance, I mean, here's the deal. I will help you make this happen, I'll help you train. You know we'll do it together, I'll support you any questions and things that you need, and then I'll go with you. Wow, so we'll go do this thing together. And I was like, okay, what's the worst thing that can happen? I could get lost, but I won't, cause he'll be there and make sure I don't get lost, cause you can get lost in these races.

Samantha Pruitt:

Believe me I have I could die, but that's kind of on me. But at least you know there'll be he'll, he would be around and get me some help or something, or I couldn't finish Like it just falls apart. Yeah, you don't finish, which is a big deal, but I know for many people that's heartbreaking. Shouldn't be heartbreaking. We fail at shit all day, every day, and if you've owned your own business listen, failure you're used to all that. Yeah. So then I progressed into ultra and I did do American Ripper. 50 was my first 50 miler ultra and I did do American Ripper. 50 was my first 50 miler, and it is first you run a marathon on a bike path, so it's paved, and then you transfer to the dirt and you do the second marathon in the dirt through the mountains of Northern California. Wow, wow, it was epic. Oh craziness, wow.

Polly Mertens:

But I loved it.

Samantha Pruitt:

I freaking loved it. It was hard as hell, but to accomplish that blew my mind. It's like when I crossed any finish line, but definitely as I progressed in distances, you know, going from sprinting Olympic to a 70.3 and crossing that first 70.3 finish line. What in the hell?

Polly Mertens:

Who am I right now? What?

Samantha Pruitt:

You start to really blow your own mind. And then the progression to full Ironman and crossing the finish line of a full Ironman you literally you're just having out of body experiences because you just have just blown your own mind. Basically is what's happening in these instances? You've gone and pushed past your own personal you know, not just physical limits your mental and emotional walls and limits, all of the things that society and your family and your schooling and your ideas of the you in the world and who you are gone A little monkey mind.

Polly Mertens:

You can't do that. Who do you think you are? Whatever all that. So so you, you know we started talking in the beginning, like all the things that you unpack. So what are the lessons, the outcomes, not just like the race completions, but like these things that you've learned about yourself. What are some other, like long-term takeaways, or what is racing and all of this taught you about yourself, or what are the givebacks that this, this journey that you've been on, has given you?

Samantha Pruitt:

you know it's been interesting. Every race is definitely different, um, and every training and training cycle, yeah, and season has been different. A my body ages. So there was a point that I got started. Everything was new. So there was a lot of progress, a lot of results, a lot of like whoa, whoa, whoa, I am getting faster, I'm getting fitter, I'm getting learning how to swim, I'm, you're right.

Samantha Pruitt:

So there's like that kind of feedback, understanding what your physical body can do, yeah, um, but then there gets to a point that that's not really a thing anymore. So, like when I jumped from 50 milers to a hundred K and then a hundred K to a hundred miler my first hundred miler um, the lessons from those things are completely different. But if you kind of encapsulate, and then, of course, going on to multi-day, it's kind of hilarious. In hindsight it slightly sounds ludicrous and we don't want to scare anybody, but listen, I'm a freaking 55-year-old lady, okay, turning 56. And over the last 25 years I have continued to be curious about myself, yeah, and so the biggest rewards I have reaped is learning more and more and more about myself.

Samantha Pruitt:

So the I pick long distance personally, and I do pick things that tend to be in the outdoor space, right, and I also am very attracted to things that you have to do yourself, rather than like a team sport or something like that, or even triathlon, where there's a lot of people together in the space supporting your efforts and, yes, in ultra you can have pacer and crew, but for hours, if not half the day or whatever, you're completely alone in the wilderness trying to figure out where the hell am I and how do I get through this grand landscape on my own two legs.

Samantha Pruitt:

So, learning these skills of self, you know, taking care of myself and listening to my body and really having awareness around my needs, and then working through crazy shit. I mean incredibly painful situations, getting sick, getting you know, I've definitely had heat stroke, so I didn't stroke out, but I had heat exhaustion on the borderline of heat stroke. Medical tent, like I've had these pretty bizarre things and I still love it because I'm still learning about myself and people will say, well, you're taking unnecessary risks, says who.

