Note to Self: Encourage, not Discourage
It’s amazing how what gets said in one area of life filters to other areas of life. When you get told, "You can’t afford that daytrip" or "No, you can’t race a marathon" or "Don’t wear those clothes, they’re too tight fitting" it can be said with protection in the heart, but just being blurted out of the mouth without thinking how they affect you.
When someone you love says that, you can get the impression that you are destined to not wear clothes that flatter you or accomplish fitness goals. This isn’t encouragement, and you have to take extreme measures to ignore them. You know that they are sabotaging you with love whenever they have some extra casserole that "they happened to make too much of".
You have to learn to have faith in yourself and your view of your body can’t be skewered by someone else’s comment that you are getting bigger. (Of course you’re getting bigger, you’re working out!) To be extreme in this case means to not let them know what you are doing…yes, it means no support from them and you will have to find alternative ways to gather that support, but it also means that you will be avoiding being in a dangerous situation where an off comment can derail you.
Always find some positive thing to notice about yourself and hang onto that until the next positive arrives. Ultimately, you are not only responsible for your own diet, drinking water, rest, stretching, cardio, and work outs…but you are also responsible for being your own cheering section. Other bodybuilders may help encourage and inspire you temporarily until you can stand on your own two feet, but you are the one who accepts or rejects their comments too.
Something that just popped into my mind, when you do arrive at the point where you are positive and uplifting of your own progress, others may seek your encouragement and inspiration for their own needs. Recall what the Bible says, To those who are given much, much will be expected from them! Expect much from yourself and expect to build many others up.
June 18, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Yep, people around you do that without noticing. I don’t know if I can call that lack of knowledge or simply bad manner. For Me, I always receive it from the right ear and send out from the let ear.