★Physical Fitness/Self-Esteem/Confidence/Achievement?

You know how you can know something without knowing it? Sometimes obvious connections are so obvious that you don’t really SEE them – you overlook them. A different perspective can sometimes help you make a seemingly obvious connection more obvious in that the new perspective can make something resonate on a deeper more meaningful level. The new perspective can make us assimilate a change more easily. Different authors resonate differently with different people even though they may all be writing about the same subject. They just use different words, styles and perspectives. If everything could be understood from one perspective there wouldn’t be thousands of books to cover a single topic – one book would suffice. I was doing some backward thinking on how to achieve goals and by working backwards – in other words, by thinking “to achieve we first have to do what?” You can play around with different words and semantics for ideas like “achieve” or “self-esteem”, but I think you understand what I’m getting at. I came up with “your Achievements/Goals come about from Self-Confidence which comes from your level Self-Esteem which in large part comes from your physical fitness level which largely comes from your attitudes toward physical fitness”. Now, I know this is probably obvious, but for me, looking at these connections in this way seemed to help the truth of these connections resonate for me. I think some of us, (ME for one), are “thinkers” by nature. All of us are thinkers, but many of us spend an inordinate amount of time approaching problems primarily in a cerebral way because it is natural, easy (lazy) and convenient for us. In some ways I think this can be a kind of denial. We sometimes kid ourselves by willfully ignoring something obvious and pretending we aren’t seeing it. It’s like living with a lie. It’s like living with clutter, if we leave it long enough – even if we know it’s there – we no longer see it – or at least we pretend we don’t see it. Instead of making a “little” effort to clean up the mess we make NO effort. It’s hard to get off the couch or “push” ourselves physically so we find refuge in our heads, thoughts and books taking solace in the fact that we know that we COULD do something about it if we wanted to and we WILL do something about it when we having found the best and easiest way. It can also be like watching a married couple who no longer have anything to talk about in a restaurant. They know each other is there, but they no longer see each other. They are going through the motions. Our attitudes toward diet and exercise can be like the clutter we ignore. “Some day I’ll get around to implementing some of the important changes I need to make, but for now I’m just going to keep reading/researching for the ultimate best solution so I won’t waste any time going down a less efficient/effective road”. This is really just pretending. It’s paying lip-service. It’s flattery. Well, it’s time for me to be more conscious of this kind of thinking. It is time to ANSWER questions – to make decisions – to get off the couch and stop letting the elusive “best” be the enemy of the wonderful “good”. Assessing is fine – assess attitudes toward physical fitness, but I need to do more than assess – I need to EMBRACE a good and positive attitude. Make conscious decisions, not just endlessly evaluate (or maybe avoid pretending to evaluate and instead REALLY evaluate) options about what I’m doing with my life. It’s the difference between reading a travel magazine and traveling. Thinking is not enough- it requires action. Now here is the “ironic” part of this whole post. I’d like to know if you guys know of some good articles/books and so on about this line of thinking – the relationship between physical fitness and self-esteem and achievement. I’d like to read more about these connections. Funny, huh? Anyway, if you have read something you thought was really good in this area please share the source. I’ve always found that most books on physical fitness and diet bore me to tears and turning the pages is drudgery. I feel like I’m reading a dictionary. Maybe you know of a few gems out there that can tie the psychology of fitness into the mix. For the most part we do what we do because we want to do it for some reason. If we aren’t doing something, it’s ‘cause we don’t want to do it. Affirmations are effective in changing our thinking about things, but can we reprogram our desires? Perhaps perspective – looking at things from different angles – can change “ought to wants” into REAL wants. As in “I WANT to be healthy, because I REALLY DO” instead of “I want to be healthy ‘cause I’m supposed to want to be healthy, but really I’d rather just lay around on the couch all the time eating potato chips”. “Buddha was fat, I’ve seen his statue – didn’t seem to bother him, lol”!

Good post srwe,what you wrote was the first step in improving your fitness,even if you procrastinate further on doing the physical exercise doesn,t matter,because you took an honest inventory,you have took the first step,and you know the saying “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step” I eventually will need to somehow disipline myself in a certain part of my life,regardless how long I procrastinate,being aware of the need and desire to improve is setting
the goal in motion.