Life Lessons We Could Learn From OCR

Growing up, I lived my childhood with my mother and teenage years with my father. The two households couldn't have been more different but still valuable lessons were gleaned from both. When talking about my upbringing with my father he used to tell me nobody is perfect so I should take the good I saw from my mother, the good I saw from him, and use that to make myself a better person. He continued don’t keep what you think is bad just get rid of it.

Seeing the reaction to the announcement of the Tough Mudder Ambassadors a few days ago had me thinking and talking with a group of friends. I thought to myself that maybe the lesson my father tried to teach me a long time ago could apply to anything, even OCR. It can, and I have pulled major life lessons from both World's Toughest Mudder and the Death Race.

World's Toughest Mudder

First, we will have World’s Toughest Mudder, as a diehard Tough Mudder fan, this is our mother event. What does she teach us? Life has obstacles that you will have to overcome, and sometimes you can’t overcome them alone. You need help, and even that guy you can’t stand will be there if you need him. That’s how we are supposed to be as human beings. It’s the only way that we have evolved from caves to watching movies on cell phones. She also teaches us we are all equal on the course.  It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, the color of your skin doesn’t matter, we all look like the same sex in wetsuits, and nobody cares about your accent is, or if you even speak the same language, we all just work together to survive. 

What our mother event has taught us is wonderful. However, one key element to life is not part of our mothers teachings. We need to look to our father event for this life lesson, the Death Race.  

Death Race

Now let me first say I have never attempted the Death Race, but I am a student of the game.  What have I learned from reading blog post after blog post from the Death Race? Well, the biggest lesson our father event teaches us is that life is not fair. It’s just not! You might have to carry a rock much larger than someone who everyone knows is stronger and bigger just by looking at them. You might have to do 1,000 burpees before the race starts just because the director says so. This may cause you to miss out on being a finisher when someone who didn’t have to do what you did takes a place among the few to finish the event. Again, life isn’t fair.

Life lessons from OCR are nothing new, and this isn’t some new genius idea. We learn from each event whether you know it or not. My advice is not to get caught up in just one event. Don't get sucked into the politics. Don't get sucked claiming the “unfairness” of a corporate business decision. It took an entire community to form who you are today with a lot of lessons. The same is true for OCR; you need all the different companies and races to form a full picture, just as the lessons taught by both parents have helped shape my view. 

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