Well, an exchange with an old high school friend made me think about that and how it relates to people in fitness.
I'll just get down to brass tacks - I don't look like I work as hard as I do. Sometimes I just yell and scream at God for giving me the hand of cards that I have been dealt: a soft, pear-shaped, child-bearing, famine-resistant body that is just as stubborn as I am. To really get visible muscle tone, I have to exert some serious discipline and be so strict with my nutrition and exercise that it really starts to take the fun out of being healthy.
It's not fair.
That's why I finally chose doing endurance and physical sporting events over the figure/bodybuilding contests that an old trainer tried to talk me into: I just do not have the genetic makeup for that stuff. Some girls look like they live in the gym even though they eat crap and lie around all day....others work out hard and do amazing things and are *healthy* as a result...but you wouldn't pick them out of a lineup for having completed a marathon.
It is totally completely 100% NOT FAIR and I have wasted a lot of energy being angry about it.
Sometimes I am even embarrased to see people from long ago because I know they expect someone who is uber-ripped, and I wonder if they'll think I am making it all up. But, over time I have gotten to where I can honestly say I am going to work with what I've got - I can do everything I want to do, I sincerely love love love healthy eating, and endorphins can't see what I look like anyway - they make me feel amazing no matter what.
Somedays I think I look pretty darn good and other days I know that like most women, my mirror is lying to me. Either way, I run almost every morning an an healthy person would not have been able to do that. :)
Let's get one thing straight - I want to be totally uber-ripped. It has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I love muscles and I love muscles and I love me some muscles. I can't let go of that dream, even though sometimes I feel like trying to achieve it is an exercise in futility.
Hey, a girl's gotta dream.
I'm taking my steps towards achieving it, fool-hardy or not. I can't help it...I just love the chase. :)
Chase something today.
2 comments:
What it boils down to is that we're *never* satisfied with what we have :-(. I guess that's why we keep striving for "perfection" (Whatever *that* is!).
I try to consider more realistic things, like can I still comfortably wear the clothes that I purchased years ago? I've also made a conscious effort to stop comparing my body to that of a 20-something who is half my age. I tell myself that I look darn good for someone who sits behind a desk all day long.
We should focus on the positive things about ourselves, not our sometimes unrealistic expectations.
LOL, Well Ellen you must have ESPN....stay tuned tomorrow for some deeper thinking. :)
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