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Sunday, December 13, 2009

The power of Persuasion!

From time to time I take a step back and wonder why we choose to do what we do?  IN a world full of distractions and pressure we have so many choices to make and so many influences pushing and pulling at us.  It is a world of peer and societal pressures driving us to do things we want to and things we dont, it is a constant challenge to make certain that we do what is the right thing to do so that we are 'accepted'.

My choice to do an IRONMAN has actually been a very cool process in growing up.  Don't get me wrong, At heart, I will always be a kid who makes stupid decisions for the right reasons, the right decisions for the wrong reasons, acting like a 15 year old because I can!  But, making the IM choice has made me appreciate the power or persuasion in the world that we live in!!   What the hell am I talking about?????
As I ramble my thoughts for the world to see on this blog I may tend to jot down some babble.  This days babble is sharing my thoughts on the power of persuasion.
We wake up in the morning and have a brand of coffee and a brand of cereal because we have been persuaded to.  We believe that it is healthier, will make us more energetic, make us prettier, make us run faster.  Why do we believe this????  Because some magazine, TV commercial or friend had persuaded us via the use of pretty pictures and some propaganda put together to satisfy the media's hunger for sex and drama!  We truly believe that we have made the choice consciously, think about it for a second?!  What car do you drive, what bike do you pedal, what energy bars do you eat?  How much time did you spend studying the equipment that you use?  I may be sticking my foot in my bloggin mouth, but I will bet the following.......we use the equipment we do because someone told us it was great, someone famous uses it, the color is pretty, the price was right, the sales person said it was the best because it provides special super powers when you use it for 6 months......we chose it because we were persuaded to use it by an outside influence.
Why the hell am I talking about all of this??  Well, today I realized that choosing to do an IM was about a selfish decision reached for me and by me!!  Although I have not done one yet, I think many of you may confirm, it is a selfish activity that is all consuming and, yes, lets be honest, crazy!   Let's be honest, who in there right mind would allow themselves to be influenced to go out and swim, bike and run for half to 3/4 of a day for no compensation or recognition, only WE can make that decision!  Why did I come up with that realization today??? As I sat on the couch this afternoon(after a Christmas party last night that did involve tequila), I looked at the goals that I has set for training this week.  I had a goal of 7 days in a row of running. even though I am not training I am doing selected self prescribed 'base' training activities to build for the day the fun starts.  I was comfortable as could be on looking out the window past the Christmas tree at the rain falling on the road. After a week of meeting each step of my goal, as well as 2 days of awesome skiing, I thought, Hmmmm, i have done a lot his week, I am not on a program,  I dont need to go and run.  And the battle of persuasion started......I sat and watched 2 useless television programs having a fight inside my head about why I should not go run.  While watching the 2 useless programs I decided that I should by a new Swifter for the house, look at Cialis if I get erectile disfunction and go and by my wife extra wide wing turbo super mild heavy days Tampax.  Why?  Because of the persuasive pretty pictures that told me I would be so much better than I am today if I do that!!  But, the decision to go or not go for my run was no further ahead than it was before the crap TV and new things that I have to go and buy!
Why??  It came to me this afternoon that when you choose to do an IM or start doing tri's it is a bit of a coming of age!  It is a decision to go out and do something for you that can only be influenced by you.  Hours and days and weeks of sacrifices for what, sweaty stinky clothes, blisters, bike problems, physio and all the fun stuff that goes along with it.  Sure we get more fit along the road, but, be honest, do you really want to work out 15 hours a week to accomplish that??  No, probably like me you decided to do it because you could and damn it is fun!
Finally after fighting with myself and telling myself in 6 different ways why not to, guess what??  I got my ass of the couch, put on my gear and headed out the door, 10 steps down the road I continued the argument with myself, my calves were really tight to I should probably go home.....NO! I made a decision without the persuasion of pretty pictures and promises of better days, I was not sent incentives in the mail that I could get a great deal if I did it today, there were no 2 for 1 discounts to go and do an IM!  I did it because I could and because I wanted to!  It is such  a great realization to come to!  I am one amongst a group of 1000's that has chosen to do something because we want to, we are not at the mercy of all of the peer influences and media garbage that fuels the world today.  We are doing something because it is what we want to do and because it makes us  the person that we are!  As I continued on my run I smiled as I ran down the road(yeah, still sore) and thought about the months of training ahead, all the days that I will have the same fight with myself, and as bizarre as it may be, I am looking forward to it!
As we start the holiday season, let's all try and remember why we do the things that we do.  Is it to satisfy the pressure and influences that society deems to be the right things to do???  Or......are we doing the things we do because we want to!!!  Things that will put smiles on the faces of our families and our friends, things that will make the world a better place and things that will lead us to the finish line of the selfish goal that we persuaded ourselves would be great to do!   Happy Holidays!!  

4 comments:

  1. There are things I do because society expects it of me, and the rest is all Ironman! Seriously, to borrow from the shirt people, "do what you like, like what you do".

    Nice job on getting all of your runs in at the chaotic and packed time of year!

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  2. John
    Yip tell me about persuasion. If I can have a refund on all the things I've bought because some Pro or company said it will make me faster, I will be able to pay for an overseas holiday.

    All the different gels, drinks and gear tried out to find the "right" one is a very expensive excercise.

    And then the constant battle between mind and body to do a training session or to cut it short. The only problem with me is my mind tend to win most of the times when it's up against the body.

    Good Luck with your journey and new lifestyle to become an IM, because it is a journey and new way of living and not like a lot of poeple think, just throwing a few training sessions together and there you are, Mr. Ironman
    Cheers
    Johan

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  3. I love this post, I was just thinking about media's influence and what the world expects of us today.

    I'm a seniour in high school, and there is so much pressure to be skinny, look perfect everyday, wear brand-name clothes, and be popular.

    I do my absolute best not to cave to any of it. I am happy with who I am, my friends, and the choices I have made. I have met amazing people through training, and they like me for who I am.

    Thanks for posting your 'babbles.' I quite enjoyed it.

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  4. What a great post! I have to admit, the tampon comment was pretty funny... Why are some of these commercials on TV? And be careful, if your bike seat isn't right, you won't laugh at Cialis jokes anymore!

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