Nobody is perfect.
The world is difficult.
Life is a struggle.
These are universal acclamations that everyone can agree on. Even in today’s divided day and age.
Everybody suffers from something. We all have inner demons that we set out to conquer on a day to day basis. There are different paths you can take to overcome your trials and tribulations. There is the common path. The path that requires nothing of you other than to accept what other people purport onto you as a solution to your problems. Regardless of what those solutions may be. Then there is the path less traveled. The path that requires sacrifice. It requires dedication. Hard work. It requires accepting those three acclamations listed above and doing what needs to be done regardless.
It is also this author’s belief that there is a large stigma, misunderstanding, misconception, and flat out ignorance when it comes to physical exercise. It’s come to my attention, especially in the recent years with the Covid-19 pandemic, that a large population either are not aware of the non-physical benefits of working out, or refuse to acknowledge them in order to traverse an alternative path to self-healing, and mental health. However, there exists several traits crucial to the building of a strong mind, achieving success, and happiness in life. Traits that could be attained, trained, evolved, and tested within the realm of a gym. Which is why in this article, I will provide the 10 non-physical traits you need in life that you develop in the gym.
10- Discipline
What is a world without discipline? An asylum ran by lunatics. Discipline is an important aspect of life. Every successful individual is disciplined. If you are disciplined, no matter how you feel, you get up and do what you’re supposed to do. You do not wait for the lightning strike of motivation to jolt you into action. No. You do what needs to be done regardless of how you feel. Learning discipline or becoming disciplined is a difficult task. It is even more difficult if you do not have a the proper metric or test to apply your discipline to and measure it by. The gym provides the ultimate solution to that problem. You must be disciplined to not only remain in the gym, but to succeed, and improve. In the gym -as with life- you must be disciplined, or you will fail.
9- Persistence
Discipline gets you to the gym. It gets you to abide by a certain regimen, a certain diet. Persistence keeps you there. Napoleon Hill author of the best selling book Think and Grow Rich wrote “failure cannot cope with persistence.” In life, in order to succeed you must persist past its trials and tribulations. In the gym, once you’ve committed yourself to physical exercise, and accepted the reality that this is the correct path towards a stronger mind and a stronger body, you will need persistence in achieving that outcome.
8- Stoicism
Stoicism hails from ancient Greece and Rome in the early parts of the 3rd century, BC. It is a life philosophy. Stoicism promotes maximizing positive emotions, reducing negative emotions, and honing your virtues of character. A stoic person is a person who can endure great pain or hardship without exhibiting their feelings or complaining.
The most important life lesson you need to learn is that complaining will accomplish nothing. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining outside, you still need to get to your job. You can be broke, you still need to pay the rent. Nobody cares. You can complain, no one will listen. The gym is a great place to hone this philosophy. More often than not, nobody wants to go to the gym. The so called “gym rats” that you see in the gym. The ones you think need to be dragged out for them to leave. In reality, even they don’t want to be there. But they are there regardless.
7 -Self-Confidence
Everybody strives for feeling comfortable in their own skin. Some people will convince themselves that they are comfortable, and force onto society certain implications to conform and confirm their convictions. But in reality the only way to feel self-confidence is to be the best version of yourself that you can be. That includes both the physical and the mental. You are a different person when you operating at optimal efficiency in those two aspects. Your old self will become a stranger. Someone you do not even recognize. The gym is the arena where you go about forgetting that version of yourself and transforming into the better.
6- Mental Health
For all the conversations swirling around mental health in the 21st century, not enough mainstream media admiration, nor acknowledgment, is given to the positive impact working out has on mental health. Instead, the number one treatment for mental health issues has been through prescribed drugs. Very rare does a Doctor prescribe you a gym membership. Yet they will always prescribe you mind altering pills. It’s because getting you to take a drug, is far easier than getting you to go to the gym. There are several studies that depict how exercise helps improve mental health. As well, there are several studies that question why exercise is a neglected intervention in mental health care.
