From Joe: It’s possible to define a marathon as a bunch of people in their underwear running as fast as possible for 26 miles without giving proper attention to the bad things that can happen to them along the way. This way of looking at a marathon, taking the event literally, makes the runners look foolish. It makes the spectators too look foolish: They roar with primal excitement as the runners leave the start. Many of the spectators choke with emotion. Some are moved to tears. Same thing happens at Bulls and Bears games. Why the emotion?
Spectators react strongly to athletic performances because they intuit that taking the event literally is a mistake! Taken literally, a marathon itself is senseless and trivial, especially for the runners who are not in it for the prize money.
Taken realistically – that is, taken for all that they are – these performances are metaphors for deeper concerns we share about life. It’s easy to see that a marathon expresses the “life as a journey” metaphor. The runners will be beset by challenges and we wish them well as they push themselves to their limits. Their pilgrimage is only 26 miles but both runners and spectators will learn something new about life from its struggles and achievements. Strip the event of that deeper meaning and it’s not worth getting up at 5 a.m. to see your loved one, dressed in underwear, taking off from the start line.
In practical situations, the deep metaphors you use can make you or break you. They shape the way you think, feel and act in real life. Many of them work as unconscious mental processes so you don’t even realize you are using them.
When you undertake a new fitness regimen, pay attention to the metaphors you use to frame your new project. For example, ask yourself if you are a traveler or a pilgrim on your new journey.
Travelers take trips for practical reasons. They go from Chicago to Des Moines to find out what their new boss wants them to do. They take a vacation to get away from cold and snow. They go on a cruise for excitement that would alleviate the tedium of daily humdrum life. There’s nothing wrong with such reasons for taking a trip. Just don’t feel disappointed when you get back. Trips framed this way typically result in temporary fun rather than lasting pleasure. Unless, of course, something happens along the way to turn the traveler into a pilgrim.
Pilgrims undertake a journey knowing that they are leaving for reasons that are deeply felt, whether or not the journey achieves some practical purpose. This attitude prepares them for temporary disappointments, discomfort and delays. It prepares them to take pleasure in the journey itself, since one never knows what kind of fruitful experiences will occur when one least expects it. It prepares the person to be mindful about details while keeping in mind the big picture: Even the most trivial event can become significant when viewed in relation to ultimate goals. The journey becomes a way of making personal meaning.
Fitness travelers take their trips for mundane reasons: They want to be a good patient towards their doctor or a stronger worker during household tasks or a faster walker on their morning commute. Some mainly want to please other people, whether they realize it or not as they plan their regimen: When they think they want to become more sexually desirable or a more attractive member of a wedding party or a slimmer sales person, it can be hard to figure out if their motives are inner-based or other-based. For some people, framing a fitness objective in such purely practical terms can be effective. For others, it will undermine long-term motivation and determination. Inevitably, every trip includes adversities.
Travelers who don’t make speedy progress might devalue their own experience (link courtesy of LifeHacker), acting like beginning marathoners who are discouraged because they took 5 hours rather than 3 hours to complete the course.
When an excursion threatens to be challenging, there are travelers who stay on the ship and mindlessly eat rather than be challenged – physically or even psychologically – by unexpected novelties.
When you launch a fitness regimen – or, for that matter, any other kind of regimen – consider framing it as a pilgrimage rather than a trip.
- You might find the framing activity difficult or even ridiculous. In that case, you know you have a serious commitment problem even before the project starts. Should you reconsider the effort? Do you really want to do this? How serious and honest are you being with yourself?
- The vision of a pilgrimage can release important energy when the going gets tough. Motivationally, this is very important!
- If early progress is not as rapid as you had hoped, the pilgrimage metaphor can help you cope with discouragement.
- When you feel like watching TV rather than go to the gym, having a powerful metaphor pop into your head can get you started. The new regimen becomes a pilgrimage metaphor which in turn is a metaphor for life itself. What more do you need to get to the gym?
- If you can get your friends and family to share such framing, they might become more likely to give you the support you need. If you’re sure that this way of framing matters touches your most cherished values and friends don’t want to share it – well, that’s a problem you should be looking at.
Consider the pilgrimage metaphor more closely and you probably will find it has many other benefits for you. To develop long-lasting fitness habits, give your project the respect it deserves. How are you framing your endeavor? Are you a pilgrim or are you a traveler?
Are you running in your underwear or doing something that can have lifelong meaning?