Just take a look backwards and recall something you set out to accomplish or possess. Reflect for a moment on all that was required. You had to first decide it was worth it. A plan had to be put together. Then the journey to the winner’s circle began. The whole process was devised with a reward and a certain level of consequence in mind. We thought about what we would tell people when they asked what we were up to. Being transparent in advance of our effort exposed us to a very real amount of trepidation. We were afraid that they would criticize us so severely we would abandon our goals. Does this sound familiar?
But! This is where it gets interesting. All of us pushed ahead despite divulging our plans. We took the arrows of doubt shot at us. We endured the discomfort of the whisper campaign about our plans that declared us nuts and that we were full of ourselves, etc. However, our bodybuilding journey, or our academic aspirations, or our goals to do something that has not been written into the script for our lives is the excuse to be better. We see it. Then we respond to it. We plan. We innovate. We put in the time and effort daily like clockwork. Up early, eating on time, sleeping as needed, thinking of our goal at all times. Obsessing if necessary but always we discipline ourselves to work and to attain the stated mission. One day we step forward to receive that which we sought. Boom! It’s ours! Naysayers be gone!
The flip side of accomplishment because we succumbed to the opposition is a deep sense of regret. This is not the same as paying the price of discipline to get something. We now enter the dark world of painful regret. We are ashamed that we did not do what we knew we had to do or that we were called to do. This pain of regret always reduces us by some degree as people. It’s never fun and it’s always a negatively defining moment.
I also need to say that the pain of regret can give way to a new determination to “never let it happen again.” Enough!! our minds scream at us. This living with regret is for the birds. I will never take the easy way that is lined with excuses ever again. It’s too painful….So you see, regret can have an upside by extending to yourself forgiveness and redirecting our energy to the discipline to succeed.
Bodybuilding has given me and many others the forum to understand life a little better. Winning is essential with no holds barred and no shortcuts taken. No personal cheating and self deception is allowed back into our worlds. Head for the stage fellow muscle heads. Winning is really all about discipline and learning to do it right. Regret is about abandoning discipline, doing it wrong and suffering the consequences.
Final note: Pay the price of discipline so as to avoid the pain of regret.
Six Pack and Senior 