As anyone who has read any of my previous posts knows, I am a big believer in the power of the mind. If you think you will fail, you will! Conversely, if you choose to succeed, little can stop you. I bring this up as a received a post by a Facebook friend from film maker Michael Moore. In Moore’s post, he discussed the importance of adding walking into his life to stay healthy.
While at first this sounds good, Moore went on to say that people are controlled by their genetics and essentially exercising was not worth it. To Moore, walking is good enough as he went on to say that doing more is really wasting one’s time and that people should “enjoy” their lives. While I am paraphrasing here, this was the basic message Moore had for people.
Whether you like Moore’s politics is not really the issue here, but the fact that his movies have made him a celebrity is. Often, a celebrity wields a lot of power. For some reason, people take their words as the gospel. Simply looking at the reply’s on his post prove that. Many people were agreeing with Moore that yes, they were overweight because of their genetics and there was little they could do about it. These people seemed relieved that some celebrity agreed with them. They were vindicated.
My answer to this is simple. This is the mentality of a loser. Harsh? Yes, I am sure it is, but it is reality nonetheless. In fact, I believe there is little we cannot overcome if we put our minds to it. Certainly genetics affects things, but giving up on something should not be the first response. Will change be easy? Probably not, but don’t give up before you even try! Take responsibility for yourself!
Let’s look at someone that wants to play basketball, but height is an issue. Genetics decide how tall we are. This is a fact, but should this person simply give up on a dream. Maybe not! Can someone still work on their ability to jump higher as a way to compensate for their lack of height…certainly! In fact, the NBA has some very “big” stars who are not known for their height. How is this possible? I believe that these people had a desire to succeed greater than what someone else said was an impossibility. They simply wanted something and went out and grabbed it!
As I look at my own life, I see things I overcame. While I played rugby for 12 years through college and beyond, I was not a gifted runner. I’m still not! I was able to play despite this “flaw” because I wanted to and was willing to put forth the effort to achieve my goal. In training I worked much harder than some of the men that were gifted. I had to if I was going to succeed. The same thing is true with SCUBA diving which is a passion of mine. You see, I am not a good swimmer. For many this little nugget of information may stop them in their tracks, but I wanted to learn to SCUBA. So, I practiced and got certified. I am still not graceful in the water, but that doesn’t stop me. I do the best I can with what I have!
Enjoying life is part of living! I mean REALLY living. There are too many things that we can experience in life to allow fear and negative thoughts to stop us. The same goes with our training. Yes, for some it is harder than others to lose body fat, or gain muscle, or whatever it is you want to accomplish. If someone has the desire, however, they can still push forward and succeed where others may fail.
To me, comments from people like Moore are contagious diseases. They validate someone’s wish for an answer they don’t want to face. For those that replied, it was as though they knew they should try to change, but didn’t want to face the challenge. You see, Moore gave them the easy way out. “It’s my genetics! That’s why I can’t lose weight!” Now there was proof, from someone famous, that they were incapable of change.
Certainly we cannot overcome every flaw in life. I mean, I was born with a face for radio and my genetics are to blame, but giving up on something is simply wrong! You CAN change yourself for the better! What you are capable of is in your minds eye. You control what you want to become. Do not allow others to dictate YOUR DREAM!
God gave us what we have, but that does not mean we cannot continue to improve ourselves! Life is short. Make the most out of what you have been given and LIVE!
Scott
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