I'm feeling a bit grumpy today.
Stumbled upon someone clearly upset, looking the part in fitness clobber. Me being me, I asked what was up. Her "personal trainer" had just told her that she wasn't succeeding because she lacked focus, she didn't believe in herself, she was making excuses, she was 'mentally weak'. On gentle probing I discovered it was the wrong time of the month, she'd been up with a small child most of the night, and is getting a lot of stress from work. Mentally weak, my arse, she's just knackered! And hearing that it's to do with her lack of intrinsic motivation is helping? I doubt it...
It reminds me of a gym instructor I once had - I'd told her I was unable to do an exercise she was giving me, 'of course you can do it, you just need to believe more'. Er, no, I have something called a "frozen pelvis" (as nice as it implies) and recent abdominal surgery; sorry love that's simply not going to happen.
I get the whole 'tough love' approach. I get the whole self-belief thing. I get the fact that some people are motivated by this stuff.
But surely, sometimes, people can't do stuff. Not because they are 'mentally weak', and not because they 'don't believe', but just because they can't. I suspect I've bored you with my diagnosis of post-thrombotic syndrome at some point. Well, this means that sometimes, when I'm out running I have to stop. Not because I'm making excuses, but because it hurts like hell, and it's the sort of hurt that can't be 'run through' (I've tried, believe me). Sometimes, we just can't do stuff. Sometimes people have invisible illnesses that prevent them doing what they used to do. Sometimes we have stuff going on in our personal lives, stuff that gets in the way of achieving what we want to achieve - stuff that we can't (and shouldn't) ignore.
So today, I'm focussing on the positives. Some of you people achieve some amazing stuff. And some of you people achieve less in terms of distance run, medals won, weight lost, but you're achieving something amazing by just keeping on doing what you're doing and not giving up when things get tough. Keep on doing that stuff.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, I seem to have gained a new client. One strong, feisty lady with a lot on her plate, quite the opposite of 'mentally weak'...
Stumbled upon someone clearly upset, looking the part in fitness clobber. Me being me, I asked what was up. Her "personal trainer" had just told her that she wasn't succeeding because she lacked focus, she didn't believe in herself, she was making excuses, she was 'mentally weak'. On gentle probing I discovered it was the wrong time of the month, she'd been up with a small child most of the night, and is getting a lot of stress from work. Mentally weak, my arse, she's just knackered! And hearing that it's to do with her lack of intrinsic motivation is helping? I doubt it...
It reminds me of a gym instructor I once had - I'd told her I was unable to do an exercise she was giving me, 'of course you can do it, you just need to believe more'. Er, no, I have something called a "frozen pelvis" (as nice as it implies) and recent abdominal surgery; sorry love that's simply not going to happen.
I get the whole 'tough love' approach. I get the whole self-belief thing. I get the fact that some people are motivated by this stuff.
But surely, sometimes, people can't do stuff. Not because they are 'mentally weak', and not because they 'don't believe', but just because they can't. I suspect I've bored you with my diagnosis of post-thrombotic syndrome at some point. Well, this means that sometimes, when I'm out running I have to stop. Not because I'm making excuses, but because it hurts like hell, and it's the sort of hurt that can't be 'run through' (I've tried, believe me). Sometimes, we just can't do stuff. Sometimes people have invisible illnesses that prevent them doing what they used to do. Sometimes we have stuff going on in our personal lives, stuff that gets in the way of achieving what we want to achieve - stuff that we can't (and shouldn't) ignore.
So today, I'm focussing on the positives. Some of you people achieve some amazing stuff. And some of you people achieve less in terms of distance run, medals won, weight lost, but you're achieving something amazing by just keeping on doing what you're doing and not giving up when things get tough. Keep on doing that stuff.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, I seem to have gained a new client. One strong, feisty lady with a lot on her plate, quite the opposite of 'mentally weak'...
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