Being Uncomfortable (How Fitness is the Ultimate Internal Life Lesson?)
Most people would believe the cliche quote that in order to get a new result you must perform a new action. This concept is universally true across many aspects of life. My issue is that most individuals do not apply this concept to their fitness or nutrition programs. You wish to be physically fit and appear shredded, muscular, and have sex appeal. However, you do not fully understand the physical endeavor in which you are about to embark on. It’s uncomfortable. Your new body image that you desire requires a new mindset, attention to detail, planning, dedication, sacrifice, and an overall change to your person. Now I say the above list to emphasize the actual transformation that must occur to reach your goal. Transformation = new action + new mindset. Look above at the list I created. Imagine if you could acquire all of those skills with one single focus. That is fitness…at a high and consistent level. Your attention to detail is vastly improved by monitoring nutrition, how you lift, why you target certain muscles, and in terms of everyday life your timing becomes impeccable. Planning becomes habitual. You form habits instead of trends or fads. Rest is more satisfying and your ability to sacrifice simple desires for long term goals and productive behavior is imbedded in your psyche. Finally, you learn true dedication. Avoid distraction, stay on track and prove to yourself that any goal is attainable following these principles. Through the simple idea of becoming truly physically fit and consuming proper nutrition you acquire invaluable skills that translate to any aspect of your life. Confidence boosts, energy rises, and your persona becomes more pronounced than ever before. It is the ultimate internal life lesson and journey in my opinion. The benefits span across the physical, mental, social, and spiritual components of life. I feel that most people use fitness (nutrition is always associated along with) or view fitness as a superficial, ego-driven activity, but in reality at its core it offers much more than a visual stimulus for the opposite sex or same sex or whatever the hell you are attracted to. Here is a list of benefits from adopting a fitness/nutrition lifestyle in no particular order (this should help consolidate what I am trying to prove):
Increased energy
Improved mood
Greater stamina throughout the day
Decreased risk of disease, sickness and any other ailment (optimal body functionality and immune system)
Increased strength
Increased endurance
Improved self image
Increased confidence
Improved preparation/planning
Ability to internalize thoughts and be objective/critical of oneself (accountability)
Long term/short term goal setting and achievement
Increased focus
Decreased anxiety
Increased productivity (energy levels stable throughout day – no crash)
Increased sex drive
Increased pain threshold and durability
Decreased risk of injury
Self-induced euphoria
Increased quality of life
Lastly, an understanding how fitness and nutrition are a vital component to our well-being and advancement as a society.
This list alone should be enough to convince anyone to commit to a fitness lifestyle, but most still neglect the idea and feel it is unnecessary to implement. They feel you need to be an athlete or love fitness and nutrition to be involved. The simplistic rebuttal to that argument is fitness/nutrition are essential to maximizing your quality of life. As society progresses we seem to be split between individuals moving towards each side of the spectrum in regards to fitness/nutrition. Majority of people are shifting completely to lackluster nutrition and minimal if not zero physical activity. This should be a major concern in society, but as a superficial based community combined with a “band-aid” solution approach to any issue we make no progress in this area. Healthcare costs would drop dramatically and life expectancy as well as quality of life would increase exponentially in a short period of time. However, the businesses that profit from all of our current health issues restrict any real change from occurring within our communities. Hence only small movements have developed and even the larger appearing ones are profitable businesses with little intent to make significant change. Too many people have grown accustomed to medication in response to all ailments and fail to have any drive to address these issues internally. With such external perspective and overall laziness (due to lack of energy from poor nutrition and exercise) we have created a society of uninformed, mindless people who would rather pay for temporary fixes than work for permanent solutions. In conclusion people need to be comfortable with getting uncomfortable in order to reap the benefits that fitness and quality nutrition offer rather than suffering from chronic fatigue and choosing to be best friends with their pharmacy. It is a sad reality that is overlooked, scoffed at, and ultimately disregarded in light of other issues. The ramifications are evident and time will reveal how our behavior is slowly degrading our well-being and livelihood.