Mental health is the quintessential foundation for a healthy life. There are different ways you can achieve a healthy mind. But what is the right way? Is it through mind altering drugs whose efficacy is based on questionable empirical evidence? Or through a regimen and activity that’s been around and practiced, whose benefits evident, since the dawn of mankind?
5- Aspiration
The real world provides you with opportunities to experience aspiration and acclaim through hard work. You can get a promotion at your job. You can be recognized for a certain philanthropic act. You become accustomed to competition, with a work in return for reward system. To become the best you must beat the best. It is a philosophy that you must hone if you have any wish to reap the rewards of success.
In the gym, first-timers walk in as young pups. Daunted and intimidated by the prowling big dogs. Self-doubting and self-depreciating . Insisting they will never reach the top of the hierarchy. But past the point of doubt, with hard work, time, and improvement, you will earn your stripes. You will gradually climb all the requisite levels. Until one day you no longer relate to that little pup on campus. You now roam with the big dogs.
4- Creativity
Inspiration is found in motion. It is not found being idle on a couch snacking on chips. Whether you are in the gym, running on a track, or walking, inspiration is found in motion. You need to be creative. It doesn’t matter if you want to become an artist, a musician, or a writer. Creativity is just as essential to the brain as peace, humor, knowing, and any other cognitive feeling. The ability to be creative is as essential in life as the ability to read, be sociable, debate, or analyze. Be creative, go to the gym.
3- Energy
You need to spend energy to have energy. Counterintuitive but true. Exercise boosts oxygen circulation inside your body. This not only allows for more energy production, but more efficient energy use. It’s not me saying it, it’s science.
2- Happiness
Need a cure for depression? Have you tried the gym? Probably not. It is not the mainstream solution. Even though recent studies now question the use of antidepressants. While other studies prove that active sessions of exercise is an all natural treatment to fight depression, making people happier. “When you exercise, it increases endorphins, dopamine, adrenaline and endocannabinoid — these are all brain chemicals associated with feeling happy, feeling confident, feeling capable, feeling less anxiety and stress and even less physical pain,” health psychologist Dr. McGonigal says. She goes on to say “Exercise is also shown to help some people with depression, which experts say could be to due an increase in nerve cell growth in the brain that happens when you exercise.”
Go figure.
1- Fulfillment
The number one non-physical trait that the gym helps you achieve is feeling fulfilled. Satisfied. It is a feeling everyone chases, but few end up capturing. The gaping hole within oneself is instead filled with alternatives. Food, alcohol, drugs, the list goes on. But exercise, physical activity, personal development, being in the gym and the camaraderie that comes with it, will leave you with a fulfilled feeling like no other.
A Key To Success
The wealthiest individuals attribute a key habit of their success to exercise. Think about it. Think about everything that’s required to progress in the gym. Not including the traits listed above, in order to grow in the gym you need to be healthy, follow a healthy diet, not poison your body with junk. You also need to have initiative. You need to be self-aware, self- critical. Admit you need to improve and then go about the process of improving. You need to work hard and be committed. Reject critics and keep a tunnel vision.
These are all the same traits required to succeed in life. Whatever it is you choose to succeed in. Whether it is your career, your marriage, your craft. Whether you want to be the intricate painter, or the graceful ballet dancer, or the cunning business person. Whichever path you choose to pursue and be successful in, you need the traits mentioned in this article. Traits that are found, trained, and honed inside the four walls of a room filled with steel bars and metallic weights. There is no other way around it. Some people are born gifted with these traits. For the rest of us, we need to get in there and work hard to obtain them.
If you succeed in the gym, you will without a doubt succeed in life. If you are disciplined in the gym, you will be disciplined in life. If you are persistent in the gym, your persistence will spillover to your life. You will earn respect in the world, if you learn to earn it in the gym. You will be more creative in your life endeavors if you first harness creativity in the gym. You will have more energy to lead a more productive life if you first produce more energy in the gym. Most important of them all, if you can learn to overcome whatever it is that is bothering you, whatever insignificant little nuisance that is picking away at you at any particular moment in time, by going to the gym, and defeating a depressed mindset, then you will not only be happy in the gym, but you will be happy in life
