Someone who is heavily involved in a situation that requires courage, skill, or tenacity, as opposed to someone sitting on the sidelines and watching, is often referred to as “the man in the arena”.
Bodybuilding and yoga are nothing short of branding, or yet promoting yourself. It’s good to have big ambitions and grow a bigger body, but it’s that important to have clarity on how tough lifting weights can be and how tough life truly can get.
I understand it can be really stressful to lift weights in an air-conditioned room full of people, including your trainer to give you motivation, while sipping in some water or juice every now and then and drinking one of those protein shakes right after. Very difficult indeed!
Then, you must think that it’s part of life’s struggles, feeling great about yourself like you struggled and won something over. Pretty big deal!
And then, you spew philosophical stuff and post things about struggles while sitting in a comfortable room, and while sipping in a cup of deliciously made coffee.
While lifting a ton of weight is difficult and somewhat challenging that stimulates muscle growth in the part of the body that you target, imagine yourself as a construction worker or perhaps, a rickshaw puller, where you don’t just lift but move people by pedaling through the entire journey and the reality is that’s your job, so no exit.
I wonder how tough bodybuilding would seem to you then.
People who truly struggle in life and then somewhat succeed, not even fully but nearly, feel so much relieved that they don’t ever want to think about the stuff they faced. If you like talking about it, it’s not a struggle. It’s just seeking validation, catching others’ attention, branding yourself, and thinking you are better.
Bodybuilding is just a game. In a game, when you pass a difficult level, it’s not a struggle, it’s just a leveling up. You just go ahead. Similarly, bodybuilding is a game where today, you weigh 5 kilos, and tomorrow you can twice that up.
How you can think about life matters. So, when you mix a simple weight-lifting game of yours with the authentic life struggles that ordinary people face, that stuff builds a fake sense of glory. Society has enough of wannabes around, it’s time that you consider developing some humility and empathy towards others.