RANT WEDNESDAY VS VICTORY SUNDAY

The idea for this post comes by way of “bird_dream” on reddit, and their observation is so profound that I’m upset I didn’t notice it.  It’s no secret that I’m a denizen of reddit, and that they’ve once again sucked me in after I swore of forums (again), but for those of you not privy to that scene, there is a popular subreddit r/fitness wherein, once a week, members of the reddit are given 2 distinct opportunities.  On Wednesdays, denizens of r/fitness may engage in “Rant Wednesday”, wherein they are free to air any grievances they have as it regards to training.  Frustrated with their gym?  Frustrated with their own failures?  Frustrated with other people?  Just let it out.  On Sundays, they can engage in “Victory Sunday”, wherein they are free to share any victories they had in that week.  Maintained dietary compliance?  Hit a PR?  STARTED going to the gym?  Go celebrate.  Knowing that, the observation worth having is that, on any given week, Rant Wednesday gets up to 2000 replies.  Victory Sunday?  MAYBE 200.  What the Hell?  Where did everyone go between Wednesday and Sunday?  Why are people spending so much time ranting and so little time succeeding?

At least try to do both

Before I go any further, to save you all the trouble, I KNOW my blog is “Rants, raves and ideas about getting bigger and stronger”; the irony is not lost on me.  I have so many rants in me that I started my own blog and write 1000 words a week to get it out, and I’ve been doing it for nearly 7 years now.  However, let’s observe the fact that I made a blog so that I could contain my rant in one place, rather than having to spread it to multiple locations and force others to hear it.  That’s honestly the advice I give other people whenever they just “have to” get something off their chest.  It’s cathartic.  But I’m also not shy about celebrating my victories.  I share my competition results, I’ll plaster my PR videos wherever I can see fit to do so, and ultimately I’m not going to apologize for succeeding.  So where is this balance elsewhere?

What can we observe in the great abundance of rant posts and absence of victory posts?  Pretty much exactly what we expect: there are far more people that are too busy complaining vs succeeding.  They focus ALL of their energy on what is wrong that they never realize what is right, and instead of working hard to succeed, they work hard to justify why they fail.  These “rants” are so many excuses.  “Ugh, I went to the gym today and SOMEONE was on the squat rack for THIRTY minutes.  Guess I don’t get to squat today!”  No: guess you have to go ask to work in, like a human.  “My gym doesn’t have a dip belt!”  Cool: go buy one.  “I’m going on vacation and I HAVE to eat horrible the WHOLE time.”  Come on: no one buys that.  There are rants about EVERYTHING on rant Wednesday, and so many times its things that are entirely inconsequential or WELL within the control of the ranter if they simply exercised some self-control, discipline, or VERY basic social skills.  These people are “problem admirers”, NOT problem solvers.

And hey: maybe that person is curling in the power rack because they deserve it

And, in turn, we observe an absence of things to celebrate, because success is NOT happening when one is conditioned to simply sit and stew.  Once one dives in to the rant echo-chamber, there’s no incentive to escape and evolve.  Why fix these problems when you can just find a group of like-minded individuals that will commiserate with you?  It’s not YOUR fault: no no.  You’ve got the odds stacked against you.  These issues are insurmountable.  Why, overcoming these issues would be…well crap: it’d be a victory, wouldn’t it?  YES!  That’s the thing: the act of engaging in these rants is the direct opposition of success.  Once you determine that you’re going to go home and complain, you’ve made the active decision that you are NOT going to succeed today.  Instead of eyeing this adversity and overcoming it, you took one look and decided “today I will fail.”

SCREW THAT.  Quit trying to find things to write about on Wednesday and turn them into things you’re going to write about on Sunday.  It’s about adding more words to your rant.  “Someone was on the squat rack for 30 minutes…until I asked to work in.”  BOOM!  Rant turned to Victory.  “I blew out my knee on a set of squats…now my press is at an all-time high since I can train my upper body so much”.  Rant turned into Victory.  It’s about understanding that all challenges are simply opportunities.  Any challenge that is NOT an opportunity is literally certain death, at which point the whole “Rant Wednesday vs Victory Sunday” thing becomes inconsequential, as you won’t be around for either.

Jury is still out on if this challenge WAS certain death

And another part of that is that we really need to shed this modesty crap.  You SHOULD be proud of your accomplishments.  If you’re NOT, then they AREN’T accomplishments.  No, someone shouldn’t be proud of being a “nice guy” who isn’t a jerk to people: that’s called being a default human.  That’s not an accomplishment.  But if you hit a PR set of 24 push-ups after being stuck at 20 for months, OWN IT.  “But someone else is stronger than me?”  Yeah: who cares?  They’re not you: they don’t have your circumstances or situation.  YOU succeeded: you get to celebrate the success.  If you’re not content with it, don’t rant about how upset you are that you’re not further along: GET FURTHER ALONG.  If all you do is acknowledge the dissatisfaction, you have wasted it.  If you decide to use it as a catalyst to achieve something great, you have MAXIMIZED the benefit of that stimulus.  All these situations can serve as something to overcome and, in turn, grow stronger from.  OR, they can simply stop you in your path as you sit, wallow and complain about your inadequacies.  And guess what?  There will be PLENTY of people that will agree with you that you are inadequate, but you may be the only celebrator of your own victories on the onset.  Learn to be proud of YOURSELF such that, even IF you get the accolades of others, it’s immaterial. 

Let the people who need to rant have it.  It keeps their disease contained, and prevents you from getting contaminated.  Go out and celebrate your victories instead.