Growing up there are many roads to travel. At a young age children find themselves being divided and categorized very quickly; your first division is your sex, then, in school, you are measured and placed according to your reading level, you learn height and size equates to power and intimidation, and, finally, your "athletic ability" is measured, as competitiveness is slowly learned.
I was one of the lucky ones. I may have been one the of the smallest guys but I won one physical award after the other. Most pushups. Me. Fastest. Me. But even knowing I was the best at certain physical challenges didn't overcome my lack of self-confidence based on my LACK of height. In other words, I may have been an athlete in the eyes of some but I didn't feel like one.
Fast FORWARD...
It is High School now. I am going into my Senior year and I am finally growing! I've been lifting weights for the past year and my acne is finally clearing.
Senior Year was pivotal in my development and appreciation for exercise and health. I, like many other "smaller guys", had tried everything: I prayed for growth every night, I ate until sick, and slept as often as possible. But puberty you can't speed up.
As a Senior, and as new levels of testosterone flooded my body, I began to grow and grow. Suddenly, I had a nice chest, big arms, I had muscles! I started to finally feel like an athlete.
But what does feeling like an athlete feel like?
Let me tell you. It is CONFIDENCE. That's it. It is a feeling of "anything you can do I can do better".
And BACK TO YOU, my lovely reader.
You don't have to be an athlete to enjoy exercise and incorporate it into your life. You don't have to be training for the big game or the biggest muscles. You only have to be training for the feeling it gives you. The confidence it builds. The mood of optimism it chemically induces. The positive outlook you develop. The comfort you inhibit within your smile knowing that you took time out for yourself, time to invest in your health.
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