🎳Inertia
Sunday Scoop #38 - This week, I share with you 2 highlights of my week and my thoughts on my persistent resistance to change and move beyond my comfort zone.
Hey friends,
This week has been particularly eventful for me.
Mid-Semester Break, coupled with Post-Trials freedom translated into a Brooklyn 99 marathon, 2 physical exercises a day (at least), and tons of free-flowing conversations with my college friends.
Amidst all these activities, 2 events in particular stood out to me, and I’d like to share them with you.
I finally managed to break my personal Bench Press record and completed a single rep Bench Press of 155lbs.
I went for a night swim.
They don’t sound like much, but I think they both taught me quite the lesson. Stay with me for just a bit longer.
🏋️ PR Bench Press
Back home, I mostly went to the gym alone and preferred to workout in a completely empty gym.
When I saw other people working out with their friends, I thought it was counterproductive. You’re talking to each other more than you’re working out! You’re laughing and making jokes. How in the world are you going to ‘get in the zone’? Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson works out on his own. Surely, that’s the right way to go.
I would then happily get on with my workout, with Stephen Fry narrating Harry’s first successful Patronus in my ears.
Coming back to college, I had a chance to properly work out with my friends. Yes, we would joke around and chat in between sets. However, we would also spot each other during sets and motivate one another to finish the final few reps.
There was such a sense of camaraderie, which made the session much more wholesome and fulfilling.
Furthermore, I highly doubt that I would’ve managed to break my PR if it weren’t for my friends spotting my sets and hyping me up for the big rep.
🏊♂️ Night Swim
In my 1.7 years in college so far, that night swim was my 3rd time in the ‘famed’ KYUEM Olympic sized swimming pool.
My friends have invited me to join them on their swims dozens of time, to which I always turned down their offer, simply because I preferred to reply to a few emails, or to get in a few extra sets of shoulder presses.
Nevertheless, the experience was a lot better than I expected.
Admittedly, the night swim was a bit of a let down because the pool lights weren’t on and I was virtually blind without my goggles.
However, the morning and evening swims were incredibly fun and a good form of cardio (which I’m in dire need of).
I think that we see someone doing things differently from the way we believe things should be done and the way we get things done, we often default to our gut reaction, default to thinking that our way works better for us without even giving the alternative method a try.
Even if we’re doing things wrong or less than optimal, we almost seem to rely on a comfort crutch. The comfort that comes from staying within what we’re familiar with, the reassurance from the way we’ve always experience the world, resisting the change that could potentially make our experience better.
While we all desire nothing more than to get better at doing things, to get rid of afflictions that stand in the way of us achieving our maximum potential, we all still fear nothing more than to be deprived of our comfort crutch.
Note that while I use the article 'we' here a lot, I'm writing from my limited experience of this world and all it has to offer thus far.Moving on, I’m actively working on breaking through the inertia I so often meet in the face of new experiences. At least give them a try to see if they get rid of my afflictions or they are a form of affliction. Either or, the crutch has to go.
Have a fun and productive week ahead.
See you in the next issue of Sunday Scoop.
Jia Shing.