Welcome to the pressure dome! Every day we are faced with challenges- at home, at work, in our relationships and from within ourselves. Expectations of what we want for ourselves and the growing notion of keeping up with the Joneses can become just well, all too much.
I don't know if we can say that life is harder now than for our parents' generation or are the struggles just different. We, I know talk more about the difficulties that face us and the media plays a huge role in highlighting social and more personalised issues than would have been documented in the times gone by.
The saying, "you never knows what goes on behind closed doors" is something I always think about. We look at people and decide who they are-what their life must be like and all this is done without really knowing what lies beneath. This is very easy to do, especially now with social media playing such a huge part in peoples' lives.
Social media is all perception and 90% of all posts that go up are you in your best (filtered) light, documenting the exceptional elements of your day/night /week and rarely show what is really going on behind the scenes. People looking in see only the on line you and the you that you wish to share with them, this is good to remember when you feel you know people from their on line persona- the truth is you don't!
After an exceptionally tough weekend, I got to thinking about my own coping mechanisms' and how I manage to keep my life together? Like I said, we all face pressures and must find away to tackle them, deal with them and come away- feeling happy we have supported ourselves and others who need it. For me the solution is never hiding from a problem but tackling it head on and then my training comes into play. For an hour, you can just switch off and switch into yourself. It is a time when it is just about you, a time when you can achieve something (it might be the only thing that goes right that day) but you have total control over it and you have done it all for and by yourself.
External factors sometimes means we can't always get our way on things, sometimes things take a long time and can simply just be bigger than us. However your fitness and peace of mind can be controlled by you and you alone. You will make the choice to get up, get out and train your body.
I see how people in my life deal with problems- some emotionally eat, some shut down, some just shut off, some drink and some just let it build. Me, I train. Why? Because from this I can get a fresh perspective on everything, I take the time for myself and get a reprieve away from all the madness that goes on and can simply just enjoy the movement, the pain! and be happy in the fact that I have done something that will benefit both my body and my mind.
I always think a negative should be counteracted with a positive- so when it all gets too much, why not try and do something you might never do- stop reaching for the crux (could be ice cream) and reach for your runners!
All problems seem on first impression like they just can't be solved but it's funny with time and a balanced rounded attitude to them and life- anything is possible. Removing the negatives sometimes isn't easy, but when you decide what YOU want and decide you will empower your OWN life, the future can only be bright.
