Very few things can be as judgmental as the fitness industry. We will often come in contact with people who have some type of opinion about what we should or should not be doing. It’s hard to imagine that any one person has their life so together that the only thing left for them to do is to sit around and critique others. I try to approach every day with the belief that while it is OK for me to decide my personal rights or wrongs, it is not my place to judge someone else for their choices, especially when I don’t know their particular set of circumstances or options.
I recall one day while I was working at Gold’ Gym, a rather fit young lady came in on a travel pass. She was friendly but quiet and after she filled out the necessary paper work, she thanked me for my help and headed for the gym floor. Within a minute, two male gym members whom I’d seen before but didn’t know rushed up to the front desk.
“Do you know who that was?” one of them asked. When I replied that I didn’t he volunteered more. “That was ‘Blah Blah Blah’ the porn star!”
“Man, I can’t believe she even goes out in public,” his buddy stated. “How can you do something like that for a living? Talk about having no self respect!”
“Just think of how this effects her family,” the first guy added. “What an embarrassment! It’s not like she can go home for Christmas! What a way to live your life!”
Their glaring looks of disapproval prompted me to respond. “Well, right now she’s here working out just like anyone else, she isn’t bothering anyone so no one needs to bother her,” I told them, just to make sure they got the point.
“Yeah, no problem,” the first guy said as they walked away. I could see them out there, looking in her direction as they talked to other members, spreading their all-import gossip to anyone who’d listen. At the time my buddy Shawn who was the gym’s manager came out of the back office with a big grin on his face.
“Those two guys,” he said as he nodded in the direction of our two concerned citizens, “they’re both male strippers! Everything they just said about her, you and I could stand here and say about them.” I nodded my head in agreement as Shawn summed it up with a great observation.
“People will draw a line up to a point that includes everything that they are personally Ok with doing, then anything on the other side of that line they will stand there and throw rocks at!”
This scene, tied up with Shawn’s message, serves as a reminder of how some people can be, and how important it is to focus more on what you should be doing than what others should or should not be doing. Some people will approve of your fitness journey, others won’t. Some like the way you strive to look, others don’t. You get to decide what’s best for you but at the same time don’t get to be critical if they make a different choice for themselves. Maybe we should only judge our own journey and determine our own paths.
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