I'm a big fan of the sport of strongman. It's all about men and even women exerting physical persuasion on seemingly impossible sized objects and situations. It's a sport dominated by men like this:
This is my favorite strongman, Brian Shaw. He's 32 years old, 6'8" and weights over 400lbs in competition. This is the ideal body of a professional strongman.
I am 30 years old, 5'10", and 175lbs. An Atlas Stone would absolutely smoosh me and I could not even get my hands around the handles of most strongman equipment. Mine is not a body made for strongman competition. No matter how much I tried, I could not become a professional strongman. If I ate more to gain weight(which is a big factor in the sport) I would simply get fat because my frame was not created to carry mountains of muscle. If I were to train and train to become superhuman strong, I would still not go beyond average strength because I am not genetically gifted with a great strength capacity. And let's face it, I'm not getting any taller(I might even be getting shorter)
So many of us, myself included, are trying so hard to be someone else. We want the body an actor or athlete we know; or maybe a friend of family member, or even a rival. One look at someone we perceive as being better than us and we are suddenly very aware of our "shortcomings".
I forget what I can do and focus on what I can't or how I measure up compared to someone else. I hear this from women mostly but men feel the same way, we just don't verbalize it like women do. We all want to be better than we are, but the problem is that we look outside of ourselves to find that.
I am speaking of the physical body in all this. At first reaction, better for me means that I need to gain 200lbs, 6" taller, and the ability to sling a beer keg 25 feet in the air. When I sit and think about it, better really means becoming the best version of myself. This is all anyone can hope for. I'm not saying it's okay to settle, but we need to be realistic with our goals and means of meeting them. When you take a look at yourself and calculate what you are capable of realistically, you are freed from the unrealistic expectations that society and our own minds put on you. How comforting to know that you don't have to kill yourself figuratively and in some cases literally, to look like Jessica Alba, Simpson, or Beil because you can't look like them! Only one person can look like one person unless they are twins. That is how life works. People have different bone structures, different muscle fiber types, different fat storage genetics, different everything. This is what makes a person unique and this should be embraced. I might not have what Brian Shaw or Derek Poundstone have but I've got things that they don't and that is something unique to me.
I forget what I can do and focus on what I can't or how I measure up compared to someone else. I hear this from women mostly but men feel the same way, we just don't verbalize it like women do. We all want to be better than we are, but the problem is that we look outside of ourselves to find that.
I am speaking of the physical body in all this. At first reaction, better for me means that I need to gain 200lbs, 6" taller, and the ability to sling a beer keg 25 feet in the air. When I sit and think about it, better really means becoming the best version of myself. This is all anyone can hope for. I'm not saying it's okay to settle, but we need to be realistic with our goals and means of meeting them. When you take a look at yourself and calculate what you are capable of realistically, you are freed from the unrealistic expectations that society and our own minds put on you. How comforting to know that you don't have to kill yourself figuratively and in some cases literally, to look like Jessica Alba, Simpson, or Beil because you can't look like them! Only one person can look like one person unless they are twins. That is how life works. People have different bone structures, different muscle fiber types, different fat storage genetics, different everything. This is what makes a person unique and this should be embraced. I might not have what Brian Shaw or Derek Poundstone have but I've got things that they don't and that is something unique to me.
What I can do is work to become the best me that I can be. I hate to say it but in the quest to be a more like someone else, the personality often suffers too and that is not being a better anybody. Focus on what you have to work with and don't try to duplicate another person; the world is big enough for billions of individuals so be one! Find your strengths and play to them. There is a reason why certain people are at the top of their game, whatever it may be. There is talent and there is skill. The elite were born that way and worked in the skill I get where they are. If you don't have any talent, you can at least develop skill but don't expect to outplay Lebron James on skill alone. Skill takes the average to good and elite to legendary.
This is my body and this is what I can do. I can get better if I work hard but I will still have my own body, not someone else's and my unique attributes. I will accept that this has been, is, and will always be true and I will embrace and work with what I have to become the best version of myself I can be.
