This may be taking me a bit away from my typical fitness talk and sound more like the what I typically write on my personal blog, but I think it is very important.
Its hard for me to understand what has happened to the human brain as we have evolved. Look back at how much man has accomplished over the last few hundred years. We have gone from absolutely nothing but earth to the automobile, the lightbulb, the television, the cellphone and now the iPad. We have faced such complicated equations whose solution has seemed impossible. Yet we have not only figured out that equation but ventured into a whole new set problems. Again and again we find a way to solve these issues. Our brains are so incredibly ingenious and yet we only use a small percentage. There is no telling how much incredible a single human can produce especially that our voice is now stronger than ever.
At the same time, man consistently underperforms. We spend our lives dreaming and not living, until one day we stop dreaming at all. When we are children we race fearlessly into any challenge no matter how big, in fact the bigger the better. We haven’t been told that we cannot do something enough so we see this world of possibility. As we get older this world of possibility shrinks and we start to follow the path of least resistance. School gets hard so we learn to just cruise through it. Finding a great job only happens to lucky people so we settle for the available one. Being one of the most well known leaders in your industry only happens to those who “know somebody” so we become content just being who we are. We begin to excuse the act of being ordinary and get used to being just like everyone else.
The fight seems to die out on people after years because they don’t see the point anymore. They tried a few times and failed so instead of trying again they learn to settle for the easy. This is true in the majority of people in the world. It shows in the jobs that people have, the relationships they have and the level of happiness they have. We also see this in a lot of ways with the level of fitness our country has. Its unbelievable how we have settled for this garbage food that they throw at us. Its unreal how we have settled for these cheap and corny “Get 6 pack abs in a week” products that we see. It seems too hard to put some effort in actually eating healthy and consistently exercising. We get a little older, things seem too hard so we settle.
The thing is, that no one every achieved true happiness and joy from settling. Ask a couple that has been together for 50 years and they will tell you their relationship wasn’t easy. Ask Bill Gates about building and maintaining Microsoft I guarantee you that wasn’t easy. Just look at the amazing reward that these people have gotten out of working hard toward something. If it was easy, you would get bored and be over it. The fact that you can put so much energy into something that almost brakes you down, but you kept moving until finally it is a success is what its all about. Yet we forget about this feeling.
It wears me down to see people starting these trendy diets or exercise plans for a few weeks and then stop. Its either too hard or they aren’t seeing the good quickly enough. Why do we not see the fun in a challenge anymore? Eating healthily and consistently exercising is not easy, I will be the first to say. The reward is far greater when you have to battle for something.
The fact that I can fly across country 3 times in a month in the height of “cold season” and not get sick is a piece of accomplishment to me. I eat really well and take care of myself, so I have an immune system to fight that a possible cold. I completely wiped out while snowboarding yesterday crushing my hip, yet feel better today than yesterday is an accomplishment to me. I should feel way worse today than yesterday but I don’t. I take care of my body by consistently exercising so it knows how to recover faster.
These little victories make it all worth it and when I am 70 years old and feel like I am 40 that will be a major victory. Yeah sometimes I want to just grub out on some terrible food and not workout for weeks, but the mental battle of overcoming that urge is what builds me. If you consistently put yourself in these challenging situations, you will continue to grow. Even if you are 40 or 50 you can still be growing tremendously. Continue to accept failure and learn from it as opposed to taking the easy route. It kills me to see that 60 year old cashier at a grocery store. Not because it is a bad job or anything like that but because I doubt that is what they wanted to do when they were fresh out of high school or college. They settled and took the easy road. With all that we have done you would think we would be more ambitious than ever. All of these amazing tools and resources we have around us. Yet many fall short and most dont ever try. Don’t settle, don’t ever settle. Be your best.
I TOTALLY agree with everything you just said. I don’t see why some people don’t get it. Eat well, exercise, it’s not rocket science. It really makes me mad also when I see these commercials about all gimmicks for fast and easy solutions, blablabla. Laziness has majority I guess… And you know what? My roomate is “one of those”. She clearly needs to lose quite a bit of weight, she KNOWS I can help her(I’m a certified trainer, I understand the science of it, I’ve been working out my whole life and now with the swimming…), but because it’s not easy and it requires a little effort she finds excuses and always puts it off. I’m not gonna bug her too much about it, I tried, wrote her a programm, she did it for 2 weeks and gave up. And it’s not for lack of resources or equipement(I have a lot of toys to “play” with at my house..). It’s sad but until SHE makes the decision to change I can’t force her to do it. But I don’t get it. What would you do?(Remember she’s my roomate i still have to live with her..)
And btw, snowboarding is awsome! I rode for 10 years, took some really bad falls, broke a few bones, got a couple of minor concussions, but exactly like you said, you get up and go again. No pain no gain. And when you finally land that trick or make it down that gnarly chute it’s sooooooo rewarding! And most of all F-U-N!!
It’s awsome what you’re doing here with this website. Love it!
Peace out.
L.
I totally agree 100% with everything you’re saying. I do the same, eat well, exercise, it’s addicitve almost. But how do you help someone who thinks they don’t want or need help but you know they do? My roommate is about 80lbs overweight, I tried to help her(I’m a certified trainer I know the science, i’ve been into sports my whole life and I have a lot of “toys” at home), but she just gives up after 2 weeks for the usual excuses: no time, no energy, too tired, too sore, yadiyadiyada…. She sees me going to the gym/pool everyday and eat healthy food, and I’ve had MANY talks with her about this but she seriously lacks motivation and I don’t wanna push too hard ’cause I have to live with her. I think she’s exactly like one of those people who settles and at 35 I think she gave up already. It’s kinda sad. How do you help someone like that without alienating them?
Btw, I love what you’re doing here with this site.
Cheers.
L.
p.s. snowboarding rules! wait ’til you start doing tricks and stickin’ it, it feels a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! it hurts at first, i broke my tailbone 8 years ago getting WAY too much air and landing on my butt, i KNOW it hurts!, but no pain no gain, right?
Laurie,
Thanks for the comments. That is a really tough situation because as you said, you still have to live with her and don’t want to alienate her. Does she find any physical activity fun? I talk a lot about sustainability with exercise and diet because I think that is the key to it all. For both diet and exercise, if you can find a way to get her doing/eating things she enjoys thats a great start. From there you can gradually build on that until eventually she has done a complete 180 with her life and doesn’t even realize it. We all expect this quick fix with our bodies because technology has made that a consistent theme in all other aspects of our lives. As you know there is really no quick fix with our bodies and it is a life long commitment. Maybe if you went out and did some active things with her and she had a really good time, that would help get her started. The workout plan may have been too much at once or maybe there was one aspect of it she didn’t like but that messed up the whole thing.
Some people just really don’t care that much and as I said in this article they just learn to settle. She may be completely content with that right now and it might take something major to get her to realize she needs to change. You can put it a lot of time and effort but if she is not ready for the change it probably wont happen. Thats why I think easing her in would be the way to go. If she starts to see positive results she may decide to add a little bit more exercise to her life. Hopefully that will continue and grow until she if fully committed.
Side note, I’m completely obsessed with boarding. That was my 3rd time going and things are starting to get real smooth, minus me getting too ambitious and getting more air than I can handle. I love it and cant wait to start catching more air and hitting some tricks.
Thanks again for writing in!
-JF