Polly Mertens:

Well, I said so what, I look at my journey and I didn't do as many, you know. I mean you've got a. You guys, if you're not seeing this, you're listening to it only so Samantha has probably 40 medals on the side and I can see them in the background of you know. So you have umpteen races that you've done. You've been up mountains and out in wilderness areas and all this stuff and mine was a little bit more like in in conference rooms and you know, like my journey of developing myself and getting to know myself.

Polly Mertens:

But I find when I reflect, even just watching your Ironman journey and your journey to Trans Rockies and stuff, is you have such a spiritual experience and a it's like, you know, when you go, they call it the pain cave. Right, like these long distances create this pain cave and you go in there and what is it? What is it? Courtney says, you know, I dig a hole in the pain cave, you know, and she, like, goes into the back of it and it's like, and there you find yourself, right, like you said, there's these gems of discovery the self-reliance, the, you know, being able to smile in the face of adversity, the laughter, the connection, you know, the appreciation you have, like you're just finding more and more true sense of you, like who you are. Is who the layers that you peel back when you go on these adventures?

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, and I find I need to be alone to do that. I mean, I have had support at races, like I've said before, but I generally choose to do these kinds of things by myself as much as possible or at least on a regular basis. Because that experience of like having to run by myself all much as possible or at least on a regular basis, because that experience of like having to run by myself all night through the mountains or having to run by myself across death Valley or whatever, like these extreme places and being out there by myself of course I have safety backup, but like that alone time allows me to really listen to myself, to really get to know the very. You know, every crack and crevice within this internal being that I happen to be transporting around in, you know, and sometimes I learn amazing things and sometimes I learn not so amazing things.

Samantha Pruitt:

But there is a a, not a dismantling. It's like a peeling back of an onion. It's very graceful. It's kind of a slow process and as the layers are swept away, peeled away, sweat away, literally, I become a better version of myself, more true to myself, more connected with myself. I have a deep level of respect for myself, who I am, as a human being, a deep sense of compassion for myself also. Like it's interesting when you're the one suffering and you're like helping yourself through the suffering. You know, like it's just wild. It's wild, I love it.

Polly Mertens:

I love it and I see the self-re. You know I get the self-discovery like discovering who you are. It's also knowing that you can count on you, like like I got my own back, I got, I got this. Like I know I can do. You know, and you know there's no amount of like I can do hard things. You know that we like a deep dive into spiritual discovery or whatever. And then the training has its moments too, like it has other things that especially the you know like you discipline structure organization saying no.

Polly Mertens:

I remember when you had to like fire your coach, you're like no, got to take care of me, this is what I need, right, or we're going out and getting resourceful. You know, like, like you said, didn't know how to swim, didn't, didn't have a bike, right? I had a similar thing when I started my Ironman training. It was like I didn't have a bike that was going to do 55 miles.

Samantha Pruitt:

I was like I don't know what to do and like I tried to swim two laps, I was like I need some help. I need some serious help. Oh, and this, what's your thing gonna kill me. You know just like all of that right, so you know what's the most valuable thing.

Polly Mertens:

What's that learning?

Samantha Pruitt:

to trust yourself. Oh yeah, oh priceless, yes, priceless. Trusting yourself to survive or do something extreme, or tolerate the discomfort in order to reap the rewards, the amount of discipline required and commitment required. It's all trust, and it's trust in you, with you yeah, that's whole.

Polly Mertens:

And I think, and where I see these like dots connect for me is like the decision to do it Is backed up by the decision to do it every day, like you keep making that decision right where some people you know it's like I decide, and then where I find, like you said, that self-trust is I decided and I said I'm doing it and I do it, and then every day you decide to keep that word to yourself, right, Like exactly I'm doing that I'm doing that.

Polly Mertens:

Yeah, I'm getting on that bike. I don't feel like it, man. It's freaking cold, it's rainy, whatever windy something, and you're like I chose this, I decided I was going to do it. Sometimes, the bigger the why can help those decisions too. It's like why am I doing this again, like being clear on that, so that you know you have that compass right, like that inner true North of like this is what what you think you want to get out of it. Well, you really need that in the beginning.

