Exercising will teach you a lot about life and even more about yourself as a person.
When a close friend first dragged my lazy ass to the gym, I was incredibly unfit and doughy and unconfident. And to top it all, I was embarrassed about all those things.
I was scared that people would point at me and laugh as I chafed myself into a puddle, plodding along on the treadmill at a snail’s pace. Or worse — they would pity me lifting these tiny little weights.
The way that I did them.
I would watch that obese guy walking on the treadmill and think, “Give up fatso — you’re not even trying.”
But he was trying a lot harder than me. And deep down, I knew it.
The problem was me — it was how I looked at people. They were making an effort to improve themselves and I was standing there being a snide little prick because of my insecurities.
I wasn’t mocking them. I was mocking me.
Exercise taught me that the people doing the most criticism are almost always the people who are doing the least to change.
Maybe it’s because they haven’t found their light, their way to improve the world and themselves, and they deeply wish they had. Or maybe because it hurts to watch someone winning when you’re losing or lost and don’t know how to turn it around.
Exercise taught me that it’s a lot easier to mock someone else for trying than making an effort yourself.
Exercise taught me that change is hard, but it’s almost impossible when you hate yourself and believe the world is against you.
And exercise taught me that I’d rather be the fat fucker plodding away with everyone laughing than the skinny fucker sitting around doing nothing but criticizing.
Now whenever I catch the eye of an obese person trying to turn their life around, trudging along on a treadmill, scared and self-consciously sweating buckets, I give them a nod and a smile so they know I’m rooting for them.
Because now I know how hard it is to climb that mountain.
And how brave they are for trying.