NOVEMBER ’22

A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER:
DEMONS OF DOUBT

Ice blue, the color of a demon’s eyes.

It had been months since I’d seen those eyes, let alone stared one down to notice that unique blue. But a month ago, at the insane hour of 3:30AM, my friend JT & I were on our 21st hour of no sleep & constant movement in Whistler, Canada. It was a cold 35 degrees that early morning & we were still 3 hours away from seeing the sun rise on top of a 7,000 ft mountain. We were surrounded by 300 ft cedar trees in a majestic 800 year old forest when I witnessed the eyes of the demon again. It was the closest you could come to a Game of Thrones scene that you could possibly imagine. But all jokes aside, this is the moment when I truly felt sorry for myself & wanted to quit.

JT & I started our 8th & final lap up Blackcomb Mountain around 2:00AM. At that point we’d covered 28 miles & gained 28,000 ft of elevation (Mt. Everest is 29,000 ft), all within 20 hours of non-stop work. We were one ascent away from the finish line, which meant we had roughly 3 hours of work left, with 4,000 vertical feet to climb & another 4 miles to the finish line. At this point there wasn’t much talking going on between us. In fact, all of my energy was focused on keeping my headlamp on JT, who was 20 yards ahead of me, leading us up our final ascent.

One mile into this final ascent, I came face to face with my demon. His icey blue eyes looked deep into my soul & were so quick to dominate my mind. He made every negative thought possible pop into my head, from my legs are burning to my breath is fading to I’m too tired to take another step. I was so sleep deprived that he even had me thinking that I was seriously sick & needed to be pulled off the mountain. What is so amazing to me as I write this now is how quickly that demon appeared & how powerfully he overtook my mind for the next 90 minutes. There wasn’t an inkling of positivity that slipped through during that time. The demon was defeating me so badly that I thought about quitting, even though we had already conquered so many miles & were only 3 hours away from a Top 10 finish. The demon was haunting my mind from every direction. I was depressed, I was embarrassed & I wanted to quit.

The point of this message isn’t to tell you about how JT & I finished. Instead, there are two nails I want to drive home. The first is that we ALL face demons. They come in all shapes & sizes & pop up at different times in our lives. Your demon might be alcohol, or an insecurity that holds you back from doing something you’ve always wanted to do, or some type of thorn in a relationship. But here’s the thing – there isn’t a person in this world that doesn’t face a demon. Your demon wants you to look down & feel sorry for yourself, just like it had me doing on that mountain. It wants you to fall to your knees. It doesn’t want you to take one step forward or even dare look it in the eye. But I want you to know AN INCH UP IS STILL UP & even if you have to take a breather by falling to a knee, remember to keep your head up & eyes on the finish line. Your mind will mess with you. It will say, you’re too tired & you’re too weak to beat this obstacle. It will take you to some dark places, but understand your body is stronger than you can ever imagine & your mind just needs an inch of positivity to be pushed in the other direction. Soon enough, you’ll be standing tall, face to face with that demon, to push him aside & keep climbing.

The final point I want to make is that you don’t have to climb 30,000 ft & hike 32 miles to achieve success. Understand that was my goal & your goal might be to run your first 5k. My demon might have come on mile 30 & yours might come on mile 2 of that 5k, or maybe it’s trying to prevent you from signing up for that masters program you’ve always wanted to take. The point is we’re all scared & nervous to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations, but it’s in these dark & difficult situations where we truly find ourselves. These uncomfortable experiences are where we expand our own individual abilities.

Demons can be defeated. Time is the only thing in this world that cannot & we all have one common denominator at the end of this thing we call life. The fact is, when we lie on our deathbeds, it won’t be the easy days we remember. It will be the demons we stared down, the tough experiences we went through & the uncomfortable journeys we took on with our heads held high. We are all powerful beyond measure & I believe that may scare us the most. No matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel, we must all understand we’re here to create a positive impact. That is not an if but a MUST. It’s our duty to set an example for the others in our lives. We must be bold & we must inspire. These are the things we will remember, but most importantly, this is the inspiration that we will leave behind for future generations to follow.

We must be bold.
We must take responsibility.
We must go forth towards that discomfort.

Joey Welling
Founder of Ethos Athletic Club
Charleston, S.Carolina

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
KEVIN NORTH & JEFF GERARDI

Kevin & Jeff tackled the Million Meter Challenge, committing to row 1 million meters by 01/20/23. Both crushed it ahead of schedule – Kevin in April [99 days] & Jeff in October [under 9 months].

WHAT FUELED YOU?
– K: Never wanting to let my family [Ethos] down & giving 110% every time I got on the rower.
– J: I’m pretty obsessed with numbers. Once I got started, I don’t think there’s a time when I  couldn’t tell you how many  meters I had left, how many I was averaging a week, etc.

MOST DIFFICULT PART & HOW YOU CONQUERED?
– K: 2-3 hours on a rower is hard for anyone, but I adjusted by doing a lot of those meters outside the garage doors, distracted by Joey yelling during Rush.
– J: Boredom, but about halfway through I made the life hack of watching cheesy reality TV on my phone. Bravo got me through about 600K.

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL MOST ALIVE?
– K: Walking through the doors at 311 to see all the smiling faces & greetings from so many people I now call Family.
– J: My friends, family & sports. And all you wonderful people at Ethos.

AROUND THE CLUB

• THANKSGIVING SCHEDULE:
THUR, 11/24: 7AM – 12PM
FRI, 11/25: 7AM – 7PM
Classes: 7:30AM & 9AM RUSH | 9AM YOGA

IMMUNITY BOOSTER:
WELLNESS BY MK GINGER SHOT

• INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fresh pineapple, cubed
1 cup coconut water
2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tsp fresh turmeric, minced
-> Sprinkle of pepper if adding turmeric [boosts absorption 2000%]
1-2 tbsp local honey

• DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in a high power blender OR juice & combine elements

Thank you, Team.