Want to start exercising but haven't...?
Want to start exercising but haven't...?
What's holding you back...?
Some time ago I overheard a phone conversation between two people. FYI, people watching and unintentionally eavesdropping on conversations I'm within an earshot of are among my favorite pastimes. In this case, I sussed out that it was a mother talking to her middle-aged child. The conversation settled on how the child exclaimed they would begin walking for time after their doctor prescribed some mandatory exercise regimen. As someone who has had fitness as a part of my life, for my health, since my early 20's and beyond I was taken aback by this. My initial thought was, you're just NOW figuring this out...? But like many times in my past, I've had to understand that everyone is different.
As I've described in a few other posts, during my mid-teens I became a go getter of sorts. Mediocrity became unacceptable to me. High performance not only became an expectation of mine, it became the norm. This thanks to the work I was putting in. Eventually I landed at a competitive university where everyone thought just like this. Going in, everyone was a high performer academically from high school. However, not everyone was going to have the same fate as professors were not going to dish out A's and B's to everyone.
I was in this mindset for many years. While I was within my campus community this was all rather normal. My thoughts, feelings, emotions, and decisions which were all geared towards high performance were widely accepted. But to the outside world I came off as mildly eccentric and overly pedantic. This was often met with extreme reactions on either end of a spectrum. That is to say, people were either really impressed by this attitude or put off by it. Initially, I didn't understand the nature of this dichotomy. But as time passed, and I matured into my later 20's I started to learn and accept that not everyone is as obsessed with achievement, or with getting the finer details spot on in every single scenario in life in the name of high performance.
Now that I'm even older, I can understand and admire to a small extent those that are ok with cruising in life. Getting up, commuting to a job while enduring lots of hustle and bustle during their travels. Working 8 hours a day doing the same things over and over and over again. Receiving a paycheck every two weeks for their efforts. Not questioning authority or draconian work customs. Just plugging into the economic system as it stands and accepting what comes with it. Whether it be beige, or drab, or boring to them. Blinders on, in and out of work, get home to their family and friends. Not caring about pushing themselves to new professional heights. I can accept that there is a bit of beauty to this. Sometimes I wish I was more like this and less driven in all areas of my life.
However, I've observed that those whom go through life with these proverbial blinders on not only settle for less professional, they seem to often settle for less personally. Now that is a broad statement in and of itself, but due to the nature of this blog what I am focusing on is a bit of self-love. And one of the best ways to give yourself a bit of self-love is to keep yourself fit via some consistent exercise routine which includes a mixture of weight training and aerobic exercise.
I've observed and personally know several people at my gym that have successfully balanced a long and sustaining career that they just found themselves falling into. Quietly putting in consistent time at a job that they don't really care for. Yet actively looking after themselves by maintaining the fitness of their youth by adhering to a training routine week in and week out. This I can understand. This I can cosign. This I can get with, kinda. I mean, I still need to be intellectually stimulated professionally which is a blessing and a curse. Overall though, I can respect this choice they are making.
From my own perspective, adopting an exercise routine not only takes you away from the mediocrity of life. Not only will it give you improved physical health. It will also improve your mental state as well. When you exercise, you will not be thinking about anything else. No strike that, you won't be thinking about anything. Your mind will be completely evacuated of all thought. In a way, this is the main purpose of meditation which is thought to have immense mental health and spiritual health benefits. Also, you will have a sense of community for you will likely be surrounded by others at a gym of your choice whom all have at least one thing in common. People that are from all walks of life, young and old, different races and backgrounds. All of whom will largely be encouraging and inspiring via example. They are not your family. They are not your friends. They are your fitness brethren.
In the crucible of fitness, you can learn how to become self-competitive and push. To push yourself to heights you never though you could reach before. And if you do, this will bleed into other areas of your life. If you were once asleep, you will be awakened. If you were once antsy you will now be calm. If you were once weak you will not only become physically strong, but mentally tough as well.
So yeah when I think back to that convo between the mother and her middle-aged kid, I don't know. It's weird to me. Because the whole of their adult lives they apparently never got into a fitness routine. Juxtaposed to myself where I feel like I’ve lifted the weight of the world a thousand times over while doing jumping jacks for cardio over the same time period. Four to six hours per week at a time. And I'm not going to even get into all the things I can physically do as a result. Things that I can do now that my fit 20 something self could not. Knock wood. Rather, I'm going to leave you with a video of Mick Jagger getting ready for a Rolling Stones tour just a few months after having the aortic valve in his heart replaced. PS, his father was a school fitness instructor and encouraged Mick Jagger to keep his fitness up all through his life. You tell me if it's worked or not because he is in his mid 70's in this clip.
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