I seldom get headaches. I have had some pretty bad hangovers and a concussion or two but outside of that, I don’t suffer from them.

This past week in the CrossFit Open we did 18.2, which involved resting 50lb dumbells on my shoulders for a multitude of squats. Being that I have the mobility of the Lincoln Memorial, I had a hard time getting the dumbells to rest comfortably on my shoulders. I basically had to wrap the dumbells around my neck and wear them like you would a floatation device.

I positioned the weights in such a way that I had placed myself in a combination of the Camel Clutch and the Sleeper hold. My head throbbed in a way that it never had.

The following morning, I had to re-do the workout because my dumbass used one 50lb dumbell and another 45lb dumbell, which invalidated my score. My head pulsed with pain, once again. Following these events, I found that every time I would exert any effort my brain would feel like it was having an aneurysm. The throbbing would be so bad that I would think I was going to die.

The pain has subsided and the problem has gone away with some rest and massaging but my pity for those who suffer from migraines has grown exponentially. I thought I had empathy for those who suffered from headaches. I thought I knew what it was like to experience discomfort. It turns out, I don’t. I still don’t. Hopefully, I never will.

Acting as if I know what it is like to suffer from migraines because I have had one bad headache is like pretending I know what it feels like to live without food because I have been hungry between meals.

Unless it is my situation, I know nothing of the situation. Trying to intellectualize the struggle that people face and acting as if I know the solution is like telling Peyton Manning how to throw a ball because I won the Super Bowl on Madden.

It bothers me at how quickly I jump to solutions for situations that I know nothing of. It’s disturbing when I think of some of the arguments I have entered involving topics that I have never experienced. Each individual situation involves a million experiences which is shaping the opinion of the individual involved. To think that I can truly get a grasp of what someone else is going through is asinine.

It’s hard to watch people struggle and not convince myself that I know what they are going through, cause I don’t.

We all have the solutions to the problems we have never faced.

Empathize the best way you can.

Peace, Love, and all things Beef related,

Beefcake