Just Not Good Enough: Competition, Within a Social Media Age – Part 2
I try and keep up with the blogging. But like everything in life, it seems to escape you if you don’t commit to it consistently. Last time I touched on Competition within a Social Media Age, and the difficulty (I find) in trying to compete in today’s world.
Starting Out in Bodybuilding
I remember when I first began down the path of competitive bodybuilding nearly six, meager years ago. I feel that I had arrived at a time in bodybuilding when competitors more or less remained ‘hidden’, migrating from message boards, until you finally arrived at your contest (first) and realized there was a whole world of these people out there just like you-passionate about their pursuit; hungry to win; ready to crush you.
Contests today have only grown, and yet each individual contest only feels like a smaller vessel of one much bigger competitive field-social media. It’s admittedly tougher to feel as if you matter in the whole grand scheme of things, whether your pursuit of interest is justified, and how you truly compare.
Comparing Yourself in Bodybuilding
A fair counter to this previous sentence would be—‘Why are you concerned with how you compare? Bodybuilding is about you versus you.’ Is it? Yes, that’s what I first told myself too when I began competing. I felt very confident in my methodical approach, steady, and consistent approach. After all, I was only trying to better the previous version of myself.
But in today’s world there are some that would flip that logic on its’ head, and argue that the stakes are too high. If you don’t have it—give it up. Just look around you—the Instagram accounts filled with endless progress pictures, the ¾ turn ‘booty shots’, seemingly mundane food arranged fancily. The Competition is vast and endless, and it will swallow you whole.
Becoming Comfortable Is The Enemy
Are we just not good enough? Perhaps; or rather, perhaps we knew this from the get-go and it’s why we began competing in the first place-to get better. Sure, we may never reach the top. But our ‘top’ is a place almost unfathomable from where we began. Whatever your endeavor friends, believe that you are good enough to start, you can make improvements, and you should always strive to keep improving.
