Many people believe that rituals are either unnecessary or indicative of the psychological unhealthiness called compulsion. Therefore, one is supposed to be free of them in the interests of being real or mentally healthy. Consequently, anyone who goes to the health club at the same time every day, doing the same activity in the same way, is thought of as needing help. The same is true of one who eats only healthy types of foods in the same quantities and at the same times, as well as those who attend to their supplement dosages in the same way day in and day out.
Those who are into this type of so called ritualistic behavior are often pitied or laughed at by those who think themselves as being above such apparent compulsiveness. Often times they think of health conscious people as being bad off for not being free to do as they might like. Perhaps these critical ones even think of them as being less than human. How can they always be doing these things? Will any good ever come of such blinders-on obedience? Do they not wish to be free to do what they might like? What is wrong with them if they cannot deviate from the same things every day of the week?
In a fitness lifestyle, rituals are necessary. One really must do the same things in the same way every day. Success in the form of weight loss or muscular development is dependent on doing them. Not doing the same things invites failure in the form of weight gain and flagging energy levels. That almost always results in the sad, almost overnight return to grocery store food, no supplements at all, and simply being sedentary.
It is perhaps more polite to say that those who are into a fitness lifestyle have exceptionally good and very regular habits. That is a non- pejorative way of speaking about the persistent doing of good things. Yet, the allegedly real-person human critics still see the health conscious people as being hooked on health and thus unable to fully enjoy human living. What an abuse of psychology this is.
The truth is that the critical folks are the ones who are guilty of less than healthy ritualism. They eat the same types of foods at the same time. These are generally high fat and sugar types, preferred because they supposedly taste better and are more filling. Further, these people take their own version of supplements in the form of nightly glass of wine of beer (in the best instances). And, they always play golf on the weekends, weather permitting, or always walk all of the way to the parking lot every work day. These things, they think, are enough to keep anyone healthy.
It is difficult to keep from laughing at those who are like this. Yet, as there are so many who are like this, it is necessary to try understanding them. Perhaps they have never experienced the joy of living in a healthy manner. Perhaps they were never out for a sport in high school. If they had been, they would never be so crass as to think of a healthy person as psychologically sick for his or her disciplined living habits. Then they would realize that there really is a better way to live--one filled with habits that make one glad to be alive.
The creative end to understanding these people is to suggest that getting fit and staying that way forever is merely a substitution of healthy habits for bad ones. But this is very easy to say. It is far more difficult to actually do. That is because the standard American living habits are virtually ritualistic and thus almost impossible to give up. Nevertheless, in the interests of fitness,one should really work hard to do just that.
For further thought on good fitness habits order my ebook Think and Grow Fit.
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