It’s Easy To Get Better, But Better At What?

The Daily Stoic for October 22nd, “It’s Easy To Get Better, But Better At What?”.

“So someone’s good at taking down an opponent, but that doesn’t make them more community-minded, or modest, or well-prepared for any circumstance, or more tolerant of the faults of others.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.52

Today’s stoic meditation discusses the topic of “why we do things?”. Quoting the author:

“Do you want six-pack abs because you are challenging yourself and committing to a difficult goal? Or is it because you want to impress people with your shirt off? Are you running that marathon because you want to test your limits or because you’re running away from your problems at home?”

It’s Easy To Get Better, But Better At What?

My problem with this argumentation is that -first- it’s usually fake, and most people affirming that are the ones who usually do things for the wrong reason and -second- that I’m getting tired of that judgmental view of things as I get older.

So yes, I go to the gym 4–5 times a week. It requires a lot of commitment throughout the years. If you stop going to the gym for a month, it’s very difficult to pick up the habit again and get in the shape you were before. Not everybody can do it.

So what if I go to the gym to get that 6-pack and brag about it. To begin with, I earned it, and secondly, you soon realize that there’s always someone more muscular or in better shape than you, so it’s really something stupid.

But my point is still the same. Maybe I want to go to the gym to have a 6-pack and impress others. Maybe lots of folks go just to be healthier and blablabla, but let’s be honest, 99.99% of us go to be fit, feel better with our bodies and to brag a little.

And I think there’s nothing wrong with it.

In the case of the husband… Ok, one should be the perfect partner, father, son, blablabla. But sometimes life’s not that simple. So if someone goes to run a marathon not to test his or her limits, but to have some time without the hassle of the family, who am I to judge that? Am I perfect? Of course not.

Conclusion

I don’t really agree with today’s Daily Stoic, “It’s Easy To Get Better, But Better At What?”. I don’t think we need a noble, inspirational reason for everything we do. Maybe we go to the gym to brag about our abs or biceps. Maybe we run a marathon to stop hearing our son yell and scream for just some hours… So what?

Comments? Thoughts? Am I such a bad person? 🙂