Castle Personal Training
Castle Personal Training is a Corstorphine, Edinburgh based company who specialise in weightloss/toning and Pre and Post Natal exercise.
Blog 14-04-13 Witnessing Achievement…See the Beauty in it…and Applaud it.
Hi guys,
Man, life is busy at the moment. Seeing quite a few interesting clients every week and meeting plenty of cool people from various backgrounds. I have written my last Yofittv blog for a while as I simply don’t have the time to write a weekly motivation blog for them on top of my other blogs/programs/classes etc etc. This is one I wrote for them two weeks ago, during the week I will post another Castle original blog.
Cheers,
Peter
No it’s not that guy from those Kung Fu films
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Dalai Lama
As I wrote my blog last week a thought came to me;
It‘s very easy to be cynical about a friend or colleague who is trying to improve their life. I see and hear it all the time; “My friends all think I’m mad for working out at 6AM 3 times a week”, “My mates all think I’m pretentious by saying I’m training 4 times a week when I don’t play a sport. They all call it working-out.” “My pals all think I’m a fitness fanatic now as I’m don’t go out drinking with them every Friday and Saturday anymore but go to the gym on Friday evening instead.” “He’s tried to quit smoking before, he’ll never succeed”.
Those are just a few examples of the kind of comments which are quite common. You probably heard some of them yourself when you first decided to get off the couch and do something about improving your health. Or maybe you even made some of them yourself about someone else who decided to change their habits.
It’s a very strange part of our culture, we think it’s completely acceptable to tell someone who just wants an orange juice when in the pub to “Ah, go on..just have one “proper” drink! What’s wrong with you?”
Or, when someone is trying to give up smoking we just say “Why don’t you just come out with me..I’ll let you have one of mine” when they admit they are struggling at that moment. It seems to be more acceptable to do this rather than say “Just hang in there, and I won’t smoke in front of you anymore for the next few weeks until you’ve succeeded”.
There are two possible outcomes when someone tries to achieve something;
1 They fail. In which case you can say; “HA! Told you you wouldn’t make it!” What would you gain by saying something like that? You might lose a friend simply because you’re being seen as a smug, unsupportive cynic but, other than having proven that you think being right is more important to you than seeing others succeed, you have nothing to gain from it.
2 They succeed. In which case you would be left behind. Successful people don’t want to be surrounded by people who constantly doubt them or tell them they won’t succeed.
You’re simply much better off wishing someone the best. If you’re always supportive of others, they will be supportive of you when you attempt something. How much easier would it be to give up smoking or improve your diet when you have friends around you who have all done it themselves? You would have an amazing support network if you’d surround yourself with positive and kind people but you will only gain that if you stop being negative yourself.
The fitness industry tends to be very superficial; We focus on weight-loss, fat-loss, strength, toning etc. ignoring inner-health. What should be remembered is that anything that people want to do to improve themselves as a person should be applauded and supported by those around them.
It is a beautiful thing to see someone achieving their goals knowing that you played a small part in their success. Those who achieve their goals are usually very thankful to those who have supported them, it’s a wonderful feeling…a hell of a lot better than the fleeting moment of self-righteous joy you might feel after saying “I told you so” when someone fails.
Just to throw a bit of American culture in there as well;
Henry David Thoreau (American author and poet 1817-1862) said it best when he said;
“Friends, they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.”
No, it’s not Abraham Lincoln!
Listen to the man and be a friend to others.
Take care,
Your friend.
Peter
Castle Personal Training 