Erick the Red Posted November 25, 2013 Report Share Posted November 25, 2013 I just read an interesting article: The Most Important Question You Can Ask Yourself Today Everybody wants what feels good. Everyone wants to live a care-free, happy and easy life, to fall in love and have amazing sex and relationships, to look perfect and make money and be popular and well-respected and admired and a total baller to the point that people part like the Red Sea when you walk into the room. Everybody wants that -- it's easy to want that. If I ask you, "What do you want out of life?" and you say something like, "I want to be happy and have a great family and a job I like," it's so ubiquitous that it doesn't even mean anything. Everyone wants that. So what's the point? What's more interesting to me is what pain do you want? What are you willing to struggle for? Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives end up. A little later in the article, relevant to a lot of what we are doing here: At the core of all human behavior, the good feelings we all want are more or less the same. Therefore what we get out of life is not determined by the good feelings we desire but by what bad feelings we're willing to sustain. "Nothing good in life comes easy," we've been told that a hundred times before. The good things in life we accomplish are defined by where we enjoy the suffering, where we enjoy the struggle. People want an amazing physique. But you don't end up with one unless you legitimately love the pain and physical stress that comes with living inside a gym for hour upon hour, unless you love calculating and calibrating the food you eat, planning your life out in tiny plate-sized portions. I might quibble about some specifics, but I think he is right about the larger question. I believe that what you get out of life is not determined by what you want. The quality of your life is in large part determined by how much you are willing to struggle. Please read the whole thing. Quote Current Challenge: (Feb-Mar 21) Step by Step My Epic Quest Character Sheet *** Old Challenges and Links hidden below Spoiler My Old Battle Log (2012) 1st (Scout) 2nd (Scout) *** (2013) 3rd (Warrior) 4th (Warrior) 5th (Warrior) 6th (Assassin) *** (2014) 7th (Ranger) 8th (Scout) 9th (Monk) 10th (Scout) *** (2015) 11th (Ranger) 12th (Ranger) 13th (Ranger) 14th (Ranger) 15th (Scout) 16th (Scout) *** (2016) 17th (Ranger) 18th (Scout) 19th (Scout) 20th (Rebel) (2021) 21st (Adventurer) Past groups: The Wild Hunt 6 *** The Serenity Crew *** The Wild Hunt 5 *** The Wild Hunt 4 *** The Wild Hunt 3 *** The Wild Hunt 2 *** The Wild Hunt 1 *** Browncoats Achievements: (20 Sep 2014) Completed first half marathon *** (17 Feb 2014) Finished mission to bring body fat from over 25% to under 12% over six months (trying to repeat that now) Link to comment
El Exorcisto Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 ALL the pain!! Quote My training log Spoiler 2016 Hudson Valley Strongman presents Lift for Autism (USS), April 16th Contest report 2015 Hudson Valley Strongman presents Lift for Autism (NAS), April 18th Contest report Eighth Annual Vis Vires Outdoor Strongman Competition (Unsanctioned), August 1st Contest report "What's the difference between an injury that you train around and an injury that you train through?" "A trip to the hospital" Link to comment
Space_Elf Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 That is a really good question and a good article, thanks for sharing. It given me something to think about. Quote Space_Elf, Fallohide Hobbit Level 0. STR 0 | DEX 0 | STA 0 | CON 0 | WIS 0 | CHA 0 Battle Log | Science fiction is an existential metaphor, that allows us to tell stories about the human condition. Isaac Asimov once said: "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all." Link to comment
Vella Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 Hm. I'd disagree with him that you have to look forward to the pain and the suffering.I think you have to accept that it's going to happen, and it's much better if you can find the silver lining in it - sure, this essay is taking up heaps of my time, but I love the process of solving the problems, and I love getting good marks, so I'll endure that all-nighter I need to pull, because other aspects of the painful think make up for it. It's fundamentally a cost-benefit analysis for me. I really dislike some parts of the things I love. I'll never enjoy the moment when I realise an entire scene of a novel sucks and I have to rewrite it. I'll probably never find pleasure in reading through the essay sources where the writer seems to have his head firmly encased in his rectum, and writes sentences that take up half the page and have five sub-clauses, none of which quite make sense, or decides to quote French or Latin sources in the original language, not provide translations or explanations, and then hinge about half their argument on those quotations. These things will always make me want to sigh, kick walls and drink tea until the rage goes away.But I love writing novels and essays despite these things. Because the good outweighs the bad. ...It's probably going to undermine my point that I am one of those people who loves the pain and stiffness of a good workout. Early mornings and being hungry can still take a long walk off a short pier, though. Quote Previous challenges: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Link to comment
Mad Hatter Posted November 27, 2013 Report Share Posted November 27, 2013 I disagree with him. I'd much rather focus on the journey and not the goal, and I want my trip to be FUN! Not everyday's going to be amazing, but I'd rather take 90% awesome and 10% pain and not reach my goal then 90% pain and 10% awesome and reach my goal. Quote Link to comment
Thom Stépan Posted November 28, 2013 Report Share Posted November 28, 2013 This is very interesting. It is really asking are you willing to pay the price to get what you really want? I assume that everyone that is a part of NF from newbies all the way up to Steve himself are willing to pay the price of being fit (however we define that). What else are we willing to pay the price for? What pain and suffering will we endure to reach our goals. So long as the benefits outweigh the costs in our own minds then we will do it. Once the perceived costs outweigh the perceived benefits we will not go for it. I enjoyed this article thanks. Quote Where to find me: Current Challenge : Battle Log : Facebook : Instagram : "Each day, just focus on getting 1% better in whatever it is you're trying to improve. That's it. Just 1%." ArtofManliness Article. "That which is wise and holy helps the health and wholeness of the chain of generations." D. R. Miller. "We do not rise to our expectations. We fall to our level of training." Archilochus Link to comment
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