IT’S ALL A GAME

I’m always confused by the concept of death challengng us to a final game of chess before he takes us away. Aren’t you already dead at that point? What could you possibly gain by winning? Besides , death ALWAYS wins.

Then I started thinking…what if the REAL game is going on right now? What is my position on the board? How many of his pawns have I already dispatched? How many do I have left? WHAT IF the objective is not to win…but to see how long you can last?

That makes it much more interesting, doesn’t it?

On a smaller scale, we can look at our fitness goals as a sort of game as well. Not only does this make it more fun, but it diffuses the otherwise stifling and paralyzing guilt we feel whenever we make a mistake.

Name a Nemesis

Personally, I find my fitness journey much more fun when I feel like I’m battling against an epic foe; someone who’s hell-bent on my destruction, and who goes into fits of rage whenever I foil him.

At the gym, I like to imagine that somewhere out there is a secret mountain lair. There, the bad guys are watching my progress on a huge, multi-screened monitor. At some point, the second-in-command, drenched in sweat and tugging at his collar, has to break it to the Big Bad how many calories I’ve burned that day, or how much weight I lifted, or the fact that I went on not one , but TWO runs.

The Big Bad is all like “What!” and then storms into the main room to check the monitor. Watching my progress, he whispers,

“Impossible…”

Then with rising fury, “im…POSSIBLE!” at which point he Kylo-Rens the SHIT outta the room, breaking everything and probably killing a few dudes as well.

He turns to the second-in-command and says, “You’ve disappointed me for the last time…” and force-chokes him right there in front of everybody. Then he turns to another guy, much bigger, stronger and more dangerous looking than the guy he just killed, and says, “I’m putting you in charge of this mission. Do not fail me.”

And that’s Day 2.

The Destructive Power of Guilt

Have you ever felt so guilty about cheating on your diet/skipping the gym that it was hard for you to get back on track? Not only are these guilty feelings useless, but they are also dangerous. Expel them. Learn from your mistakes and move on. You only truly lose if you stop.

And that’s just what he wants.

Don’t Get Sad, Get Mad!

If you’ve done your homework and named your Nemesis, this should be easy. You didn’t lose out of weakness. You were tricked by a crafty foe. Rather than hanging your head in shame, you should be shaking your fist and cursing his name, and vowing that next time, NEXT TIME, you’ll be ready!

Next time. Those two little words have already set you up for tomorrow.

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Outrunning The Devil

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Exercise your demons! A blog about the fitness mindset.

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