I just left the gym…

As usual, I had a great workout…and without fail, something to provide me entertainment while working out.

The gym I go to is always good for entertainment.

Anyway, as I was working out, a guy walked up who was ridiculously huge. I say “ridiculous” because this guy was ‘cartoon-character’ huge. His arms were larger than my both legs (combined)

Today I happen to be doing cardio weight training which is when you use considerably lighter weights, but do more reps.

So the muscle man’s friend came up..who was almost as big as he was and he wanted to use the machine I was on.

I noticed he was kinda chuckling to himself then I overheard him clowning me to his friend.

Unbeknownst to the two guys, my battery had died on my ipod…so there was no music playing, they assumed I couldn’t hear them.

Initially, this kinda upset me…but what was I going to do? Beat the guy up? 🙂

So, I just left it alone and finished my set.

As I stood up I turned around and the guy was standing right in my face with a ‘belittling’ grin on his face, as to say, “now you can see how it’s supposed to be done.” As he proceeded to stack on the weights.

Oddly, someone else saw this whole exchange and said to me, “Hey, don’t worry about those guys…they’re jerks.”

I didn’t reply at first, but after a few seconds I said to the woman, “I’m not worried about them because I have different goals than they do.” Then I went on to explain the benefits of doing cardio weight training.

As I was talking to the woman, the first guy came over to where we were sitting and handed me my water bottle (I’d left it at the machine I was on). He overheard me talking to the woman and said, “Hey that’s a good idea…I might try that.”

He even went on to ‘apologize’ for his friend. (It wasn’t really an apology, but it was as close as men get to apologizing to other men)

Not that I needed an apology, but it made me feel pretty good.

The woman commented and said that I have a great attitude and that I dealt with the situation very well.

I just think it’s because of the way I choose to look at things.

I workout because it’s fun. I want to stay in shape and keep healthy. I have no intention on becoming some steroid-inhaling monster-man.

If that’s what other people want, that’s cool…but it’s not for me and I’m not going to allow anyone else to make me feel bad about my choices.

It reminded me about a lesson I learned several years ago: Scott, a longtime friend of mine from Miami, and I were hanging out and saw a guy who he knew driving down the street in the new convertible CLK (AMG). This guy was around our age and I remember saying, “Geez, what the heck does this guy do to drive that?!? I need to be driving that”

Admittedly, I was a little jealous (very jealous) and actually started getting upset – not at him, but at myself.

To add insult to injury, just that moment, a gorgeous Latina (I had a really big thing for Latin women) walked by and heard me talking to Scott. She looked at us, chuckled and says, “You wish”

Ouch

By now, I’m boiling. I wasn’t upset about the car or what the girl said, but the fact that I wasn’t doing what I needed to do to afford that type of car.

Scott says to me, “Don’t ever be jealous of what other people have… you never know how they got it.” He went on to tell me that both the guy’s parents were killed in a car accident and he manipulated and stole from his brothers and sisters to get the majority of the money.

Wow

That’s something to think about.

Really put things into perspective.

Practical Application

NEVER, EVER compare yourself to other people. Decide what you want in your own life and choose that path – no one else’s.

Don’t allow other people’s judgment of you dictate your happiness.