I’m sure my blog posts have been mostly positive, and I wanted to come clean on the daily internal struggle part of this challenge.
Despite the benefits, I am not the sort that gets excited about exercise. I hate being sweaty, I hate feeling winded, I hate the whole process of going to the gym and changing into my workout clothes. I hate grappling with other sweaty people I do not know. I hate not having pizza and my favorite snacks. I hate working around the corner from the Donut Pub and declining free samples. I hate finding all these cool places to eat that would not comply with my diet. I hate being sore when I get up in the morning. Oh, I could go on, but I will spare you!
Before every workout, I begin the think of excuses not to go and before every meal, I think about adding items that would be outside the scope of my diet.
How I actually find myself at the gym and in those intense classes three times a week is a testament to the level of resolve I can muster when I need to.
So why do I persist? Because not everything is easy in life. Sometimes you have to claw and scratch to get what you want, and I want change. I’m tired of my pants getting tighter and tighter, and I am tired of looking in the mirror and seeing my body essentially in decline. I want to be strong, and I want to be lean. I want to enjoy my life for as long as I can until either my body finally gives in to the entropy that comes with old age, or we as a species are successful in making our environment too hostile for human life (sadly, I am not sure which will come first these days). Personal growth comes from facing challenges head-on with firm intent and lies somewhere outside our comfort zone.
Plus, despite the grumbling, I do feel good after the workout. I’ll talk about the perks of getting in shape in another post, but if you were to ask me if it is all worth it, I would have to say yes. The path where we take charge of our personal evolution is not an easy one, but it is fruitful. All it takes is the audacity to claim it.