What is fitness going to do for you

I think is time for real talk. Let's forget about reps, nutrition, intensity and science for a second and talk about the impact that fitness is going to have on your life.

Not some sort of psychological proven theory that I've read in a book, I want to tell you how my life changed thanks to fitness and I hope...no, actually, I'm sure, it will do the same for you. Hope this will give you that final push you need to start working on yourself!

Let's take it from the beginning.

Once upon a time I was very skinny, mu shoulder rounded and I felt extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. Fundamentally I am very shy and introverted and my physical appearance made this personality traits even more accentuated. Being quiet and wanting to go unnoticed in a social environment became a real issue, to the point that all other aspects of my personality got shadowed by my lack of self-confidence. I felt weak.

Rather than facing the real problem, as a 20-year old, I resorted to heavy drinking as a way to appear normal amongst my colleagues and friends. When you lack self-worth it becomes an incredible challenge to confide your issues to other people.

I looked happy, people around thought I was happy but no one really knew how I was feeling. Keeping negative emotions inside and hidden from others is way less uncomfortable than talking about it with your loved ones.

A few miserable years and life-changing events later I touched rock bottom.

I was bankrupt and never felt more lonely.

We don't need to go through all the details, just know that I was at the point where the alarm goes off in the morning and as soon as you open your eyes you just wish you had disappeared overnight into a black hole rather than facing reality.

I had already been working out every now and then at this point. never consistently enough to make a difference and definitely never watched what I was eating. I had no friends because it got to the point where I'd rather be alone so I wouldn't have to pretend things were fine.

Then, on a sunny Sunday morning (I don't actually remember if that was the case, but hey, it sounds more cinematic), I decided that it was time for a change. I don't know what happened, I guess all of sudden I decided to take control rather than be controlled and all the inspirational quotes and motivational speeches I had come across over the years struck a chord within me. I looked in the mirror and I saw a glimpse of who I used to be, felt what it was like to be happy and enjoying life. And for the first time, I really wanted that back.

Took a bit of time to decide how to go from thoughts to action. The idea was to find something I could dedicate all my free time to, that was completely in my control and that had the possibility of setting achievable short and long term goals. As I said, part of my self-confidence issues came from my appearance and it felt like a good starting point for a New Me kind of resolution.

Fitness was the answer and has been the answer to my well-being ever since!

So I hired a coach and went pedal to the metal.

The first 4 weeks were the most painful. But the physical pain was taking away the emotional one. Not by replacing it but by reminding me every day that I had started a journey towards a better version of me, that I was worth something simply because I was willing to work on myself. Every workout became a therapy session. My thoughts, the music and the iron. Every time I pushed the weight back up I felt a small sense of accomplishment.

After every workout, I felt extremely successful, just by showing up and going through the pain I had won the day.

Confidence came shortly after, unexpectedly. I wanted to be seen and heard.

I started smiling.

As time went by, things simply got better. Reading self-improvement books became another addiction. It's incredible how many people with seemingly perfect life has to deal with the same shitty, mind-twisting, self-destroying feelings. Is inspirational to discover how many have turned their mentality around and how their life has been positively affected by a positive attitude.

A couple of days ago, when I started writing this article, I had the intention of telling you how fitness made me more self-confident and self-loving, how it thought me my strength and weaknesses, how it gave me something to look forward to and how reaching milestones made me feel accomplished.

But as I'm writing this I realise that fitness, simply, made me HAPPY.

And when you are happy, good things happen to you!

I really want to thank you for reading this far, it feels good to be able to share this although it is not easy to open up on social platforms and I really hope this post will help if you are in a similar situation.

See you next time!

Manuel