I was at the gym today, and I sort of spent some time resting staring at these signs they have plastered all over the walls. The signs say "Dare to be different" .. and I looked around, and saw such a collection of similar looking people, that I had to laugh. You have to wonder who comes up with these slogans, and if they really consider the sorts of people who frequent their establishments.
Everyone in that gym looks so similar its laughable. They're not daring to be different, they're daring to decide to conform to what society expects them to look like, and daring to be pressured into doing something that most of them hate, but feel obliged to do for whatever reason they may be using to themselves to pay all that money, and go for a month or so, then quit. Those who dont quit, will keep on slaving away, not really driven out of enjoyment, but driven out of this desire and constant need to fit in - for some, once you start on a pattern of self improvement, its hard to stop, your never *really* satisfied with yourself - you could always lose a bit more here, or a bit more there, and theres always something that your not quite happy about..
Tyler Durden was right. Self improvement is total masturbation.
So, what do I do at the gym? Well, I happen to actually enjoy it. Lifting weights can be a lot of fun, taking along a nice aggressive disc of music (compared to the "different" top 40 crap that they "dare" to play most of the time) and hauling some large weights is a good feeling. Its time away from a computer, which is always a good thing. I never really do much cardio work (although I do some), and never really do any abs either, I guess deep down I'm also thinking its good preparation for getting into fights, or for NOT getting into fights.. as the case may be. In fact I like to think of my gym work more as self destruction than self improvement. I've already done quite a bit of hard work on fucking my body up, and it will never EVER be any high street magazines idea of a perfect body, but I enjoy the fact that it scares people. One day I'm sure that will work in my advantage..