I agree pretty much with everything you said, and most of this stuff applied to me at some point in my life.
In high school and for years afterwards I was really big on powerlifting. I had a friend who I trained with, and this guy was very very hard on himself. He always seemed to push himself 100% and beyond. I was by nature more lenient to myself, but the idea of trying and going really hard got stuck to me. I did get pretty strong, sure. But also at some point I started dreading the gym. But I was afraid to quit, because I didn’t want to lose my gains. I also became much more concerned with food than I used to be, and had strict rule that I could eat snacks only once per week.
At some point I started therapy for other issues, and along the way realized that I was clinging to gym and pushing myself for really no benefit at all, actually to my own detriment. I quit the gym, allowed my self to snack, and picked up a new hobby I liked. None of my fears came true. I lost a lot of weight of which pretty much all was fat, so I was feeling great. I loved my new hobby (alhouthg I brought with me the need to push myself) and felt better emotionally too. Eventually I l relaxed with the new hobby too. Now I wonder why I was doing all that forcing before? I’m feeling so much better all around after letting go of that must do mentality. I do still push myself, and sometimes find myself thinking I’m not doing enough, but I’m more aware of it.
I agree pretty much with everything you said, and most of this stuff applied to me at some point in my life.
In high school and for years afterwards I was really big on powerlifting. I had a friend who I trained with, and this guy was very very hard on himself. He always seemed to push himself 100% and beyond. I was by nature more lenient to myself, but the idea of trying and going really hard got stuck to me. I did get pretty strong, sure. But also at some point I started dreading the gym. But I was afraid to quit, because I didn’t want to lose my gains. I also became much more concerned with food than I used to be, and had strict rule that I could eat snacks only once per week.
At some point I started therapy for other issues, and along the way realized that I was clinging to gym and pushing myself for really no benefit at all, actually to my own detriment. I quit the gym, allowed my self to snack, and picked up a new hobby I liked. None of my fears came true. I lost a lot of weight of which pretty much all was fat, so I was feeling great. I loved my new hobby (alhouthg I brought with me the need to push myself) and felt better emotionally too. Eventually I l relaxed with the new hobby too. Now I wonder why I was doing all that forcing before? I’m feeling so much better all around after letting go of that must do mentality. I do still push myself, and sometimes find myself thinking I’m not doing enough, but I’m more aware of it.