Samantha Pruitt:

I also believe in being a beginner many, many, many times about many, many things. So, like, right now I'm beginning again with CrossFit, right, so I go in these cycles of training around races and different things, so um, but right now I'm recommitted to CrossFit, which I love also, and I suck at it. Okay. So to be clear in the beginning, y'all gonna suck Like just get over yourselves, you not knowing, can I swim two fucking laps? And, excuse me, I'm going to swim 1.2 miles in the open water.

Samantha Pruitt:

I got a long way to go for not knowing how to ride a road bike or being on a new piece of equipment, or just like all of the variables. Yeah, you know, I didn't know how to properly hydrate fuel, what to wear, how to take care of myself in the freaking wilderness for hours. You know there's wild animals out there. People ask me that, about that, all the time. I just had a couple the other day. They're scared to death to go out onto the trails because of the wildlife. I'm like, okay, hold up, let's look at this, let's talk this through for a minute. So it is scary and you're probably going to suck at it in the beginning Me relearning CrossFit for now, the 10th time or whatever the hell it is.

Samantha Pruitt:

I've been through this cycle before. That's good. I know the growing pains of it, right, but it still doesn't make it any easier or more enjoyable. The workout itself, but all of the other benefits and my commitment is to progress my strength and my fitness as I age, and this is one of the tools I am using. So there is going to be a process as I relearn the skills and recommit to showing the hell up, no matter how crazy that damn workout looks for the day, and just getting the shit done, however slow, however fast, whatever the numbers are not being attached to that Be attached to the commitment to the process, to the growth.

Polly Mertens:

The decision you made to yourself. Yeah, that's the promise you have with yourself. Yeah, that's the promise you have with yourself Totally.

Samantha Pruitt:

Exactly, totally. If I just had to be good at everything out of the gate. That's what a lot of people this all or nothing mindset oh, I tried it and I wasn't good at it. So what Freaking? What? No, no, of course you're not. People can't say that about life. I tried life, I wasn't good at it. Yeah Well, keep going. Welcome to the party, it's. Whatever you think is happening is going to change tomorrow. Anyway, you know what I mean Totally, totally.

Polly Mertens:

So good, so good. So what you know one of the things I've heard you say is you know about this decision, right? Is? It's not a antsy pansy. You can just kind of like tiptoe and it's like, well, maybe I'll try this thing called the triathlon. Like there's no half-assing it, dude. No, there's no half-assing it, yeah, and find something that you don't half-ass it Like you have to go all in right.

Samantha Pruitt:

Exactly. That's why I say a big physical challenge, because for a lot of us and I start at zero. Okay, so I couldn't run a mile and then it was a 5k and I swear to god I thought I was going to die in my first 5k. And then to go from 5k to 10k horrendous, brutal. So like I get that, for some people that sounds like a big challenge. But then, once you kind of figure it out, what's next? So for the listener, you know they've probably done some things in their lifetime. What's next? What could be a level up of what they've already done? So I have a couple people that I work with. I have a lot of people that I'm working with, but most of them are looking to level up in some aspect of their life, just like the people that you're connected to, right, so if they've done certain things now they want to know if they can do something bigger or better or whatever. That's a leveling up process the commitment to the growth in order to become a better version of themselves.

Polly Mertens:

And I don't think we inherently want to stay the same. You know, like, like people think they want comfort. I think you know, I think the mind tricks us into like this is the known like this, this, this, this space, that I know this thing, that I've always done this person, I've always been with this thing, that I've always done this person, I've always been with this job, that I've always had. Whatever these knowns create comfort, create certainty. The mind loves certainty, right.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah. It's like the I don't know what it's going to be like out there you know, that's a survival instinct, though, but we can overcome that, because none of us are, you know, saber-tooth. Tooth tiger is not coming on the cave door knocking Totally.

Polly Mertens:

It's always the mind just makes I swear like. When I heard those things that people were afraid of going RVing, I was like like I just wanted to laugh. I'm like, are you kidding me? Like people drive across the country in an RV all the time Like on the daily. There's women out there all over the place on the road you know or? Whatever you know running triathlons or all this stuff.

