If You Couldn't Post It Would You Still Do It?

i'm going to ask you a great question... and you can use this in everything.

"If you could not post about it on social media, or tell anyone in person what you did, would you still do it?"

Would you:

• Still do a marathon?

• Still sign up to compete?

• Still do a Hyrox?

• Still powerlift?

If you find yourself thinking "YES! I would still work out/do what I'm going to do, even if I could never tell anyone or post about it," Then this post is NOT FOR YOU!

This is probably love for what you do, you do it only for you, and without your sport or activity you would feel deflated and lost.

If you find yourself thinking "Hmm, I probably would not sign up to an ultra if no one knew that I did it," you probably, deep down, feel maybe dread, excitement leading up to the event, and then dread when the event comes.

It's likely you started what you do and kept at it for fun reasons, but it soon evolved. You saw others do what you do but "bigger and better", they posted about it...you started to feel like YOU need to do the same and post about it too. Maybe...maybe not? You never started what you do for this...but you find yourself doing it for the wrong reasons.

I'm not saying "if you only do sports/gym for telling people about it then you are shallow and you should not do that." Maybe you do what you do so you can tell everyone about it? Maybe it's for other people to see and not so much you? Nothing wrong with that? If you enjoy it, then crack on!

What I'm speaking about is from experience...

I have climbed a few big mountains (big for me), a few in the Alps and some technical peaks. I have also spent many, many, many hours attending navigation courses and multi-day trips. I found myself 9/10 dreading the event when it finally came and not really enjoying it when I was doing it. I also found it a bit depressing when it was done. But I still did it... and sometimes I just packed up and left altogether.

It's only when I asked the question, "If I could not post about it on social media, or tell anyone in person what I did, would I still do it?"—the answer was, no, I probably would not.

I was not living to my values, you could say? I was pushing myself to do something I did not really enjoy to create an identity? And social media has made it easy to portray an identity you think you want. There was a conflict.

So, what did I do?

I still climbed and climb mountains, but ones I enjoy, not ones that made me think, "This looks impressive, I can show how good I am at this! And not many people have climbed this, so it will be even more impressive" I went back to trips I enjoyed, like hiking with family up mountains for the adventure and calmness, not the stress and pure grit it became. Climbing hard routes while I'm still young, simply to just be outside in all weather. Would I be happy to not tell anyone what i'm doing or post a picture - yes... It would not phase me.

And in terms of Jiu-Jitsu, I did a comp once, and never really told anyone. I loved it! I went, got smashed, and went home. No inner conflict, no feeling like I have to do this to be accepted. One picture, take it or leave it. Will I do another? Yes.

In terms of the gym, I've been going to the gym since 15 years old. I have never really posted myself in the gym or felt the need to tell the world. I believe this is because I really and honestly enjoy it for myself.

Why am I saying this?

Because if you find yourself dreading your next marathon, feeling miserable leading up to a comp, seeing your achievements as Instagram posts, not positive experiences stored in your head, pissing yourself off that you spend more time on your phone recording your workout than recording your numbers, thinking "I wonder what people will think of me when they see this?!" then maybe you are doing it for other people and not what originally got you into the sport. It becomes stressful & a bit overwhelming. No fun.

Remember why you started.

You can overcome this by thinking about why you started doing your sport/activity in the first place. That's where you normally feel the happiest!. If you started to get likes etc. then that's fine too! However, social media for a competitive person is mentally draining, you might end up doing stuff you just don't really want to do :(

Many people may not like what I have said here, as it might be seen as a personal attack... it's not... but wouldn't it be interesting how many people would still be going to the gym in a year's time if they could never tell anyone about it?

But..you do what makes you happy, but if you are unhappy with your sport or hobby, just think "Does social media create this feeling?"