Enough
Yesterday at the gym, for the first time in my life, someone asked me to spot him on the bench press. "Sure," I said, as if I'm asked to do it every day. (As if I go to the gym every day.) (As if.)
I quietly panicked as I wondered what part of the Spotting Code I would screw up first, but I remained cool. All I really remember is the close-up view of his Poppin' Fresh muscles beneath the hundreds of pounds he was lifting.
At first I was flattered he'd asked. I had just finished my own barbell routine. Perhaps he'd been admiring my singular concentration and intensity with the mighty 50-pounder? Then I immediately concluded that I must have fooled him into thinking I was something I was not because, having come into the gym from an outdoor run, I was covered up in a long-sleeved T-shirt and track pants.
A little later, as I walked home, this line of thinking made me remember something I'd read the day before in a profile of the bearish first runner-up in Metro Weekly's Coverboy of the Year contest (I told you I was trying to read more):
"That is, essentially, his message for the gay community, particularly his fellow queer men: Stop it. 'Accept that you're enough,' he says. 'You're complete. Stop trying to fit all these images that are thrown at you all the time. That you're not tall enough, you're not smart enough, you're not pretty enough, you're not smooth enough, you're not hairy enough, you're not young enough, you're not whatever. Just leave it alone. Don't swallow that stuff. You're enough.' "
I guess, for one guy at the gym on Saturday afternoon, I was enough.
I quietly panicked as I wondered what part of the Spotting Code I would screw up first, but I remained cool. All I really remember is the close-up view of his Poppin' Fresh muscles beneath the hundreds of pounds he was lifting.
At first I was flattered he'd asked. I had just finished my own barbell routine. Perhaps he'd been admiring my singular concentration and intensity with the mighty 50-pounder? Then I immediately concluded that I must have fooled him into thinking I was something I was not because, having come into the gym from an outdoor run, I was covered up in a long-sleeved T-shirt and track pants.
A little later, as I walked home, this line of thinking made me remember something I'd read the day before in a profile of the bearish first runner-up in Metro Weekly's Coverboy of the Year contest (I told you I was trying to read more):
"That is, essentially, his message for the gay community, particularly his fellow queer men: Stop it. 'Accept that you're enough,' he says. 'You're complete. Stop trying to fit all these images that are thrown at you all the time. That you're not tall enough, you're not smart enough, you're not pretty enough, you're not smooth enough, you're not hairy enough, you're not young enough, you're not whatever. Just leave it alone. Don't swallow that stuff. You're enough.' "
I guess, for one guy at the gym on Saturday afternoon, I was enough.
posted by Billy at 10:54 PM
1 Comments:
Not just enough, but abundant.
I like this quote, often attributed to Nelson Mandela but really from Marianne Williamson:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Post a Comment
<< Home