Just recently, a friend whom I have a lot of respect for asked me; “Glenn, why do you post so much about random stuff these days, posting about topics like food, emotional health, motivation, workout, etc. rather than the regular fitness posts which are usually more engaging?”
She was really interested in me and just wanted to know if I still had my focus and to be honest I totally get where she’s coming from. Come to think of it, I already had an audience who was interested in my regular fitness posts and that audience had been growing. I also get lots of feedback from people who tell me how my posts have been very helpful to them; so why would I want to spoil that?
Of course, I’m not trying to destroy what I’ve taken the time and work to build, never my intention, rather I always want to find better ways to engage my audience and the best way to do so for me is to always be real with my audience. I am more interested in helping as many people as I can than in meeting someone else expectation of who I’m supposed to be, so I will not allow myself to be boxed to a corner that does not fully reflect who I am. That was my response to her.
Fitness is a lot more than workouts and exercise.
Fitness is about all of me; that’s who I am.
A lot of the time, some people get hung up on other people’s perceptions of themselves, they end up sacrificing who they are so as to meet someone else expectations. I may not be able to give you a sure formula for success; however, I am very sure that trying to please everybody all the time is a great recipe for failure.
Your unwillingness to fully express yourself fully means you’re giving away a part of you in order to meet someone else expectation and guess what; you can only keep giving and giving until there’s nothing left to give. Life is already hard even when you’re at your best; imagine what it’s like when you’re far less than your best self.
Being authentic means being vulnerable. In life, we will all be exposed to negative emotions like harsh criticism, envy, hate, rivalry, etc. People who are always real in themselves do not have the protection of deceit and pretense against these negative emotions. Especially in our current world of trends, likes, and follows; where social approval is becoming like oxygen, it takes a lot more courage to be authentic these days. However, be rest assured that when you stay true to yourself, you will still find and connect to like-minded people like yourself and their approval are the only ones you’ll need in life.
It is important that we always remind ourselves of these things, we may not be perfect, actually, no one is but we need to keep evolving into better versions of ourselves every single day. We may not be happy always but we can choose to stay positive all the time. It’s better to be real than to try to be perfect. Say this to yourself all the time; “I am amazing the way I am”
Fitness for me is about being healthy and staying true to myself. I don’t necessarily focus on the results, I rather pay more attention to the process, cause it’s the process the reveals the real you. For some people, Fitness is more about the image, wanting to be perfect in the eyes of others and then they miss out on the very important aspects of it which are making sure that your whole self is becoming a better person while you’re at it.
Do yourself a favor, forget about other people’s expectations of you, don’t give people that power over you; that way you take away their ability to hurt your feelings. Stay true to yourself always; in fitness, out of fitness, in life.
Always enjoy your Fitness Journey!