It’s been a while since I went to a gym.
Somewhere in April 2024 I went for the final time [ based on my gym contract ]. A two year path had come to an end. I started lifting weights and training at 16. Nothing too serious but I was in fairly good shape.
Going to the gym was another one of those “out of the comfort zone” things for me. Introverted person going into a space where extroversion is the name of the game. The guy with the biggest muscles standing in his tank flexing. The three guys I see each morning working out together – motivating one another to get that final rep in.
Long story short I started lifting weights again yesterday. Just bicep curls and single arm rows.
But my story isn’t about gym or exercises. Nope. It’s about starting.
Starting [ your thing ] is a difficult thing. Uncertainty. Will I succeed? What will my friends, family think? I will look like a complete beginner. People will laugh at me. All these are thoughts which go through the minds of tons of people starting out. I know because they went [ and still do ] through my mind when I went to the gym three years ago.
They went through my mind on the first morning I went out with my camera to start taking photos of the streets. They taunted me as I started my Substack. And when I bought my domain earlier this year and launched my website.
Looking back.
The best thing about starting is the part where you look back.
Hundreds of hours in the gym. Thousands of reps. More than 100 newsletters published. 38 posts. Thousands of photos taken. It is quite possible that you won’t believe how far you have come. We don’t really consider the journey, although we should. We tend to think about goals and achievements as a two part race.
The beginning and the end.
The part in between is just a important. It is where you reflect and look back. Where you take stock and look forward. These things, exercise, photography, writing they don’t really end. It’s a continuous thing. You summit one mountain and then see another in the distance.
Rinse and repeat.
Take a look at your own journey. No matter what you’re doing be glad you started. Keep putting in the reps. Day by day, line by line.
It will pay off.
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