Depression, Frustration, Determination
How many people do you know suffer from depression? It’s a disease that plagues many different people for a lot of different reasons and often we don’t even know that they suffer from it.
One of the big things that causes depression is lack of self esteem, perceived low self worth and poor body image. These people often look in the mirror and find the image of themselves disgusting, unappealing or something no one would want to see. Because of these, they develop a construct in their minds that these terrible thoughts are true. From this, those thoughts become a perceived reality and that reality creates a mental anguish that haunts these people everyday of their lives.
This depression can cause people to go into a downward spiral or seek help. Often that help comes in the form of a pill, but does that pill really fix the problem or does it just mask the outward symptoms and ignore the underlying problems? When people become tired of taking pills they search for another solution and that solution if often in the realm of physical fitness.
The pursuit of the right program leads into the next point of this post.
Frustration
People look for answers and solutions to a serious problem that haunts them day and night. Most people know that physical exercises releases feel good endorphins that can help alleviate the symptoms of depression.
The search usually starts with going to a globo gym. These are the massive buildings with thousands of machines, but no real direction. When we enter these places we are immediately filled with feelings of inadequacy, intimidation and the feeling of immediate judgement from others.
This leads to never really going back, which is what the globo gyms bank on. Thousands of members who don’t go to the gym. This keeps the needs of equipment to a sustainable level and money in the gyms pocket. Can you image if each and every member of a globo gym showed up all at the same time?
More frustration ensues and the search continues. Some quit at this point, others look for a better alternative, this quest for success leads into the final part of this point.
Determination
Those who are still pursuing a solution and haven’t quit are now faced with what seems like an endless amount of choices. Yoga, Pilates, Personal Trainer, CrossFit or a similar micro gym and the list goes on and on! These determined few choose a few of these places that are the least intimidating, scary and that outwardly match with their personalities.
Once they’ve chosen the right place then next step is gaining the courage to walk in the door. The most difficult and often the step that takes the most drive and courage is simply walking in the door and talking with the people who run or work at the establishment. Often time people find a sense of comfort and trust after their experience and sign up to being training in these small establishments. This leads to one of the most powerful aspect of micro gym.
The community
Imagine a place you go to everyday where everyone greets you with a smile, you look forward to seeing them when you’re there and miss them when you’re not. If they don’t see you they ask you where you’ve been and genuinely think of you as a friend. You feel comfortable sweating, laughing and being real and open with these people. This is the community you enter when you join a micro gym. No judgement, no problems, no attitudes, just friends who become a small family coming together once a day for that single hour where you don’t have to think about life’s pressure or problems. That one hour where you can just be you.
No one should have to suffer from the symptoms of depression and finding a supportive and happy place that’s not in a pill can be a very powerful way to turns things around and start on the path to a happy and healthy life. It takes a journey and the path is never clear, but those who stick it out always find what they’re looking for.
