If your philosophy of living is aligned to fitness, you will get fitter in life. I wished for good health only after I grew up to 21 years of age. Until then, I had no idea what good health meant. My parents instilled the values and they took care of our food, diet and lifestyle as I stayed at home till that age.
And then afterwards, it will take me another decade to align my life philosophy to living and leading a healthy and fit life. But,once I moved out of home life to hostel life, I started exploring the concept of fitness.
The college days and the idea 💡
I still remember that first day of my college. When I reached the hostel, one of my seniors roll-called us to the basketball court in the evening and asked all juniors to play a game with him. It was 7 pm in the evening. I had joined this college thta was under the direct administration of Indian army.
During the course of the next 3 years of my graduation, I quietly observed and realised that physical activities were the major activities amongst the hostelites there. The reason – they were cultured in a physically active social environment of the army. They played the 4 basic games we had in our hostel: basketball, volleyball and badminton. Almost everyday. And on weekends, there used to be a cricket match pitting the seniors against the juniors. The game called upon their talent and batch feeling equally. Even though my batchmates played and asked me to join them, I shied away as I did not know much to play or participate! That’s the truth that I discovered about myself.
The first time that the interest to get fitter was born when I think I was in my third year of college. It was a birthday party and we folks were having fun dancing in one of the hostel rooms where everyone collected and did all masti. Everyone dancing and celebrating with their own unique moves that would otherwise embarrass the others. But, it was really good fun making our moves without being judged. Selfie times were still far away!
Friend’s friendly suggestion and the Terminator
A friend of mine suggested something as he quietly observed my moves: Seeing my moves, he suggested that I should work out as I had the potential to improve my physique and look good. When you are in that age bracket, you are too conscious about your looks and your looks are your most valued assets. Your looks decide and define a lot of things. If you are looking good, you will find girls to go on dates with. If you look strong and bestowed with shapely muscles, not many would like to mess with you.
Your looks created impressions too. Your smart looks can get you across many things. Your style of clothing with your bootylicious body could be the passport to success at job, social networking etc. A great look is praised, widely accepted, valued and validated.
This rare suggestion prompted me to initiate myself into self-caring for my body. I didn’t know much till then as mom and dad were the custodians back at home. I just felt like I should start exercising. To get muscles my friend suggested that I start lifting dumbbells and lift weights. And therefore, I should start going to the gym. To entertain myself with the idea and develop the self drive, I thought I should get a book. I am a bookish person. So, I happened to find one such book. It was Pumping Iron by the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The book left a lasting impression on me to take care of my health and body.
This is a thick book with big glossy pages peppered with lots of pictures of body builders and Mr. world. The images as well as the words described in the book left me in awe! For the first time, I discovered how much you could improve your looks by exercising.
The Call Centre and the discovery of a gym:
As I have explained, the first motivation to gain health and fitness was solely the looks. It wasn’t about health or anything of that sort. Who really cares about this boring term when the hormones are flying in all directions. Looks are what gets a lot of youth motivated to come to the gym and exercise. And this is such a BIG motivation that it defeats the laziness and the lame excuses that we later gain experience at.
I then graduated and found work at a call centre. The call centre life implies a paradigm shift in how you work. You work your nights. You work your weekends and you work long shifts. The work is enormous. But,I have always believed that if you follow your intent, the intent will start following you. I found out very soon that the call centre hosted a beautiful and brand new gym on its top floor. This was the same floor where people went to have a fag or take their meal breaks or simply spend their break time chatting or talking over their phones.
The facility had just opened for like a year or so and there weren’t many who would come to the gym to work out. Apparently,it felt like it was all mine. I could go there at any time of the day and workout there according to my shift timings. My time working at a call centre became the watershed for my future to come and unfold with a bold narrative.
Working at a call centre for some months, you will realise that this is an insane place. But,in this call centre that demanded me to work nights, evenings and the early mornings, my ritual to workout either before my shift began or after the shift ended kept me sane. I soon discovered the kernel of truth that simply going to the gym and spending some time there walking and running over the treadmill gave me good sleep once I got back home. It cleared my mind and made me feel better too. But, as I said, It was still the motivation for looks that drove me and not health or fitness for sure.
I often found girls on the work floor appreciating my working out at the gym much to the envy of my peers. And this was keeping me motivated and kept me regular to the gym aa long as I stayed there.
This motivation wasn’t going to stay for life but it certainly got me into the habit loop of working out. I was subconsciously training my mind and the body to the rigours of fitness gradually holding the bait by my tooth. Working out at the gym had a domino effect on me.
The habit loop formation and the unknown itch:
On my weekends when I could not workout in the gym, I sought other possibilities to physically move. I would get up in the morning and go for morning walks around the lake close by. I would often run in the vicinity of my residence. I did so because I felt some kind of craving for physical movement. A kind of drug that relaxed me – mentally and physically
This went on well till I got married. Once you enter a wedlock, your outlook on life and living changes. So did for me. You start getting busy at work as you need to fill your bank account with money. You shift your focus and start preparing for your kids’ arrivals and build a happy family. Family is at the core of our social existence. So, winning the bread for the family becomes your primary goal and health and fitness moves to the backseat.
As a kid, I wasn’t that social but working on my physique had brought me much desired social visibility. It has greatly lifted my self-image and boosted my confidence.
Marching Past Marriage
Post marriage, you tend to drift away from self care which need not be the case. That’s just because we aren’t trained on self care in our country. We are still to gain freedom mentally and socially. I think the reason for not taking care of the self-past marriage is due to the kind of social culture we have in our country. Building a bank balance becomes more important than building muscles. You are valued for and you are socially respected for what car you drive and which locality you live in more than for your good health status. And everyone joins the bandwagon and becomes part of that never ending rat race.
But if you have experienced something that you may not have been able to clearly understand but you start to miss, you start thinking about it as if it never leaves. I started to miss the post workout feelings that came with exercising, running, walking etc. I then realised that the habit loop had formed my inner spirit itched for endorphins experience.
The second thing that happened for my intent was that I got a wife who listened to my aspirations even though she felt frustrated at times. I found that she was more than willing to give me company on my runs and walks. We often went running in the morning together after the late night shifts.
End of chapter I