Polly Mertens:

It's just like okay, well, if I listened to every thought I had, I'd be pretty fucking bored, you know, like my life would look pretty small, pretty boring, like wouldn't, wouldn't do any of this stuff. No, mix it up. Mix it up, get out there.

Samantha Pruitt:

So and go all in and the changing, the commitment to do something, is forcing change. So change is going to happen, whether you like it or not. Yeah, okay, choosing change. To be clear, you're not avoiding change, right? Yeah, but I like to think of you know. Am I choosing to build up my body, my brain, my life? Am I choosing to build it up or am I just letting it break down? Am I defaulting into being not a victim but a receiver of whatever happens next? I'm just going to take it and no, I'm going to choose to be empowered and control, as much as I can, by my own thoughts and actions, the course of this body, this brain, this life's journey.

Polly Mertens:

I think the other thing that I hear not only like oh scary, this is the discipline that freaks people out the most, right? Yeah, you know what I'm saying, like oh, yeah, you have to do that over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, right or yeah, yeah, you have to do that early, early, early, early, early, you know, yeah, you have to, or you have to do that long, long, long, long, long, whatever like, just let's unpack that for a hot second, because I

Samantha Pruitt:

told you somebody said that to me. They're like, oh, you're like a uh, a soldier, you know, in the army, because I got, because I'm currently getting up every day and going to the gym. That's not a soldier in the army, but anyway. But. But in their eyes it seemed like an extreme commitment that I was making to my this physical discipline of getting up and drinking my coffee and going to CrossFit, like just that little thing right there, right, like so there's nothing extreme about that, right, but for many people that feels extreme. So just unpacking. Why that commitment to the continuous habit building, habit formation, habit building and then actually delivering on the habit? Why is it so damn important? Why is it such a big part of the process?

Polly Mertens:

well, you know, like I think it goes back to your why, like you have such compelling whys. You know, like it. You know I look at health and fitness as the foundation of my values. Foundation of my values is health and vitality. So if there's no bigger why than my number one core value, it's like it's going to cause me to do, if I move that core value to 10 health and fitness oh, it's now number 10 in my life I'm going to make some very different choices. It's going to be very hard for me to do the things that look easy to me now, right.

Polly Mertens:

But when I put health and fitness, vitality as my number one core value, choose it, choose it, choose it, choose it if it's your number one, right. So sometimes it's people just needing to look at their values and what their priorities are, right, because those disciplines become a hell. Yes, if number one thing I say to myself is health and vitality is my number one core value, yeah then discipline, I'm going to do those things right. And so you know, I think the person that you're talking about I would say I would guesstimate their number one core value is something along the lines of success or money or career or something like that. Right, and so when you put somebody else's number one core value against your core value, yeah there it looks different like. Their actions look different like why would you ever do that? Well, why would you ever do that? How about?

Samantha Pruitt:

you. You know, what's interesting, too is just the um, well, the whole like law of attraction concept around ideas like this. Talking about subject matter like this, I have lots of people in my space that I meet random and also by choice or whatever who are going through much harder things than I'm going through. I currently have my physical health, my body works, et cetera, but I have, you know, in my CrossFit there's a gal who's in cancer treatment, currently in chemo. So she works out, does CrossFit and then goes to chemo. Excuse me, okay, blow my brain. I have a friend of mine right now who is in a 300 mile race right now as I as we speak, who is a kidney transplant patient, survivor and recovered drug addict. Okay, I'm sorry, listen, what the fuck, right Like these people are all around me, you, et cetera.

Samantha Pruitt:

I have a friend that contacted she's a friend of yours as well. She's blind, she's a cyclist, she was running and now she's cycling and she wants to do races, so she wants to compete as a blind cyclist. You can only do that on a tandem and there's some very specific things that need to happen. I'm all about what the who are these people? I'm like, how can I support you, you inspire me.

