Obsession.

During this point in my training I start to get a lot of odd looks – especially if I’m wearing a sleeveless shirt. Believe it or not, I get a little self conscious because I absolutely do not enjoy being the center of attention.

Some people are very complimentary and ask if I lift. Some people give me looks as though “ok sister’s got a problem.”

(I have several, yes thanks for noticing.)

This past week during a NH Association of Realtors Leadership Academy dinner, my training became a topic. Many in the group follow me on Facebook and had so many kind and supportive words. A couple had just learned about my training because while the blue cheese smothered potato chips and crispy chicken appetizers were getting passed around the table I was chomping on some delicious steamed green beans.

One fellow member simply looked at me perplexed, and genuinely curious, kindly asked, “Why?”

This gentleman does competitive cycling – in hindsight, I suppose I could have just answered back with a question of “why do you do cycling?” or “why do people choose to run marathons?”

But it had been a long day, my brain was mush and I don’t think I gave my reasoning justice. I simply said, “I enjoy the challenge.”

Mulling over that question in my head the last couple of days – as it gets asked every time I do one of these, the answer – my answer – is so much more complex.

A few months ago I had applied to present at Portsmouth TedX and my topic was centered around how training for a body building competition helped with mindset, body positivity and how it contributes to success. 

One of the interviewers asked, “don’t you think this is just another negative example of showing how women are obsessive about their bodies.”

My heart broke a little bit because anyone who has known me knows how strongly I feel about body positivity and reinforcing the notion that women – especially young women – should not ever be judged upon what their bodies look like. Every body is beautiful.

This lady didn’t get it, unfortunately.

My response to her was, “I think that’s unfortunate way to look at what I am trying to get across which is exactly why I want this to be my topic. I think people SHOULD be obsessed with their bodies, including their mind – it’s an amazing machine that’s capable of so much – and not just from an aesthetic standpoint, but from a mental standpoint. The training for these helped me create such a better relationship with my body knowing what it’s capable of – not just how it looks.”

While it is the challenge of it and I do love the process, more specifically, it’s more about the training of my mindset. No pun intended, your mind is like a muscle and the more you train it, the stronger it gets. Training for one of these is so much more than getting fit. It’s discipline, it’s focus, it’s work ethic, it’s mental toughness and on and on and on. Training for a competition (I imagine the same is true for any competition – marathons, etc), gives you tools to help with many facets in life – how to handle time management, disappointments, obstacles, alienation, judgment, exhaustion, and so on.   

I get the comments of, “oh my god I could never do that.” – my internal response is, “of course you could. You just don’t want to. And that’s ok.”

There’s a lot of things I have zero desire to do – I am in awe of people who train and run for marathons. I have ZERO desire to do that – could I do it? Sure, but if I don’t WANT to, I won’t. It’s like anything, if you want something, you will make it happen – or I should say, you CAN make it happen. One of my favorite quotes is whether you think you can or you can’t you’re right. 

And that’s what training for a fitness competition has taught me – the power of the mind – the power of the human body.

So no, lady interviewer of Portsmouth TedEx, I don’t think it’s a negative representation of how society is obsessed with their bodies.