The day when you entered the gym excited to start your new and well-planned "training program",
was the day you began your downward spiral towards life-long mediocrity.
The day you signed up with the "insert-flashy-name-here" weightlifting club,
was the day you preemptively decided to dump all your innate skills and never really leverage them.
And the day you started relying on whatever mental cues that you found flying or lying around,
to either lift more or to improve your "technique",
was the day you stopped playing the sport for what it is,
and started a completely different activity which has had you going around in circles ...
To. This. Day.
~~~
"What the hell is he talking about?"
"Who does he think he is?"
"His ego must be the size of Mount Everest"
...
These must be some of the thoughts that popped up inside of you as you read the lines above.
Or your mind might have gone blank in shock.
Either way, what you just experienced, is something that very very few people do these days.
It is the state of being exposed to the Truth.
Yes.
When a human being hears or reads the Truth regarding something that he cares about,
or about something which means much more than the rest of his life's mundaneness or petty needs,
he does one of the two things.
He will either resist, fight or ignore the Truth. And will fall right back into his existence,
or,
he will have changed forever.
The second effect is much rarer.
And that is why, the English dictionary has the word - "Legend"
And that is why, on the planet earth, there are many, many, many, many athletes.
But only a handful Legends.
~~~
You see I used to firmly believe that all people are the same.
That behind all their personalities, mannerisms, habits, joys, sorrows,
likes, dislikes and preferences, there not only resides a one of a kind, unique source of raw talent and infinite humane power,
but that this uniqueness, this collection of legendary traits would actually come to light one day.
That one day, however late in their lifetime, they would become the Legend that they truly were underneath.
But as time has passed and I have gotten older,
I had to see through this "too good to be true" story that I have been telling myself.
Now I come to have realized a slightly different version of the story,
which is closer to the reality I see in my day-to-day.
Yes, almost all people are the same.
They are content living the life they are currently living.
Their personalities, mannerisms, habits, joys, sorrows, likes, dislikes and preferences
are not something that they realize that they have or do not have.
They become these things and build their own cocoon around these whimsical traits.
And they will "happily" live their life inside this cocoon.
Never ever bothering to truly check-in with themselves ... to see if this is all there is?
~~~
Such is the state in weightlifting and all other sports.
There are a few legends and a ton of athletes.
Legends do legendary things, whether it is moving a certain way or accomplishing the undone.
One who is just an athlete will do the things that have been done over and over again,
that other athletes have been doing for millennia,
things that are chewed, spat-out, then chewed and spat-out again.
Things that are forgotten the moment the mundaneness of their expression is over.
What makes Legends accomplish what they do,
what makes them become who they become,
what makes them finally arrive at that place where others spend their entire lives trying to get to,
is something I do not know.
What I do know is this ...
At times, legends need to be awakened.
That they need to be shown a glimpse of the glory that they can achieve for them to viscerally want it.
That they need to be exposed to the craziness, either in words or in pictures, to make them want to go ...
Crazy.
Yes.
It is the "crazy" ones that eventually show the sane ones, what real living is.
What thriving is.
What really makes one a Legend.
~~~
With utterly complete, unwavering confidence,
I will say that almost all who have read this far, have wasted their time.
Their pitiable existence on this planet will continue just as is.
As these words will have no effect on them.
As due to whatever circumstances,
they have forever succumbed to a life of petty chasing and finding comfort in being comfortable.
However, one, two or maybe three of you, when retiring for the day tonight,
will have made a decision that will completely change the rest of your life.
You might not immediately know it, but you will have.