Samantha Pruitt:

Like how can I be part of whatever that is for these people to achieve their goals? Like this is crazy stuff. And they're showing up every day, they're doing the freaking work, they're living by their values. So there's a value alignment. So I believe these people come into my space and awareness and life and I meet them and talk to them and whatever all happens there, because I put out a certain energy about my values and they do the same. So we vibrate together till we find each other and then we're like we fun, let's do more fun, more fun, and it's just keeps me inspired and driven and motivated and then the discipline just comes easy after that, you know it really does.

Polly Mertens:

You know, I think. I think you know people see the things that you do and your compelling why, and your core values support all of that right. So, whatever you want to get up to in life, whatever leveling up looks like in your life it could be career, it could be the best mom, it could be making billions of dollars, whatever, like that's your, I'm going to get up to that thing, get up to it and then have your values aligned to that. If that's what serves you right, those disciplines will become non-negotiable. They just, they just they're not movable. It's like, uh, I've said I'm doing that thing, this is my number one core value, or two, whatever, I'm doing those things right. So the the answers get, the choosing gets easier when you align those things. Yeah, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt:

And people in your life will step up. Whether they exist yet or not, you'll meet them. Yeah, To support that journey. Also, you know, all of a sudden, if it's triathlon, you'll find people who also are going to go swim in freezing cold water and do ridiculous things, or if it's the blind cyclist, you know you're going to find a community that can captain that tandem bike so you can achieve your dream in an environment where other people are all about rallying behind that movement for you Like.

Polly Mertens:

Whatever the thing is, If it excites you, if it tickles you, if it feels a little scary to you or a lot scary to you, um, but it's aligned. It's like just try it get going right. Like exactly the, the, the leveling up. Sometimes, you know the, the, the, what do we call it? The, the package it takes. So it looks like I going to do this thing called a race, right, and then I'm going to get a medal. I'm going to do these things, I'm going to get a medal, and then I can say I did that thing. That's what it looks like I'm signing up for.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah.

Polly Mertens:

But what you're getting, you know, it's like the little baiter switcheroo. It's like, oh, and then guess what? That journey, that signing up, whatever, that thing that you got up to, that leveling up, has way more benefits, way more to teach you about yourself and your life than what you thought. Like, oh, I'm going to learn how to run 100 miles, I'm going to learn how to hike in the woods, I'm going to learn how to keep myself warm in 30 degrees overnight, or whatever. Like, yeah, you're going to learn a lot more than that Guess what.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, and in these really uncomfortable, very challenging situations and you've been in them as well Um, and examples like me running my first hundred miler, and there was a point in the race. Well, first of all, I'd never run more than 50 miles, so it seemed ludicrous that I was even at the starting line for this race. But my idea was I'm going to be at the starting line for this race, but my idea was I'm going to be at the starting line for this hundred mile race because I want to see if I can go from 50 to 100k, so 6162 miles. So my idea was to make this, you know, incremental leap towards ultimately, obviously doing 100 at some point or whatever.

Samantha Pruitt:

Spoiler alert I finished my the hundred miler but there was no way in hell. I went to that race with any concept at all that this was even possible Zero, zero idea that it was even a possibility in my own physical body and brain and I really wasn't attached to it. So liberating. And there was a point in the race where I was like I'm going to finish this freaking race.

Polly Mertens:

It still might not be in the time cap.

Samantha Pruitt:

I might not get the buckle. Okay, it might not be love story or whatever. Yeah, didn't give a shit.

Samantha Pruitt:

No, just completely was detached to the outcome. I was so in the experience that my physical body and my emotional body detached from each other, probably just out of survival, and the physical body was just moving through the course and it was just blowing my mind so much I just was floating over watching and observing the whole thing and just having a very different emotional experience because I was released from the suffering, basically, and the suffering was me being detached from the outcome and me being really detached from listening to my body's aches, pains, screams, et cetera. It wasn't really part of it anymore. Like I was liberated from that and it was mind blowing, it's still to this day.

Polly Mertens:

That's an NDE. That's how people with near death experiences talk. This is amazing.

Samantha Pruitt:

They just leave the building and they're like hey, what's going on down there, what's she doing? It's like I wasn't in peril in that instance. I wasn't having, like, um, anything that was endangering my body, because I have had those situations where I was in dangerous situations physically that I've also had very, very different, but in this it was just I let go. I let go of the outcome, I let go of I don't know all the physical things that were attached. It was just a, it was a spiritual experience.

Polly Mertens:

It's been hanging out here.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, yeah. And then, in completing that and having that, I was like more of this please.

Polly Mertens:

Exactly that's. That's where you, you know, talk about a calling getting hooked by something else going on here. There's something else going on here and you found it, and you found it through that. Did we share all the takeaways, Any other takeaways that you have? That?

Samantha Pruitt:

you want to. So physical challenge, I believe, builds mental and emotional fitness and I think it's a critical part of us developing because we're a human in a human body.

Polly Mertens:

Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt:

I mean, we're spiritual beings, we're all this other stuff, but the physicalness of our existence, I believe personally. This is my two cents. Y'all demands some radical physical experience to like express the body in the way that you can. The cat's welcome to come to the party, yeah.

Polly Mertens:

I know Kitty's here having a, he's been hanging out by, he's listening to Aunt Samantha, and he loves hearing what you have to say. So yeah, go ahead.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, that's just my biggest takeaway. It's like I can't underestimate and really stress enough for people the importance of this.

Polly Mertens:

And whatever it is for you like doesn't have to be Samantha's journey, doesn't have to be Polly's journey, it's your journey. It's your little spooky, scary, exciting, tickling thing.

Samantha Pruitt:

Like we're always something epic.

Polly Mertens:

These fucking epic shit people, god damn it small god damn it. Like like it's it's the one life, it's the one life. Like make it fucking worth your time, make it your life so good. Okay, any other takeaway? I'm about to jump through this fucking screen, the cat is joining the party.

Samantha Pruitt:

Hi, kitty, kitty, kitty. Yeah, it's definitely because I'm talking and I call animals into the space.

Polly Mertens:

Oh, hello kitty kitty, sorry, keep going, keep going okay, what else?

Samantha Pruitt:

what else? I have, uh, my one of my favorite quotes and it will be tattooed on my body relatively soon, but I've had this quote forever and I just finally, like I just have to. There's a couple, two quotes that are gonna end up on this physical body of mine before it dissolves into space but maybe next weekend, maybe next week, maybe next weekend and the quote actually goes that the world is our great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.

Samantha Pruitt:

but I think our life is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong. We've got one shot Build some damn muscles.

Polly Mertens:

So true. So, true Like make it epic man, make it worth who you are, who you are. Show up strong, yeah. Say yes when you mean yes. Say no when you mean no. Show up strong and anyone. What's the one thing that you want to leave these humans with, or is there more takeaways? Is there one thing that we want to summarize for them, or is that it? Maybe that's it.

Samantha Pruitt:

No, that's it.

Polly Mertens:

Say it again, tell us the quote again. The world is a great gymnasium, where we come to make ourselves strong.

Samantha Pruitt:

Yeah, so your life is a great gymnasium. Every opportunity to say yes or no, to try or not try is an opportunity. You're walking into the gym.

Polly Mertens:

The gym's called life and if you're listening to this, you are intrigued by something. There's something your soul is saying damn, I already know what I should be loving on up. All right, that's it. That's the thing. Yes, going, go, go get that thing, go go say yes to that thing, go sign up for it, go buy it, whatever it looks like. Yes.

Samantha Pruitt:

So choose your Everest, choose your PCT, choose your Ironman, whatever, whatever, it's all good.

Polly Mertens:

Get after it. All right, beautiful Thanks. Well, thank you for sharing all this. I love it. I love it, and thank you for allowing kitty cat to be a part of it. He's, he's, he's doing, he's enjoying and, uh, won't get to see him next week. I'm coming to see you. So, you guys, we're going to do some episodes in person, so stay tuned. Samantha and I are going to be hanging out in beautiful La Quinta soon and then we're going off to Sedona, so stay tuned for those episodes, right?

Samantha Pruitt:

Lots of adventures. I'll see you soon, lady.

Polly Mertens:

All right. What do we want to remind him of my friend?

Samantha Pruitt:

How your life feels is more important than how it looks. Yeah.

Polly Mertens:

And 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